Week of November 16th

Dear First Grade Families,

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and had a chance to get outside and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Please remember that all family projects should be completed and sent in by tomorrow (November 16th). So far we have enjoyed hearing about some of the families in class and are looking forward to learning about more friends. This week we will continue learning about different families. Also, we invite you to come to our classroom on November 18th at 2:15. We are planning on presenting a Reader's Theater about the 1st Thanksgiving and sharing some fun math games with you. Don't forget to send in the form on the bottom of the "family project" to let us know how many family members will be attending. Thank you!

The week before last we had a blast celebrating our personal narrative writing! We turned our classroom into a writing museum and had a chance to visit various exhibits/authors to learn about their stories. The pictures below show the fun we had!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Last week we started our next writing unit on Informational texts. The students are learning to write "all about" books that teach the reader about a particular topic. In kindergarten, the students learned to write "how to" books and we are trying to move away from this type of writing and move on to telling ALL about a particular topic. To date the students are writing informational books about families, dogs, cats, baseball and football. I'm so excited to see all that my writers know a lot about!

In Reader's Workshop we have started our nonfiction unit. We have learned how to compare fiction and nonfiction books. We also started to investigate nonfiction text features and will continue this week also. We will look for features such as table of contents, glossary, index, maps, comparisons, close ups, diagrams, maps, etc. Most of the reading work we work on in class will remain here until we finish much of our initial learning. The students are working on completing a nonfiction workbook, which we will send home when it is finished. Below are some pictures of the students sorting fiction and nonfiction book titles using Scholastic flyers.

 

 


Our phonics instruction will focus on consonant digraphs. Throughout week ahead we will look at the sh, ch, th and wh digraph. We will continue this next week as well but will also introduce the ph sound.

I was AMAZED at how well the students did on their topic #3 test!!! They did such a FANTASTIC job! I hope you were as proud of them as I was. We started topic 4 (addition and subtraction facts to 12) last week and will continue this up to the Thanksgiving vacation. This unit will focus on adding doubles, near doubles (doubles +1, +2) and adding 0, 1 and 2 more. Here are some pictures of math games last week.

 

 

Eagle's book fair will take place this week. A flyer went home last week with supporting details. Our class will be able to take a sneak peek at the books on Tuesday morning. The students will create a "wish list" of books they may like to purchase. You may shop with your child after your visit on Wednesday or during any other of the times listed on the flyer. If you are unable to come to school during the set hours to purchase books, but would like to order some good books for your child, feel free to send money in an envelope and we will find time during lunch/recess to visit the sale. If you would like to set parameters as to which books you would like your child to buy, please note them on the envelope or a separate piece of paper. Thank you!

Also, I have only received notification from about 3 families about wanting to share "family traditions." If you have a tradition or something interesting/fun to share with us about your family, please let me know. I will be trying to come up with a schedule by the end of the week. Thank you and enjoy your week!

Fondly,
Kerry

Week of November 2nd

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Halloween! I know I sure was pooped! Hope everyone took advantage of the extra hour of sleep, however I was reminded today that it really doesn't count if you have children - very true!! We had so much fun last week building and decorating our haunted houses. It was so nice to see everyone and share in the fun together! Thank you so much to everyone who donated supplies and yummy treats for us to use. This event wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for your help - THANK YOU!  I would also like to thank everyone who donated gift cards and money towards our 1st grade silent auction basket. Together with the other first grade classes, we were able to put together a basket with about $250 dollars worth of gift cards!! AMAZING!! Be sure to check out the silent auction on November 3rd. Please note that we dismiss at 12:10 on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


Over the next two months we will take a break from learning about seeds and we will move our unit of study onto Families. We will read, write and learn about how families are different, change over time and study families of long ago. This will tie in nicely as we learn all about the first Thanksgiving. This week I will be sending home a fun Family mobile project for you to complete with your child. Stay tuned! As we learn about families, we will also explore family traditions. If your family has a fun, different or special family tradition that you would like to share with our class, we invite you to come in over the next two months to share with us. In the past, families have come in to simply talk about their tradition, share a book related to the tradition, share a recipe or dish of food, play a game, etc. We would love to have you share with us, but ask that if you would like to come in, that you limit your "presentation" to 15-20 minutes. Please email me if you would like to schedule a visit.

The third week in November is American Education Week. This is always a fun time at Eagle because families are welcome to come into the classrooms to share in some fun learning activities. We invite you to join us on November 18th at 2:15 for some fun activities. We are tentatively planning on performing a Reader's Theater for you and teaching you some fun math games!

This week in Reader's Workshop we will be working on decoding strategies. We will talk a lot about what to do when you are stuck on a word as a reader. I will post pictures of these strategies next week for you to reference as you read with your child at home.

Last week in Writer's Workshop my writers worked feverishly to choose and publish a personal narrative that they were most proud of. They revised to make sure they had their best 1st grade work. Finally the students published their story in a new booklet, complete with a title and cover page. They did a FANTASTIC job and I am so PROUD of them!! We will share these books this week and keep them in our classroom library before sending them home. We will step away from our "formal" writing program this week as we spend some time writing about our family.

Thank you so much for your continued support!
Kerry