Week of September 23, 2013

Reminders:

• Spelling Test Thursday.
• Hats for Haiti Thursday-Please donate $1 to the children of Haiti and wear your hat all day!
• Bring an apple to school Thursday to celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday.
• NO SCHOOL on Friday, September 27th due to Professional Development for teachers.
• Weekly Reading Records are due Thursday this week.

Please encourage your first grader to complete their homework assignments and put it in their book bag as soon as they are finished, so they can turn it in the following day.  THANK YOU!

Please give your first grader a big hug!!!  They have been working very hard at school!  First grade is a lot different than kindergarten and I'm so proud of their efforts! (:

A Day in the Life of Your First Grader:

• Shared Reading-We read the story The Chick and the Duckling.  Before reading we made predictions about what the book is about.  We are also working on the short i sound this week so we identified the sound and highlighted words with the short i sound in the story.
• Word Work-Week 5 spelling words are big, where, three, red, me.  We discussed the -ig family (big) and the -ed family (red) words.
• Writer's Workshop-Our main focus has been learning the writing process: Prewriting, Writing, Revising, Editing, and Publishing.  We frequently review how to "stretch words" when writing words we do not know how to spell and what four things all sentences must have to be complete (make sense, begin with a capital letter, have an ending mark, and have space between every word).
• Guided Reading/Daily 4 Centers-We are working hard on practicing our centers and learning how to rotate successfully throughout the four centers.  Next week, we will begin working in our guided reading groups-WOO-HOO!  
• Math-This week's chapter covers addition facts practice and reviewing addition strategies (order property, counting on, doubles facts).
• Science-We enriched our weather unit this week by painting trees for all four seasons.  

Have a great rest of the week.  I hope your child enjoys their extra day off on Friday! (:  

Week of September 11, 2013

REMINDERS:

• Spelling Test on Friday
• Early Dismissal next Wednesday, September 18 at 1:40.  If you have not returned your Early Dismissal/Half Day Dismissal schedule form (half sheet of purple paper) yet, please do ASAP.
• Show and Tell next Wednesday too.  Please refer to the salmon colored Welcome Letter in your Curriculum Night folder for details about this fun learning activity we have on Early Dismissal days.
• Moms and Muffins next Wednesday, September 18 @ 8:00 a.m.

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Shared Reading-This week we read My Five Senses and discussed our five senses and why they are important.  We also talked about the body parts we use for our senses.  We will be partner reading the story this week also.  In our Book Critic journal we are going to write and illustrate a sentences using the 5 sense words.
• Writer's Workshop-We continue to work on our writing stamina.  We are able to write for 25 minutes now-Woo-Hoo!  We are working on making lists of things we can write about (family, things we like to do, favorite places and happy days).  We're making connections to writing for real world purposes-like making a grocery list, writing a letter, writing a card etc...  We continue to work on and review procedures and expectations for Writer's Workshop.
• Daily 4 Centers- Daily 4 Centers include:  Read to Self, Work on Writing, Listen to Reading, and Word Work.  Our focus this week has been learning about and practicing Read to Self, Work on Writing and Listen to Writing.  I am introducing the centers to them, explaining their purpose and my expectations.  I have also set aside time for them to practice the centers so when we begin our guided reading groups and center time in a couple weeks, we know exactly what we should be doing.
• Math-Today we took the Chapter 2 test over addition.  Tomorrow we are beginning Chapter 5 which covers addition strategies.  A green math letter will come home in your first grader's folder tomorrow explaining the concepts we will be focusing on the rest of this week and next week.
• Science-Our focus in this subject is the weather, seasons, and ways to measure the weather.  

THIS AND THAT:

• Please send in any Box Tops for Education that you have on products you buy.  Every classroom is collecting them for our school.

HAVE A GREAT REST OF THE WEEK!  

PATRIOT ASSEMBLY

PATRIOT ASSEMBLY

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

YOU ARE OUR HEROES!

Week of September 3, 2013

Welcome back to our Blog!  We are having a very busy week.

Reminders:

• Spelling Test on Friday over Week 2 words:  and, up, see, come, one.  Don't forget your child can go to www.spellingcity.com to help them practice their spelling words.  You also received the first quarter spelling words a couple weeks ago.
• STAR of THE WEEK-We will begin our this next week.  Please refer to your salmon colored Welcome Letter I enclosed in your Curriculum Night folder.
• Patriot Assembly on Wednesday, September 11th. @ 2:00.  Please remind your child to wear red, white and blue to school on this day.
• Library on Wednesdays.
• If you haven't turned in your child's information about their Early Dismissal/Half Day Dismissal Schedule (purple, half sheet), please do so ASAP.  Thank you!

A Week in the Life of your First Grader:

• Word Work-We are learning to read and spell our Week 2 words.  We will also discuss the spelling patterns of words with a silent e at the end and words in the -ee family (see, fee, knee, Lee...).
• Shared Reading-We are reading the story One Red Rooster.  This story emphasizes color words and number words.  We highlighted these words in the story and participated in activities to reinforce color and number words.
• Writer's Workshop-Writing is hard work!  Your first grader is learning how to stretch words they do not know how to spell.  We have been talking about other strategies we can use when we do not know how to spell words in our stories.  We can also "read the room" for words we want to spell or use other resources such as story books or our Word Power book we keep in our red Writing folder.
• Science-We began our science unit today on Weather.  We discussed how the water cycle works.

Soon I will have information for you how to order books online from Scholastic Book Clubs.  It's great because you acquire new books for home and we can earn new books for our classroom!  

Happy Friday (almost)!!