December 20th Newsletter

 Important Dates

December

          20 – Classroom Holiday Party

          23 – Winter Break Begins

January

          6 - Classes Resume

          15 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

          20 – No School

– Martin Luther King’s Birthday

December Reading Logs

          Your child can return his/her December reading log on January 6 when we return from the holiday break.  I am sending home January’s log on December 20 so you can begin recording the books they read in January starting January 1. 

Cookie Exchange

     Thank you to everyone who took the time to bake cookies and send in food for the cookie exchange.  It was all very delicious.  My family was thrilled with the cookies (and so was I)!

We won’t be having any homework this week due to the holidays.  Enjoy the break!

Reading

      We will be reading An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni as a part of our Making Meaning curriculum.

Vocabulary Words

          The vocabulary words for this story will be:

        Pebble, island, wonder, mound, astonished, amazement, commotion, and triumphantly

Comprehension Strategies

          The children will be working on sequencing events and retelling a story.

Phonics Skills

          Our phonics lessons will be centered around blending long i words.  We will also review the soft sound of “g” /j/ and “c” /s/.

Grammar Skills

          We will practice using pronouns in sentences.

Spelling Words

The spelling words are:

six, pad, smell, bike, time, smile, prize, like, have, bridesmaid

Have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year!

December 13th Newsletter

           

 Important Dates

December

    17 – Early Dismissal

       20 – Classroom Holiday Party

                 23 – Winter Break Begins

January

          6 - Classes Resume

December Reading Logs

Your child can return his/her December reading log on January 6 when we return from the holiday break.  I am sending home January’s log on December 20 so you can begin recording the books your child reads in January starting January 1. 

Barnes & Noble Fundraiser

     It sounds like the Barnes & Noble fundraiser was a big success.  I wish I could have been there.  Thank you to everyone that attended or helped out in any way.  Our school district is very fortunate to have such supportive and giving parents.

In math, we have been working on place value – tens and ones.  We played some games in the computer lab and also in the classroom to go along with this concept.

Reading

Comprehension Strategies

          We will be reading The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats in our Making Meaning curriculum.

The vocabulary words from this book are tracks, smacking, packed, adventures, heaping, and firm.  We will continue to work on visualizing, schema, and inference.

Phonics Skills

          Our phonics lessons will be centered on blending long a words using the VCe (vowel consonant e) pattern.  We will also review the soft sound of “g” /j/ and “c” /s/.

Grammar Skills

          We will practice using and identifying verbs in a sentence.

Spelling Words

Our spelling words for next week are: ran, hat, scar, came, grape, name, cake, only, old, baseball

     We won’t be having a student of the week next week since we will be having our holiday party on Friday.

***There won’t be any homework next Thursday due to the holidays.  Enjoy!

December 6th Newsletter

                    

 Important Dates

December

          17 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

          20 – Classroom Holiday Party – 2:00

          23 – Winter Break Begins

January

            6- Classes Resume

Author of the Month/Computers

  We explored the Chris VanAllsburg website and played some of the games on it. The children enjoyed the memory game, puzzles, and coloring activity.  If you would like your child to play some of these games at home, you may go to: www.chrisvanallsburg.com 

Winter Holiday Party

  Our holiday party will be on Dec.20 from 2:00-3:00.  Parent helpers will be allowed in the room at 1:50.  (No siblings are allowed due to limited space.)

FYI - all first grade classrooms will not be doing a gift exchange this year.  The teachers have purchased a small gift for each child in their own classroom.

      Our student of the week for the week of December 9-13 will be Marcin.

Math

     In math, we have been working on counting forward by 1s and 10s up to 120.  The children had the most difficulty counting by 10s when we started with a number other than 10 – such as 7, 17, 27, 37…   Many of the students were able to do that, but got confused when the numbers went beyond 100 – such as 87, 97, 107, 117…  I tried to work with the students that were having difficulty, but I ran out of time.  If you notice that your child had difficulty with this concept, please review it at home.  Thanks.

Comprehension Strategies

     We will be working on using schema and inference as they visualize what is happening in a story.

Phonics Skills

We will be reviewing short vowel sounds.

Grammar Lesson

We will review alphabetical order and discuss how to use a dictionary.

Spelling Words

The spelling words are:

sad, let, trip, blue, orange, gray, black, one, by, color

November 22nd Newsletter

                    

Important Dates

November

          26 – Report Cards Go Home

      27, 28, & 29 – No School –

                             Thanksgiving Break

December

          17 – Early Dismissal

          20 – Classroom Holiday Party – 2:00

          23 – Winter Break Begins

     Izzy will be our “student of the week” for the week of December 2.

        Since next week is a short week due to the Thanksgiving Break, there won't be a newsletter or a spelling test.  Our next spelling test will be on Friday, December 6. The words for that week are listed below. I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving with your families.

Spelling Words

bed, wet, prod, holly, party, story, happy, so, my, family

Comprehension Strategies

     We will be working on visualizing what you read without using pictures from a book.  I have been reading poems to the students.  They need to think about them, turn to their partner, and share what they pictured.  This activity is called, “Think, Pair, Share.”

