Science: We started our unit on "Space" last week and will continue to read and learn more this week. During this unit we will read about the sun and the moon and do a special project for each. Last week, we discussed and read about the process of day and night. This week, we will create a solar system poster of the planets. When reading about the sun, the students were amazed that the sun is 93,000,000 miles away from the Earth. We also learned that the sun is a star and that it is not the biggest star. At the reading corner, I have many books about the planets, the sun, and the moon and they have enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading interesting facts.
Math: Last week, we started our chapter on "Measurement". We started this chapter by doing a few hands-on activities with measuring length using nonstandard units, such as paper clips, tiles, and unifix cubes. We also used the vocabulary of shorter, shortest, longer, and longest when comparing the lengths of two or more objects. We will also do lessons on telling time to the hour and half hour. This would be something you could practice at home. I thought it was "cute" for while doing one of our measuring activities last week, one of the students said "This is Math!"We have been working so hard on lessons involving addition, subtraction, problem solving, and 2-digit addition and subtraction that they felt this was a nice break and had fun working in small groups to measure things. Of course, we won't forget about the facts and will continue doing our timings, as well as practice with equality.
Reading: This week, we will complete Unit 5 and the Unit 5 reading test will be given at the end of the week. Within each unit, the students were exposed to new phonics skills, new vocabulary words, a set of 10 spelling words, comprehension and grammar skills, as well as 2 stories in our basal each week. We will begin Unit 6 the week of March 31st. Unit 6 is the final unit in first grade, which means once it starts, five more weeks of new skills and spelling words. I am so impressed with how well the kids have done with the large group reading lessons. I feel they enjoy the stories and lessons and I have been amazed with their progress as readers. Writing activities are also connected each week. Our learning goals last week were to read and spell words with the "or" sound, to make inferences as we read, and our grammar lessons focused on using number words as adjectives. This week, our learning goals will be to read and spell words with er, ir, and ur. We will also learn about and identify antonyms and synonyms. Later this week, check to see if your child can give examples of each. Our comprehension skill will be to classify and categorize information in a story.
Iowa Assessments: These tests will be given the week of March 24th. You will receive a letter with more information about this from Mrs. Ruch this week. During the testing week, we will not do new lessons for large group reading/Treasures, but we will be doing guided reading. This will be the first time your child has taken them, for first grade is the first year Fairview starts them. They used to be called the "Iowa Tests of Basic Skills", but have been updated the past two years. I usually test about 45 minutes each day. We will stop and stretch and take a break during that time. Sitting that long for 1st graders can be difficult. We will do a few practice pages this week to prepare. "Listening" will be the key for I read lots of directions to them and sometimes I can only repeat them once. First Grade does the following sections: vocabulary, word analysis, math concepts/skills, language (capitalization, punctuation, grammar usage, spelling), and math computation.
Summer Birthdays: If your child has a birthday in the summer I will be sending a note home soon with a date in either April or May that we will celebrate their special day at school.
Star Student: Emily and John were most recently featured. Emily likes to drink Dr. Pepper and eat pizza. She collects pictures of her friends and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Her favorite toy is her ipod. John likes to drink juice and eat spaghetti. When he grows up he wants to be a doctor. His favorite movie is "Wreck-it Ralph" and his favorite thing to do is play the ipad.
Report Cards: will be sent home on Wednesday, the 19th for the 3rd quarter. Please return the brown envelope and keep what is inside. We need these to send end of the year reports. When looking at your child's report card the following was used to determine whether your child received a 1, 2, or 3. A "1" indicates that they were below 80% on independent work. A "2" indicates they were at 80% or above on independent. Some 3's were given in a few areas if the end of the year goal was met. If your child read 68 words per minute or more, they received a 3 for fluency. A 3 was also earned for the following math concepts if they mastered it: name and value of coins, writing numbers to 120, adding and subtracting facts to 10 where a timing was administered for 5 seconds per problem. If you have any questions about your child's report cards, you can contact me at Fairview or send me an e-mail at knees@carrolltigers.org
To close, I need your help in reinforcing the importance of good work habits. Please help me out by going over your child's papers and encourage them that being neat this time of the year is also very important and that we should be showing our very best work at the end of first grade. I've been reinforcing the pillar of "responsibility" and stressing the importance of following all directions, putting names on our paper, and working neatly. I also remind them daily of the importance of active listening/participation and how important this is during the learning process. Also, if you would like to donate either clorox wipes or black dry-erase markers (thin or thick) to our classroom, we are in need and will run out before the year ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment