November 4th-November 8th Newsletter

First Grade Newsletter

November 4th-8th

Literacy

Reading Street: Unit 1 Week 6

**Unit 1 Test on Friday, November 8th**

Main selection:  Animal Park

Weekly Question:  What can we learn about wild animals by watching them?

Amazing Words: 

High-Frequency Words: home, into, many, them

Phonics Target: Short u: u; Final Consonant Blends

Comprehension skills:  Cause and Effect

Comprehension strategy: Text Structure

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, 6 (last column only). I will be finishing Reading Street Unit 1 sheets on Friday, November 8th.

PHONICS

Lively Letters (Sounds)

• Review each letter/letter pairs: p/b, t/d, k/g, f/v, qu, m/n, ng, a/o, j, s/z, ch, r/l, u/i, wh, e, x/y/c, w/h

Spelling 

• Skill(s): Tapping out sounds in words with CVC patterns (Consonant, Vowel, Consonant; such as 'cat') 
• Spelling words with digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ck)
• Trick Words: me, be, she, he, we
• Taught Trick Word List: the, of, and, a, was, to, or, for

**Trick words are irregularly spelled words that each child is expected to be able to spell in their writing.**

Handwriting Without Tears

• Review formation of the following letters…c, o, s, v, w, t, a, d, g, u, i, e, l, k, y, j, p, r, n, m, h, b, f, q, x, z
• Alphabetical order  

Math in Focus

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

Patterns in the Sky
     Last week students will plan and conduct an investigation about the moon's phases. This week we will continue to investigate the moon phases and learn more facts and figures about the Moon. 

Social Studies

Thanksgiving Unit
We will be working on developing an understanding of life as a colonist and a Wampanoag Native American. We’ll start by learning about each of their homes.
Second Steps—We began our Empathy Unit last week with identifying feelings. This week we will continue to build on our knowledge in identifying our own feelings.

 Specialists

MONDAY: Music

TUESDAY: No SCHOOL!

WEDNESDAY: Music

THURSDAY: P.E.

FRIDAY: Art; Music

Writing Workshop

Genre Writing~ Narrative
     This week students will have to brainstorm ways to escape a Thanksgiving dinner and write sequential steps to help a feathery friend out of trouble. 

Six Traits of Writing~ Ideas
     When writing the stories, 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.

Framing Your Thoughts ~ Connector ('and') & Predicate Expander of Where

     This week students will be introduced to the predicate expander of where (The dog races in the park.) and will also practice using the connector ('and') in bare bone sentences. Students will practice using this part of a sentence during literacy centers and convention writing time. 

This week’s mini-lessons will include:

• Choose a topic 
• Use important details to tell about a topic
• Use uppercase at the beginning & punctuation at the end
• Use spacing between words
• Writers reread their writing to see if it makes sense and stays on topic.

                   Parent Reminders

1. Library day is on Friday. Please make sure you help your child remember to bring in their book in by the end of the week.

2. No school on Tuesday (11/5).

3. November Scholastic Catalog- November catalogs will be sent home this week.

4. Veteran Readers- On Thursday, November 7th, our class will have a veteran come in to read to us during our morning literacy time.

5. Reading Phonics & Sight Word Lists (Unit 1)- Unit 1 Cards will be handed back today, Monday, November 4th. Please practice Week 6 (the last column only) of your child's Reading Street word lists. I will be collecting the Reading Street Unit 1 sheets on Friday, November 8th to check-in with students for the last week. Thank you!

6. Dialogue Journal- A journal entry should be written each week. I hand out journals on Wednesday and the journal should come back on Friday or the following Monday.
7. School Lunch Leftovers- Most students who eat school lunch bring home leftover milk, chips/cookies or cut up vegetables/fruit, please check your child's backpack for these items after each day to ensure that the food is eaten or thrown away at home. Thank you!

Have a wonderful 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)

Ten Frame Addition Game (Daily) [Sent home on Monday] 

Dialogue Journal #6 (due on Friday) [Sent home on Wednesday]