We also drew a picture of what they visualized.  These activities are a part of our “Making Meaning” books/reading curriculum.

Phonics Skills

     We will be working on initial blends (grin, crab, flag, etc.).  We will also work on using a 'y' at the end of a multisyllable word.

Grammar Lesson

     We will work on reviewing pronouns.

Report Cards

       Report cards will be going home on Tuesday, November 26.  You may keep the paper that is inside the envelope.  Please sign the envelope and return it after Thanksgiving break.  Thanks.

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

November 15th Newsletter

            

 Important Dates

November

          15 – Movie Night

          20 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

          26 – Report Cards Go Home

27, 28, & 29 – No School –

                             Thanksgiving Break

December

          17 – Early Dismissal

          20 – Classroom Holiday Party – 2:00

          23 – Winter Break Begins

   Math

   In math, we have been working on addition and subtraction strategies.  In our centers we made subtraction flash cards and practiced learning the facts with a partner.  We also worked on fact families some more.  We used triangular flashcards to practice how to make 2 addition problems and 2 subtraction problems using the 3 numbers on the card.  The children did a nice job with this activity.

Emilija will be our “student of the week” for the week of November 18th.

Spelling Words

hop, fit, grin, duck, neck,

clock, lick, go, no, broomstick

Author of the Month

  We have been reading Leo Lionni books during the month of November.  The children are getting good at figuring out the moral to each story.  We visited the Random House website about Leo Lionni and were able to watch a couple of short videos explaining how he made his drawings and what he was like growing up.  It was very interesting.

    

Reading

     During the Daily 5, we have been working on reading unknown words using reading strategies such as “eagle eye,” “fish lips,” “chunky monkey,” and “skippy Scott.”  Ask your child to explain to you how to use these strategies while reading.

Comprehension Strategies

     We will be using poetry to visualize in order to make sense of the text.  We will also be using schema and inference as the children visualize the poems they are listening to.

Phonics Skills

     We will be working on –ck.  We will also be reviewing the short vowel sounds.

Grammar Lesson

We will be working on blends at the beginning of words.

Have a nice weekend!

November 7th Newsletter

Important Dates

November

8 – No School

            11 – No School – Veteran's Day

          15 – Movie Night

          20 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

          26 – Report Cards

27, 28, & 29 – No School –

                             Thanksgiving Break

Math

     In math, we have been working on subtraction strategies such as counting up, using ten frames to subtract, and using fact families to figure out answers.

      Our student of the week for the week of November 12-15 will be Tyler.

      

Exploration Station

     We will be starting a new unit in science dealing with weather.  Our first topic that will be covered is hurricanes & tornadoes.  We will be reading books and then comparing & contrasting the 2 types of weather using a Venn diagram.  We will also be playing on a website which allows the children to change the size & strength of a tornado and see what happens. 

Comprehension Strategies

  We will be working on the comprehension strategies of sequencing/retelling and referring to the story to support their thinking,

Phonics Skills

     We will be working on words that end in –ss and –zz.  We will also work on clusters with “l” (block, plan, etc.), blending short “o” words, clusters with “r” (train, crow, etc.) and contractions.

Grammar Lesson

     We will be working on pronouns (he, she, it, you, we, I, and they).

Spelling Words

ox, run, from, buzz, cross, less, miss, there, they, crossroad

Fire Safety

      Last week, a firefighter/paramedic, came to our school and talked about fire safety.  We learned about choosing a special meeting place in case of a fire, how to “stop, drop, and roll,” and that we should never go back inside to get something we forgot.  He also showed us the special gear that firemen wear and we talked about how it sounds when firemen speak with their oxygen tanks on. 

Have a Happy Veteran’s Day!

November 1st Newsletter

 Important Dates

November

          1 - Family Halloween Party at Ide

          5 – Conferences 3:45-6:00

          6 – Conferences 3:45-6:00       

8 – No School

            11 – No School – Veteran's Day

          26 – Report Cards

27, 28, & 29 – No School –

                             Thanksgiving Break

Halloween Party

    Thank you to all of the parents that helped out with the Halloween party and also to the parents that brought in paper products, food, treats, etc.  The party ran very smoothly.  The children had a good time.

Book-It

      If you haven't turned in your October reading calendar yet, please do so by Monday. Thanks.

Author of the Month

Our author for the month of November will be Leo Lionni.

We do not have a student of the week for next week since we will be gone on Friday.

****Remember to change your clocks on Sunday and to also change the battery in your smoke detectors.

Comprehension Strategies

We will be discussing important characters in a story and sequencing events to retell a story.

Phonics Skills

We will be using double consonants such as -ll at the end of words.

Grammar Lesson

We will be working on plurals.

Spelling Words

red, win, drum, will, bell, doll, skull, said, here, windmill

     In math, we have been working on using ten frames to help children add numbers with sums over 10.

          Next week we will be working on strategies to use when subtracting from a number greater than 10.

    Conferences will be on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.  I will send everyone a master copy of the conference times.  If you are unable to make it to your conference, please email me or call the office and let them know.  Thanks.