February 27th-March 3rd Newsletter

First Grade Newsletter

February 27th- March 3rd

Literacy

Reading Street: Unit 3 Week 6
**Unit 3 Reading Test will be on Friday, March 3rd.**

Main selection:  Where Are My Animal Friends?

Weekly Question:  What do animals do when the seasons change?
Amazing Words: hibernate, migrate, autumn, weary, freeze, bitterly, temperature
High-Frequency Words: before, does, good-bye, oh, right, won't
Phonics Target: Comparative Endings -er, -est; Consonant Pattern -dge

Comprehension skills: Draw Conclusions
Comprehension strategy: Background Knowledge

Genres:  Drama
Written Expression: Predicate Expander "When" (The goose honked nervously this morning.)
Reading Street Parent Connection:

• Unit 3 Family talk letter for concept conversation starters and 6-week overview of the unit. (Sent home January 10th)
• Practice reading words (see white sheet sent home Friday) for Unit 3, Weeks 1-6 (all columns). 

Fundations: Unit 9, Week 1 & 2

Students will learn about...

• Closed syllables with short vowels
• Closed syllable vs. open syllable
• Vowel team sounds: ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, 
• Sight Words: say, says
• Unit Story: Fred the Frog
• Unit 9 Test on Friday, March 3rd

Math in Focus

Chapter 11
Picture Graphs and Bar Graphs

Thinking Skills
- Comparing
- Classifying 

Problem Solving Strategies  
- Make a systematic list

           Objectives
- Collect and organize data
- Show and understand data shown in a picture graph (also using symbols).
- Draw a picture graph.
- Make a tally chart.
- Show and understand data shown in a bar graph.

*                                      

Science

Backyard Growers Enrichment
     Due to our snow days the past couple weeks, we have rescheduled our last session "Farm to Table-Life of a Tomato" with Miss Gabi this week. 
We will start our Weather Unit next week.

Social Studies

   Economics Unit- This week we will have our final Economics test to wrap up the unit.
Second Steps- We are wrapping up our Emotional Management unit this week with a lesson on managing worry.

 Specialists

MONDAY: Music; Library

TUESDAY: P.E.

WEDNESDAY: Music

THURSDAY: P.E.; Backyard Growers

FRIDAY: Art; Music

Writing Workshop
Six Traits of Writing: Organization
     This week, students will be continuing to work on their how-to writing pieces. Our next two writing traits are Word Choice and Voice. We will be reading a story and work together as a class to find the author's voice in the story. We will then discuss what creates voice. 

This week's mini-lesson will include...
- What is voice? 
- How does word choice help with voice? 
- How to find evidence to support our thinking

     

                   Parent Reminders

1. Our library time is Mondays at 1 p.m. Please have books brought back to school by the Friday before or Monday morning.
2. Reading passages are due on Thursday. Reading Street Word Lists are due on Friday. 
3. Please make sure to record the comprehension questions you discuss with your child on the reading log each night. Thank you!
4. Before School Help-  Thursday mornings at 8 a.m. 
5. Scholastic Book Club: March catalogs will be going home with students on Monday, February 27th. Orders and money are due on Friday, March 10th. 
6. Shoe tying- When your child wears snow boots to school, they have up to 6 opportunities to tie their shoes. Please help your child learn this important life skill.
7. Our Valentine Celebration was HUGE success! The kids had lots of fun using money to shop for goodies. Thank you again for all of your donations and support!
8. Spring Conferences (3/16)- I will be sending home conference sign-up sheets to a few select students. If you receive one, please return your sheet ASAP. I hope to be sending confirmation slips home with your conference time early next week. Thanks!
9. On Thursday, March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' birthday. We will have a special, surprise guest reader! It is also "dress up as your favorite book character" day. 
10. Math Facts- As I check in with your child, I will send a note home about which rules they still need to work on. If they have the majority of the math facts mastered, I will send home the subtraction fact cards. Keep up the good work! 

Welcome back! 

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: Lesson 4 Math  (due on Friday)
Wednesday: Dialogue Journal (due on Friday)

Thursday: Comprehension (due on Friday)