September 24-28 Newsletter

 First Grade Newsletter

September 24th-28th

Literacy

Literacy Assessments:  There are no assessments during this week. I will begin to  personalize students' book bags for silent reading throughout this week.  

Reading Street: Unit R*

Main selection:  Snap/Tip and Tam

Weekly Question:  Who is in our family?/What is outside our door?

Genres:  Realistic Fiction

Comprehension skills:  setting, 

*We review concepts taught in Kindergarten during our Review Unit.

PHONICS

Lively Letters (Sounds)

• Review stories and sounds for each letter pair: qu, th, th, x/y/c, w/wh/h, e
• Last week’s letter pairs: p/b, t/d, k/g, f/v, m/n, ng, s/z, a/o, j/ch, r/l, u/i

Fundations: Unit 1 (Week 2&3 of 3)

• Review formation of the following letters…t, b, f, n, m, c, a, i, r, o, g, d, s, e, u, l, h, k
• Alphabetical order

*Please note that Unit 1 of Fundations and Lively Letters are very fast paced reviews of the alphabet letter sounds and formations taught extensively in Kindergarten.

Math in Focus

Chapter 1

Pre-requisite skills and number sense
**Chapter 1 Test on Wednesday, September 26th**

Objectives

-  Count from 0 to 10 objects 

-  Read and write 0 to 10 in numbers and words

     -  Compare two sets of objects by using one-to-one correspondence 

      -  Identify the set that has more, fewer, or the same number of object
                 - Identify the number that is greater than or less than another number

-               -  Make number patterns

*Please note:  Math instruction in this unit is reviewing groundwork established in Kindergarten.  We will be building upon these skills as we progress through the future math units.

Science

Pumpkin Decomposition Journal
Last week we received our class pumpkin from our school garden that we will be observing throughout the year. Every two to three weeks, students will be recording what they see and what they predict will happen to the pumpkin as time goes on. 
Physical Science: Properties of Light
Last week the class brainstormed everything that already know about 'light' and complete our first experiment using a cardboard box, a red crayon and a flashlight. This week we will continue exploring light by learning about the terms 'transparent', 'translucent', and 'opaque'. 

Social Studies

Our class rules have been posted in our room! Each morning the rules have been posted we remind ourselves what our classroom rules are to give each student a safe and friendly environment to learn in. In our Second Steps lessons, we have learned two of four Skills for Learning: focusing attention and listening. We use our attent-o-scopes to keep ourselves from being distracted and there are three parts of our bodies we use to listen: our ears, eyes, and brains. 

Our social studies learning continues to embed focusing on families and community in our reading program throughout this week. Our questions for the students will need to answer this week are, "Who is in our family?" and "What is outside of our door?". 

 Specialists

 

MONDAY: Music

TUESDAY: P.E.

WEDNESDAY: Music

THURSDAY: P.E.

FRIDAY: Art, Music

  

Writing Workshop

This week students will begin our weekly literacy center assignment that requires students to write about one activity that they did over the weekend. The purpose of this exercise is for students to practice putting their ideas on paper through words and illustrations.

Writer's Workshop: Ideas
     This week students will listen to a read aloud of It Came In The Mail. This story is about a boy who never received mail and decided that one day he was going to write a letter to his mailbox. After the read aloud, students will write a letter to their own mailboxes asking the mailbox to send them something that they wish to be sent. 

                  Parent Reminders

1.  Meet the Teacher Night is Thursday, September 27th 5:00-6:00pm. I’m looking forward to meeting all of you! Please note—This is an adult-only evening.
2. Parent/Teacher Conferences—There will be a sign-up sheet available at Meet the Teacher night for upcoming fall conferences (Oct. 25th /Nov. 1st)

3. Topsfield Fair Field Trip (Oct. 3)- The first grade will be going to the Topsfield Fair on Wednesday, October 3rd. If you have not turned in your permission slip, please fill it out and return it as soon as you can. 

4. Scholastic book order- October catalogs will be sent home next week on Monday.

5.    Number Formation Guide- The guide will be sent home this week along with which numbers your child needs practice forming. Try and isolate just one number to practice each night for a couple minutes. Doing too many at once will not help them break bad habits.

6.    Wish List- Thank you for all of the donations! 
7.  Children should bring in a small healthy snack (separate from their lunch) to have in class at 9:45 a.m. Please make sure that it is nut-free and has no glass products.
8. Help needed—Room Parents:  I am still looking for two room parents who can share the class contact list.  Room parents coordinate calling parents for special classroom celebrations. 
9. Bloomz- Bloomz is an efficient and effective tool for parents and teachers to communicate in a timely manner about important announcements or reminders. On Tuesday (9/25), I will be sending home an invitation for anyone who would like to join our class' account. If you already know what Bloomz is, our class code is ADWWRD. 

Have a great week!

Miss Biggar

Homework for the Week

 Daily

Reading Log (with discussion questions)
Number/Letter Formation

Math Number Sense Games

This week's homework:

 Reading Log (due on Friday)
Number Sort Game [Sent home on Tuesday]