I apologize for my tardiness in my weekly updates - better late than never! I hope you all had a great weekend enjoying the beautiful fall weather.
This week we completed our study about apples. Last week we had a taste test, learned about how apples grow and learned all about Johnny Appleseed. To wrap up our learning, we celebrated Johnny Appleseed's birthday by making applesauce. The students worked very hard this morning to slice and dice apples before putting them in the crock pot. Unfortunately, my crock pot had a small glitch - when I plugged it in, the circuit breaker tripped and I never noticed it until midway through the day! Knowing that warm, somewhat hard apples wouldn't be too appetizing, I spiced up the treat with an added bonus - ICE CREAM! I think my mistake was a HUGE hit with the students!
Our science curriculum will continue as we learn about seeds. We will explore various seeds within the foods we eat and we will also have fun dissecting and growing lima beans. This is sure to be a fun science unit!
Our reading will continue to focus on Daily 5. The students have been doing a great job of Reading to Self, Working on Writing and we have started learning to Read to Someone. When we read with a partner, we sit EEKK (elbow to elbow, knee to knee). We also learned how to whisper read with a partner. While the students are independently working, I have been reading with students in order to form guided reading groups. I hope to start reading with formal groups early next week. The students will be bringing home reading bags with books that we have been working on in class. This is a great way for you to see how well your child is reading and using strategies to decode words. Please take these opportunities to celebrate the great work that your child is doing in first grade! I also ask that you read the book with your child the night it comes home and send it back within a day or two so that other students may begin reading them as well.
In Math we will wrap up our unit on adding numbers and part-part-whole. We will have our first assessment (test) tomorrow. I do my best not to make this a stressful time for my students. In fact, I never even mention the word test. I tell them that it is simply a chance to show what they know so that I know if I did my job well! Once the assessment is scored, I ask that you review, sign and promptly return to school. On Wednesday we will begin our second math unit - Subtraction. In this unit, students will be able to subtract whole numbers (I have 8 pencils, I gave my sister 5. How many do I have left?), identify the missing part (I have 8 pencils. If 5 are on top of my desk, how many are inside?), and compare quantities (I have 8 pencils. My brother has 5 pencils. How many more pencils do I have?).
During Writer's workshop we will continue working on our personal narratives. We have talked a lot about how we can write a whole story just from one small moment in our lives. In class we have discussed that a small moment is just like the seed of a watermelon. We want to stick to tiny/small moments instead of telling large watermelon stories. The students were also given their very own writing partner. These partners are there to help us brainstorm ideas and to ask us questions that will make our writing better.
Please remember to return your child's reading log each Friday. I am planning on starting our first grade homework regimen next week. Please be on the lookout for math homework to begin on Monday or Tuesday. I will hold off on spelling homework for a few more weeks. I figure it's better to start off small.
I hope you all have a great week!
Kerry
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