April News #1

 It's hard to believe that we moved on to April this past weekend, with our Easter break to look forward to.  We have enjoyed the few warmer days we have had, as well as the disappearance of snow. This is the time of year when the weather changes so much. We have a system in place for recess/coats and it is a big deal to not have to wear a coat. On days when the weather is cold in the morning, please send your child in a coat and put a sweatshirt in their book bag. Signs are posted in the locker area as to what they are to have on at recess. If temps are 60 degrees and above, they do not need a coat. If temps are in the 50's they can wear long sleeves or a sweatshirt. Temps under the 50's we want them to wear a coat. 

Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with oo, ou, and ew, our comprehension skill was sequencing events in a story, and our grammar skill was pronouns. This week, our goals will be to read and spell words with ou and ow, our comprehension skill will be understanding the characters in our stories, and our grammar skill will be contractions.. Now that we have become such fluent readers, we are now focusing more on comprehension and listening to what we read. Identifying the main idea of the story and key details is something we make a habit of within our small groups, as well as during our large group reading time. At home, you may want to have your child retell after reading their book to make sure they are absorbing what they have read. On May 10th, I will be testing each student individually using the FAST assessment. We have been working hard to reach our spring goals by working on sight words, blending, and fluency within our guided reading groups. The following high-frequency words have been added to our word wall: buy, city, family, myself, party, please, school, seven, ready, kinds, covers, country, earth, warms, soil, and almost.

Math: We have completed and tested over Module 5, which focused on problem solving using adding to and taking from. The assessment over this module was taken on Friday and will be sent home on Monday. Next, we move on to Module 13, which is titled “Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction”. The lessons will focus on adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, as well as making a ten when needed. Strategies we will focus on are: using the 120 chart,  drawing the tens and ones, as well as lining up the numbers.

Spelling: I am proud of the kids and their efforts on the weekly spelling tests. The words are becoming more challenging and we have 6 more weeks of words to test over. Please encourage them to practice their words at home. We practice daily at school as well. There are 30 lessons in the first grade reading program. This week is Lesson 25.

Writing: To encourage writing complete sentences, we write in our journals several times a week with a starter idea, seatwork pages are done, and the task at a few of our centers is to write sentences as well. Our main focus the past two weeks has been informational writing. Last week, we completed our informational writing project about an animal. The students worked with a partner on a given animal. They first read two nonfiction books about their animal and identified and wrote 6 interesting facts they found. These facts then became the focus of their writing piece. After completing all pages of their book, I stapled them together and this week they will share their book with a peer who wrote about a different animal. These will be sent home once we share. Our next focus in writing will be narrative pieces. 

Science: Last week, our "Mystery Science" lesson was titled "Light, Transparent, Materials & Opaque". This week, our lesson is titled “Light and Illumination”. We will also have a visit from the Carroll County naturalist this week as well.

Just a Reminder: Our first grade Music Concert is on Tuesday of this week (April 4th @ 6:00 PM) Students are to report to the Fairview music room at 5:45 PM.

Star Student: Maya was most recently featured as “Star Student”. Her favorite food is pepperoni pizza and she likes to drink lemonade. She collects quarters and wants to learn how to knit. When Maya grows up, she wants to be a doctor.