Week of January 25th

Dear First Grade Families,

I hope you all had a nice weekend!  I have to admit that I'm happy that we didn't get hit with the huge snow storm, a little bit would have been nice! If you haven't sent in your conference time preferences, please do so as soon as you can as times have filled up quickly. For those of you who have responded, I did my very best to accommodate everyone as best I could. Please let me know if there is a problem and I can try to find another time to reschedule.

The week ahead is busy, but we will end the week with a fun assembly!

Here's a look at the week ahead:

Spelling: This week the students will learn all about long i spelled -igh, -ie and -y. We will read books containing these patterns as well as engage in other fun learning activities and games to help reinforce this skill. Spelling words will come home tomorrow. Please find time each night to practice spelling words with your child and return the packet each day.

Reading Workshop:  We are kicking off one of my favorite reading units - Learning All About Characters! I have a lot of really neat books ready to get us thinking about character traits! Here are some of the objectives we will cover in this unit:

• character's actions and likes/dislikes to predict a pattern.
• Use different parts of the story to gather clues about the character.
• Use the characters' words to learn more about them.
• Use the pictures to think about how the characters feel.
• Step into the characters' shoes to imagine what the character is thinking.
• Use what happens to a character on a specific page to better understand the character.
• Use the way the character feels in the beginning, middle and end of the story to understand how the character changes.
• Make personal connections to the characters, thinking "Would I feel the same way?"
• Make connections between characters asking "Do I know another character who feels this way?"
• Use the way the character changes to think about what the character might have learned.
• Use the text to support their ideas about the characters.

Writing: The students did a remarkable job working on their informational pieces. I was extremely proud of their growth as writers! This week marks the start of another writing journey - Writing Reviews! This is the continuation of the persuasive/opinion writing the students did in kindergarten. There is quite a bump up in this unit and some concepts can be tricky. We will work through these concepts slowly in hopes of making this a smooth transition. I hope everyone had a chance to look at the PURPLE note that was in your child's folder on Friday. Each student will need to bring in a "collection" of 10 items that can fit in a shoe box (or similar sized box) by Monday. We will be using these collections to drive the beginning of our learning. The items should be different enough so that your child (and other students) can form opinions about the items and choose their favorites. For example, a collection of 10 hairbands would be difficult to compare because only the color would be different. A collection of 10 seashells, 10 matchbox cars or 10 beanie babies would be better examples. It would be easier to compare and choose a favorite item from these examples because the items are different sizes, shapes and colors - even though they all belong to the same collection,The students will use their collection for a few weeks and then they will bring them home. Please contact me with any questions.

Science: We kicked off our weather unit last week. Each day we assign two students to be our meteorologists. They will give us the Beaufort scale for wind and the temperature. So far the students are enjoying their learning. This week we will look at temperature. So far all of our completed learning activities have been kept in their weather folder. I will send these home when we finish or when they get too full : ) .

Math:  We will finish up Topic 6 on Monday before moving onto our next learning adventure - Counting and Number Patterns to 120. In this unit we will learn that counting and place value patterns can be seen on a hundred chart, that numbers 11-20 can be shown as a group of 10 and up to 10 more, that decade numbers are built on groups of ten, and we will also practice skip counting.

As you can see we are in for a busy week with A LOT of NEW learning! I really enjoy watching your children grow and learn each day! Have a great week!

Kerry

Week of January 11th

We are back into the swing of things in our first grade classroom. The boys and girls were excited to see each other and share stories after our vacation. We even got to welcome a new friend into our classroom last week - welcome Hunter!!

This week the students will once go through AIMS testing. These are very short subtests which we try to keep very low key as not to pressure the students. Each student will be pulled out of our classroom for a few minutes to work with another teacher in our building to complete these assessments.

Report card season is also upon us. Last week I spent some quality time with each student one on one to assess his/her reading progress. Each student has made great gains since the last time I worked with them individually. This growth deserves celebration!! I have a few more assessments to complete before we form our new guided reading groups. I will be sending home a note in your child's folder tomorrow regarding parent teacher conferences. February conferences are optional and can be requested by either teacher or parent. Please check your child's folder on Monday for more information.

Here's a peek into the week ahead:

Spelling: This week we will focus on the long e sound spelled ee and ea. The students took a pre-test last week and will be given their new words tomorrow based on the results of the pre-test. There is no rule about when to use ee/ea, so we will get good at studying these patterns within words in order to help solidify their understanding. Please remember to work on your child's spelling words each night and return the spelling homework each day. Feel free to also add more words to your child's homework routine if you feel he/she has a good handle on their spelling words.

Writer's Workshop: We are nearing the end of our informational writing unit. This week the students will choose a piece they would like to bring into the publishing stage. The work they have been doing is incredible!

Reading Workshop: We are in the final stretch of our nonfiction reading unit. There are a few more activities that I have planned before we move onto our next unit - studying character traits and observing how characters change. This week my plan is to compare and contrast fiction and nonfiction texts on the same topic.

Math: We have completed our 5th unit in math and will have a "Show Me" tomorrow. On Tuesday we will begin topic 6 - Subtraction facts to 20. Students will learn that subtraction facts with teen numbers can be simplified by making use of the number relationships to 10. They will also learn that addition and subtraction have an inverse relationship. The inverse relationship between addition and subtraction can be used to find subtraction facts (every subtraction fact has a related addition fact). We will also solve word problems. We will learn to interpret diagrams and pictures in order to understand various problems.

Science: This week we are jumping into one of my favorite science units - WEATHER!! This week we will brainstorm weather words, share what we already know about weather and create our weather logs, which will hold most of our reports on our learning. I hope to start discussing wind by mid-late week. Please note that some of our learning/data recordings will be sent home, but others will be kept in our weather logs and will be sent home at the end of our unit.

I sent home the Scholastic book order form last week. Please note that I will be placing the order on January 15th. Please remember to order books online by this date.

It doesn't look like snow is in the forecast, but please remember that the students do go outside most days and need appropriate clothing for the colder weather. Please remember to send in warm gloves, hats and coats with your child.

I hope you all have a pleasant week. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Kerry