November 14th-18th Newsletter

First Grade Newsletter

November 14-18th

Literacy

*End of Unit 1 Test will be on Tuesday*
Reading Street: Unit 2 Week 1

Main selection:  A Big Fish for Max

Weekly Question:  What does a family do together?
Amazing Words: chore, household, cooperation, rule, commute, subway, downtown, display
High-Frequency Words: catch, good, no, put, said, want
Phonics Target: digraphs sh, th; /ol/ sound in ball

Comprehension skills:  Sequence
Comprehension strategy: Predict; Set a purpose

Genres:  Animal Fantasy, Literary Nonfiction
Reading Street Parent Connection:

• Unit 2 Family talk letter for concept conversation starters and 6-week overview of the unit. (Sent home November 16th)
• Family Times gives various activities that can be done at home that connect to the concept we're learning this week. 
• Practice reading words (see white sheet sent home Wednesday) for Unit 2, Week 1 (first column). 

Fundations: Unit 5, Week 1

Students will learn about...

• Two new glued or welded sounds: /am/ and /an/ as in 'ham' and 'pan'. 
• Observe the form of a narrative story (character, setting, and main events) 
• Story: The Big Mess
• Sight words: from, have, do, does

Math in Focus

**Chapter 4 Test on Friday**
Chapter 4

Subtraction Facts to 10 

Thinking Skills
- Analyzing parts and a whole

Problem Solving Strategies 
- Guess and check

Objectives

                                                                                  - Take away to subtract
                                        - Count on OR back to subtract
                                        - Use number bonds to subtract
                                        - Write and solve subtraction sentences.
                                        - Tell subtraction

*

Science

We will not be starting a new science unit until after Thanksgiving. We will continue with some Science mini-lessons while our main focus is on Social Studies. 
Our science learning is embedded in our reading program. This week we will be focusing on observing wild animals to gather information about them.

Social Studies

Thanksgiving Unit
We will be working on developing an understanding of life as a colonist and a Wampanoag Native American. We’ll wrap up learning about each of their homes and move onto learning about what they wore.
Second Steps—We began our Empathy Unit last week with identifying feelings. This week we are learning the similarities and differences of emotional expressions and body language in specific situations.

 Specialists

MONDAY: Music 

TUESDAY: P.E.

WEDNESDAY: Music

THURSDAY: Early Release

FRIDAY: Music & Art

Writing Workshop

Six Traits of Writing~ Ideas

     This week we will wrap up and complete all of the writing that we started over the past couple of weeks (falcon and owl pieces as well as the students' own stories). 

Framing Your Thoughts~ First Barebone Book
The students will begin brainstorming subjects (nouns) and predicates (verbs) that have to do with Fall. Each student will write and illustrate a sentence that will be bound in a book and put in our classroom library.

This week’s mini-lessons will include…

• Use uppercase at the beginning & punctuation at the end
• Use spacing between words
• How to write an introduction and closing
• Writers reread their writing to see if it makes sense and stays on topic.

                   Parent Reminders

1. Library day was today. Please make sure you help your
child remember to bring in their
book for next Monday.
2. Early Release for parent conferences on Thursday (11/17). Please let me know if you are unable to make the time slot you signed up for. 
3. Math—Please continue to work on number formation at home. The students are writing a lot of numbers backwards, which is confusing them when trying to solve their math problems. Thanks for your support!
4. Support our Troops! There are bins in the lobby for donations. A notice went home about it last week. Please consider donating!
5. Trick Word Test…we will have a trick word reading and spelling test next week. I will send home a study guide for you to practice with your child.
6. It’s just about hat and glove season…please label everything, if possible. Sometimes the children have a hard time identifying their
own clothes.

I hope you had a nice Veterans' Day! 

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: Math (due on Friday)
Wednesday: Dialogue Journal (due on Friday)
Thursday: Comprehension-Monkey Story (due on Friday)