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! (: