Mrs. Gaudiello's 1st Grade: Week of December 7th

Dear Families,
Our classroom is completely in the holiday spirit! The boys and girls had a chance to briefly meet a new friend named "Globe Trot Scott" last week. He is a friend who travels all over the globe learning about different cultures, traditions and celebrations. Last week he left us several small packages with "souvenirs" from France, Mexico and Italy. He brought us some books, fact sheets, crafts and some yummy treats too! We are excited to continue using our "Globetrotter Airways" tickets to travel to more places in the weeks to come! The students are compiling their artifacts and facts sheets in a very special suitcase which we plan on sharing with you later this month. In keeping with the holiday spirit, we invite you to join us in our classroom on December 22nd at 2:15 for some learning fun and treats! We certainly hope you can make it!!

This week we also had a nice visit from Mrs. Libutti sharing one of her family traditions. The students learned all about their Thanksgiving tradition and had a chance to taste yummy cinnamon rolls while listening to some great Thanksgiving books. Thank you Mrs. Libutti!

Spelling: The students did a FANTASTIC job on their 1st formal spelling test with "a silent e" and "i silent e"! I was so proud of them! Thank you for all of your work in helping your child practice his/her spelling words and in helping them complete the homework assignments for the week. This week we will continue with silent e words while focusing on o_e and u_e. Please look for the new spelling lists to be sent home tomorrow. You will also notice that this weeks words will most likely have 8 pattern words and 2 priority words.

Reading: Last week we got into the groove of working in our guided reading groups as I spent the week before re-assessing most of the students on their reading skills. We adjusted groups and many of the students made some gains in their reading - YAY! Please remember to spend at least 15-20 minutes reading 5 days each week. Thank you for returning the reading bags that have I have been sending home with the students. These are the books we have been working with throughout the week and the purpose of sending them home is for the students to "show off" all of their hard work! Please take a few minutes to share in their joy of learning and reading! During Reader's Workshop, we have been investigating non fiction texts. We have learned all about the text features of non fiction books. Last week we started to "close read" several texts. Close reading simply means that you look at a text several times over the course of several days to gain a deeper understanding. The students are also learning to mark up their texts using various symbols to denote unfamiliar words, important parts, key words and things that surprise them. This is an upper level skill, but they sure are understanding it and having fun! We began this exploration by eating an Oreo cookie. The students ate it as fast as they could and when they finished told me what they ate - a cookie. Then they were asked to eat another one, but this time they had to eat it slowly and use their senses to really think about what they were eating. After eating the second time, they were able to tell me SO much more about the cookie. We explored things like it's texture, ingredients, what it smelled like, tasted like and much more! This was a really fun and neat way to get them to understand what we would be doing as close readers. This week we will continue to look at non fiction as readers. We will read some more books independently and note important vocabulary, facts and questions we still have as readers. These 1st graders amaze me each day at what they are able to accomplish - even when it seems hard!!

Writing: We are continuing with our Informational writing unit. We are getting stronger each day! Last week we had a lot of fun learning all about adding a table of contents. They are learning to chop up their topic into smaller pieces and add titles that are interesting, short and keep the reader interested! Many students are also adding "fun facts" and glossaries. We will most likely finish this unit right before break or shortly after. Here are some pictures of our authors collaborating to come up with a table of contents for a "celebration" book.