October 24-28th Newsletter

 First Grade Newsletter

October 24-28th

Literacy

Reading Street: Unit 1 Week 4

Main selection:  Fox and a Kit

Weekly Question:  How do wild animals take care of their babies?
Amazing Words: observe, wild, parent, canopy, screech, million, native, reserve
High-Frequency Words: eat, five, four, her, this, too
Phonics Target: Inflected Endings -s and -ing

Comprehension skills:  Main idea and Details
Comprehension strategy: Important Details

Genres:  Literary Nonfiction
Reading Street Parent Connection:

• Unit 1 Family Talk letter for concept conversation starters and 6 week overview of the unit. 
• Family Times gives various activities that can be done at home that connect to the concept we're learning this week.
• Practice reading phonics and sight words for Unit 1, Week 4 (fourth column only).   

Fundations: Unit 4 (Week 1 of 2)

 ** Unit 3 Test on Thursday**

Students will learn about...

• Bonus letter spelling rule: ff, ll, ss, and sometimes zz
• Glued sound: all
• Observe the form of a narrative story (character, setting, and main events) 
• Punctuation: exclamation point and quotation marks
• Story: The Big Mess
• Sight words: you, your, I, they

Math in Focus

Chapter 3

Addition to 10 

Thinking Skills
- Analyzing parts and a whole
- Deduction

Problem Solving Strategies 
- Act it Out
 - Draw a diagram

Objectives

      - Count on to add 
   - Use number bonds to add in any order

- - Write and solve addition sentences
- - Tell and write addition stories about pictures

*

Science

Seasons-We will be learning about what makes up each season and the order they are in throughout the year this week. The class will be having whole and small group discussions, observing the outdoors and videos of the outdoors during each season, and creating a four square showing what a tree would look like in all four seasons. 

Social Studies

     We will be focusing on how adult animals take care of their babies through our weekly readings. This week the children will work to answer the question, "How do wild animals take care of their babies?"

For our character education this week, we will continue our discussion on feelings and empathy in our second unit of Second Steps. Students are learning how to figure out what someone else is feeling (looking on their face and at their body) in different social situations. We will be identifying different emotions and putting what we know into action through activities that help us practice the listening strategies and skills for learning that we have learned in our previous lessons. 

 Specialists

MONDAY: Music 

TUESDAY: P.E.

WEDNESDAY: Music

THURSDAY: P.E.

FRIDAY: Art, Music

  

Writing Workshop

Six Traits of Writing~ Ideas
     This week we will begin the first steps to writing our very first story. Each student will be looking at their heart inventory paper to find ideas of what topic they would like to write about. Once the students have a topic, they will write five important details they want to share in their story about the topic. These details will be in one or two word phrases on the Five Finger Detail organizer. By giving students the organizer, the focus will be more on five solid details about the topic than writing a proper sentence.
     The students did a great job writing some facts they learned about the birds (owls or falcons) we saw at the Wingmasters assembly last week. This week they’ll learn how to create an introduction and closing to complete their informative writing.

This week’s mini-lessons will include…

• Choose a topic 
• Use important details to tell about a topic
• Use spacing in between words 
• How to write an introduction and closing

                   Parent Reminders

1.  Homework Reading Log- Please make sure to write down the discussion question number(s) you and your child talk about each night you read underneath the title of the book.

2. Dialogue Journals- Please send in your child's dialogue journal with the second letter completed before Wednesday. If there is a letter written to your child after their second letter, the third letter they will write should be a response to my letter. If there is no letter written from me after your child's second letter, they are able to write to me about anything they want. This dialogue journal is help me get to know your child more and practice their writing skills.
3. Library- Our library day is on Mondays. Please help your child in remembering to bring in their book.
4. Unit 1 Reading Card- I recorded how many of the phonics and high-frequency words your child read correctly. I also starred the words he/she did not read correctly. This week they will practice the fourth column of words. Please note I am looking for your child to be able to read these words with automaticity (within 3 seconds). If your child needs a new list, please let me know. (Reminder: please return these on Fridays.) 
5. Parent Conferences-All conference confirmation slips went home between last week and today. If the time no longer works for you, please let me know ASAP.
6. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. The West Parish community will be showing our support by wearing pink this Thursday. Please join in! 
7. Please let me know if you are interested in helping get the children dressed for our Halloween parade on Friday. I’m looking for 3 volunteers! Thanks!
9. Halloween parade is this Friday at 2:25pm. Please send a costume that fits in your child’s backpack and they can put on themselves over their clothes. If you would like to dismiss your child after the parade, please send a note in. 

Have a great week!

Miss Biggar

Homework for the Week

 Daily

Reading Words (Phonics/Sight)

Reading Log (with discussion questions)
Number/Letter formation

Monday:  Reading Log (due on Friday)

Tuesday: Color by Addition (due on Wednesday)

Wednesday: Dialogue Journal (due on Friday)
Thursday: Black Cat Poem (due on Friday)