RED RIBBON WEEK

Red Ribbon Week Oct. 22-26

Monday - "I Elect to be Drug Free," wear red, white and blue

Tuesday - "Put On Your Thinking Caps," wear your favorite hat

Wednesday - "Be Proud to be Drug-Free ," wear red 

Thursday - "Make It a Goal to Stay Drug-Free," It is school picture day, so dress for success! 

Friday- “Team Spirit Day” Wear your favorite team colors

To show our support by “just saying no to drugs” all week we will be collecting pantry items. The following are suggested items:

All items should be individual 

serving sizes (for example, do not buy large bottles of juice or large containers of grits—buy juice 

boxes/pouches and packets of grits instead).

 Nature Valley Sweet§ & Salty Nut Bars or other granola bars

 Kellogg`s Rice Krispies Treats—individually packaged squares§

 Kellogg`s single-serving cereal boxes (variety pack)§

 Fruit Snacks packets (gummy/chewy type, preferably made with fruit juice)§

 Instant oatmeal packets§

 Instant grits packets§

 Juice boxes or juice pouches§

 Slim Jims§

 Applesauce cups or mixed fruit cups (peel-off plastic or pop-top lids)§

 Mandarin oranges (small or 4-oz. cups or pop-top cans)§

 Maruchan Ramen noodles packages§

 Maruchan Instant Lunch noodle bowls§

 Lance Crackers—any variety (not cookies)§

 Chef Boyardee Ravioli—pop-top 7-oz. cans§

 Chef Boyardee Spaghetti§ & Meatballs—pop-top 7-oz. cans

 Microwaveable macaroni and cheese cups§

Moving Right Along

Wow, doesn't this cooler weather feel amazing!!! I know my family and I have enjoyed being outside and not sweating to death. Below is a wrap up of all the fabulous things your learners have been up to the last two weeks. 

Math
In math, students have been exploring telling time to the hour, counting back by 1's, and counting by 2s and 5s. We have also been reviewing compliments of ten. Being able to understand how to make 10 in different ways is an important math skill. We have just begun exploring counting pennies and nickels. This is where counting by 5s and 1s becomes such an important skill. Start collecting nickels and pennies at home and have your mathematician help you count the change. At my house, if you can count it, you can keep it. This really motivates my children to do their best thinking.

Reading
In reading students have been learning about how readers choose books. This is preparation for their big day to shop for books themselves at the end of the week. Students will learn that we P.I.C.K books by looking for these for things. 
Purpose- Am I reading for fun, or to learn something?
Interest- Is this something I like or what to know more about?
Comprehension- Do I understand what I am reading?
Know all the words- Am I able to read most or all of the words?

We continue to add to our reading toolbox. We have been focusing on checking the picture and thinking about what makes sense. Our comprehension focus has been making connections. Readers have been sharing personal stories that help them understand the stories they are reading. We have done this whole class with The Bear Who Wouldn't Share and individually with books from our book tubs. Encourage your reader to make connections at home to things you read together. We say "This story reminds me of ________ because____________." Share your connections with your reader during a favorite read aloud. Make sure to tell them which part of the story reminds you of that event or story. Then have them do the same.  

Writing
As writers we have been spending time investigating through various books and stories, and we were answering the question "What do writers write about?". We have discovered that writers write about:
People they know-Julius Baby of the World
Favorite things-Owen 
Everyday lives-Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Feelings- Today I feel Silly
Special times-A Birthday for Frances
Places we've been-When I Grew Up in the Mountains

We are beginning a new unit in writing that will focus on "small moments", also known as personal narratives. We continue to look at conventions that published authors use such as spacing, capital letters only at the beginning of sentences and names, and an ending punctuation mark. We will continue to work on these as we journey through this next unit as well. 

Word Study
We continue to review high frequency words from the story. We are also studying the ap and ag word families. We are learning how knowing these families helps us as readers and writers. Please continue to review high frequency words. If your student can read them, begin working on having them learn to write them from memory. We will begin having a spelling progress check each Friday with the words of the week and the word family of the week. 

Historians
In social studies we have begun looking at schools long ago and today. Our featured big book this week was Schools Then and Now. Students have been comparing and contrasting schools today and long ago. They have been discussing things like the size of classes, how students got to school, who went to school, supplies, 
lunch, helping out, and music and art. Be on the look out for some student work to be posted to the blog later this week. 

We Are On Our Way

Wow, what an amazing start to the beginning of our first grade year here's a look into what is happening in our room.

 

 

Math

In math we have finished unit one, and we continue to review counting by 2s, 5s, and 10's. We have begun to count back from the number 20.

We have also been working with complements of ten. Making ten in different ways is very important math skill that will be assessed multiple times during this unit. Students will soon be introduced to unit labels, telling time, and counting pennies and nickels. It is essential that students know how to count by 5s and 1s so that counting money does not become difficult. Please begin collecting change so your child can have numerous opportunities to count money.

Please review skip counting for a few minutes each day. If your child can already count up by 5s and 10s, have your mathmatician practice counting back by 5s and 10s.



 

Writers Workshop

 

Writers continue to review a variety of spelling strategies such as using the word wall to spell high frequency words, stretching words in order to hear and record sounds and using rhyming patterns to write new words. Students also are begining to participate in writing conferences and are sharing their writing with the whole group.

 

Reading Workshop

 



Readers continue to deepen their knowledge and understanding of different reading strategies. Students are learning that readers have reading tool kits. Tools they use to help them figure out unknown words and to build comprehension. During independent reading, I have begun listening to individual children read in order to assess each child’s strengths and ways to move each child forward as a reader. We are almost at 20 minutes of continuous reading. We have been working hard to build our stamina.  Readers will soon begin choice time during our literacy block. Readers will soon have the choice to read big books, work on writing, participate in word work games, read with a partner and listen to stories on the computer. I will use this time to small guided reading groups based on need.

In addition to independent reading, each day we come together as a class and read a selected big book, poem or song together, called shared reading. The last two weeks we have read I Went Walking, The Bear Who Wouldn't Share and Silly Sally. Shared reading promotes fluency and helping students learn high frequency words.

Please be sure to return your readers weekly reading log each Friday.

 

Social Studies and Science

 

We have been learning what scientist do. We have learned that as scientist we use our senses to make observations and classify objects by different characteristics. Scientist are curious and wonder about the world around them. In social studies, we have been learning about friendship, community, and teamwork.  

 

We had a great time learning about how to stay safe in our homes and in our communities.

 





 

Reminders

 

Be sure to pack a healthy snack each day for your learner. We have begun eating our snack while we read, so send in snacks that aren't too messy, we say no drips or dips.

 

Also the mornings have begun to get cooler while the afternoons are warming up, please take a moment to put your child's name in all jackets or sweater. Our classroom can get chilly, so some students have been keeping a light weight jacket or sweather in their book bag, be sure these are labled as well.

 

We have had several accidents at lunch and on the playground where students have needed a change of clothes, be sure to have weather appropriate extra clothes in your child book bag. This will keep you from having to come to school with a change of clothes.

 



Please make sure your learner is using pencil to complete his or her homework and that their name is on the homework.

 

Thanks again for your support! We are off to a fantastic year :D