November 13th-17th Newsletter

First Grade Newsletter

November 13-17th

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 15th)
• Family Times gives various activities that can be done at home that connect to the concept we're learning this week. 

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 Wednesday**
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

Light and Sound Waves
We have kicked off our new science curriculum! Last week we completed our first hands-on activity to learn about the source of light and how it travels in a direction using a pinhole box. Students will be made observations and recorded what they saw in their science notebooks. 

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 clothes and move onto learning about what they did for chores.
Second Steps—We began our Empathy Unit with identifying feelings. Last week we learned the similarities and differences of emotional expressions and body language in specific situations. This week we are learning about how a person's feelings can change about the same situation.

 Specialists

MONDAY: Music 

TUESDAY: P.E.

WEDNESDAY: Music

THURSDAY: P.E.; Science Enrichment

FRIDAY: Music & Art

Writing Workshop

Process Writing~ Narrative

     Students have brainstormed and chosen characters, settings, and continue to work on the problem and solution of their narrative stories. This week students will continue to work on their problem and solutions and discuss the sequence of events in a story. 

Timed Write
      This week we will begin our timed writes. Students will be read the sentence starter on their prompt paper and have 1 minute to think & 4 minutes to write the rest of the story. This type of writing is to assess students' ability and speed to transfer their ideas onto paper. 

Framing Your Thoughts~ First Barebone Book
The students have brainstormed subjects (nouns) and predicates (verbs) that have to do with Fall. This week 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
• Sequence of events ('First', 'Next', 'Then', 'Last')
• Use spacing between words
• Writers reread their writing and ideas 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. Homework Math Games- This week I will send home the new math game on Tuesday. It has come to my attention that there is some confusion with what needs to be completed and what needs to be turned in. The roll out of homework math games is a two week process. The first week of the cycle you will receive the math "game board". In this first week, you will be reading the instructions of the game and playing the game with your child working on the foundational math skills and concepts the game targets. None of these materials need to be turned back in. They are for your child to keep to continue practicing and solidifying their math skills.  In the second week, your child will come home with a recording sheet for the game you learned how to play the week before. This recording sheet needs to be turned in by the end of the second week. The recording sheet allows me to see how the game is going and your child's understanding of the concepts and skills targeted. I hope this explanation helps and clears up any confusion. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your support! 
3. Number & Letter Formation—Please continue to work on letter and number formation at home. The students are forming many letters and numbers incorrectly. Thank you for your support!
4. Holiday Scholastic Catalog- I have sent home the December Holiday Scholastic catalog today. Please send in or complete all orders by Friday, December 8th. 
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.
7. Reading Phonics & Sight Word Lists (Unit 1)- Please practice Week 5 & 6 (last two columns only) of your child's Reading Street word lists. I will be collecting the Reading Street Unit 1 sheets on Friday, November 17th to check-in with students for both weeks. Thank you!

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: Number Bond Math Game
Wednesday: Dialogue Journal (due on Friday)
Thursday: Veteran's Day Comprehension Story (due on Friday)