November News #2

We continue to work hard in our first grade classroom. It's hard to believe that the holiday season is almost upon us. As I look back to the beginning of the year, I am so proud of the progress that everyone has made in all areas. As readers, everyone has increased their guided reading level at least two levels. In math, we are becoming more fluent in recognizing our basic addition and subtraction facts. As writers, we are working hard at creating at least 2 complete sentences.

Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with the long a sound. We also identified verbs in sentences. Check to see if your child can tell you what a "verb" is? Our comprehension goal was to make predictions as we read. This week our goals will be to read and spell words with the s blends (sl, sw, sp, sn, sw, st, sc, sk, spr, squ, str), we will continue identifying verbs in sentences and will decide whether the verb is past or present tense. Our comprehension goal will be to compare and contrast information after reading a story. We continue to have guided reading groups almost daily, which means they are bringing a book home to share with you. Thanks for taking the time to listen to your child read and signing the log sheets. It is amazing to see how many books we have read so far.

Math: This week, we will complete chapter 4, which focused on "Subtraction Strategies" and take the end of the chapter test on Tuesday. This will be sent home after they are checked. This chapter focused on the following strategies: Counting back, Think Addition to Subtract, Use 10 to Subtract, and break apart to Subtract. We did lots of the lessons together for most of these strategies wanted them to record their thinking and this required practice and modeling. I was impressed with how well they listened during our lessons and they are now showing me what they can do independently on seatwork pages. We also worked on using the strategies we learned while problem solving. Later in the week, we will begin Chapter 5 which is titled "Addition and Subtraction Relationships". At home, you can help your child become more fluent with their facts by doing flashcards or just giving them a set of problems written on paper. We will be working on facts within 20 this school year, which means addition sums to 20 and in subtraction the starting number will be 20 or below.

Units: Last week, we started to read and explore "Magnets". The kids always enjoy this unit for their is lots of interesting hands-on activities to go with it. We will work in a packet this week and learn interesting facts and at the end of the week, eight stations will be set up to discover what we have learned and they will rotate and get to explore at each one. Following magnets, we will read and learn about "Forces".

Lost: A student in our classroom has lost one of their gym shoes. It is a black Boys Under Armour shoe. Please check your child's book bag to see if it may have ended up in there. I have checked all the lockers and haven't found it yet. Thanks!!

Star Student: Cody and Taidyn have most recently been featured. Cody likes to drink apple cider and eat spaghetti. His favorite place is the Boone Railroad and he likes books about tractors. When he grows up he wants to be a gym teacher. Taidyn likes to drink hot cocoa and eat Chinese. He likes to wear cowboy boots and go to his Grandma's house. When he grows up he wants to be a Figure 8 Race Car Driver.

The students enjoyed taking the time to celebrate "Filling our Bucket" on Friday. Pajama and Movie Day was fun and a "nice" break from our regular routine. We are now starting to fill our bucket again to earn another party.  I'd like to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the time off with your families. Thanksgiving break is November 27th-December 1st.