Sept. 29th Weekly Update

Fall is finally here!  I’m loving this cooler weather and it is definitely more comfortable in our classroom. 

First Grade Homework

Our homework calendar will begin on Monday, October 5^th. Each day will have a math activity that you will be able to do at home that will only take a few minutes to complete. This work does not need to be returned to school but is just to keep students active in math and give families a peek into what we are doing at school.  Also our word wall words for the week will be listed on the calendar.  This year we will not be sending home word sorts for word study.  We will be doing that work in the classroom.  Please study the word wall words weekly with your child.  Students can practice writing and spelling them correctly.  They can also search for them in their books. We will assess the words on Friday in the form of a spelling test.

Upcoming events:

Oct. 5th-PSC Meeting 6:00 PM

Oct. 9th-Homecoming Parade.

Oct. 16th-Math Morning

Oct.  20th   Grandparents and Goodies Family Night-Look for an email with more information soon.

Oct. 23 & 24-No School

Red Ribbon Week:

Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States.

Tues. Oct. 27th....no sweat being drug free...wear sweats
Wed. Oct. 28th....Red Day
Thurs. Oct. 29th...drug free is double the fun....twinning
Fri. Oct. 30th...we're the ghosts. ..say BOO to drugs....wear orange and black!

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week we will be learning how our partners can help each other become stronger readers. They can introduce their books to each other, help each other figure out tricky parts, and do something at the end of the book. When reading at home ask your child to give you an introduction to the book before they read it!

Writers' Workshop: We are still working on writing our small moment stories. We are working on using familiar words to spell new words, editing our stories for punctuation, and studying a book we know well, Night of the Veggie Monster, to notice what the author George McClements has tried that we can use in our own writing.

Math Workshop: We will finishing up our first unit on the Partners up to 10.  We will work on fluency of our partners and take our unit one assessment.

Science: Science has been very exciting as we are working in our organisms unit! We have built aquariums and we will be observing snails and guppies and adding them this week. We have also build terrariums and planted seeds.  Many of our seeds are beginning to sprout! 

Enjoy the rest of your week!  

Samantha

1, 357 lb. pumpkin visited our playground last week!

Math games to practice partners of 10

Partners of 10

Putting our terrariums together 

Investigating the tree seedlings and moss 

Weekly News

 Wow! It’s been a busy week!  We are finishing up some beginning of the year assessments and trying to get into our “normal” routine.  All first graders did very well with our safety drills last week and it feels good to know that we are prepared to work together in all situations. 

This week Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday our staff developer from Columbia Universities Teacher College will be here working in classrooms and with teachers.  This is always a very exciting learning time for all! 

Please note that math morning has been switched from Friday, Oct. 9th to Friday, Oct. 16th. Our math staff developer will be here on the 16th and is looking forward to talking to you that morning. A note also came home with this date change.

Upcoming events:

Wednesday, September 23^rd-Friday 25^th: NYC Teacher College Staff Developer here working in classrooms

Thursday, September 24^th: Hot Dogs and How to Help Family Night 5:30-7:00

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week we will be focusing on using multiple strategies to figure out tricky words: double -checking reading to make sure the word looks right and makes sense, trying more than one strategy (use the picture, get your mouth ready, look through the word, think about what makes sense, look for parts you know), and working together with partners to read and talk about books.

Writers' Workshop: This week are continuing to work on our small moment stories.  We are making our characters come alive by adding actions and talking. 

Math Workshop: We will be focusing on partners of 9 and 10. Our goal is to make all partners automatic.  We are using a variety of math tools and games to help us achieve this.

Science: This week we will be investigating several seeds and planting our own seeds.  We will also be building terrariums and planting woodland plants.

I hope to see many of you at family night on Thursday!  Have a great rest of the week!

-Samantha

PSC NEWS

-     Information on Saturday’s Simon’s Cheese fundraiser comes home Monday. You MUST use a flyer for NDLC to receive credit for your purchase. Need more for family and friends? Print them from ndlccharter.org/parents/parent-school-committee.php or pick some up at Thursday’s Family Night. See you at Simon’s Cheese!

 

-          Can you help? We need parent hosts at Saturday’s fundraiser to help greet customers, open doors, and be personal shoppers. Volunteer slots are one hour long – the fundraiser runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sign up now at http://vols.pt/vt9rHf.

 

-          Learn more about the Parent-School Committee and how you can help at Thursday’s Family Night. Whether volunteering your time and talents, saving BoxTops and Labels or signing up for fundraisers, our success depends on YOU!

 

-          Join us! The next PSC meeting is Monday, October 5, at 6 p.m. in the school library.

 

-          Questions? Email NDLC.PSC@gmail.com

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