Weekly Update

It is an exciting week when you are 6 and 7 years old!  We are having a little fun this week in our classroom!  We will be doing some pumpkin math and carving a pumpkin, meeting with our third grade buddies to write spooky stories, and in science we are researching and learning about bats and spiders!  During Morning Meeting this morning we shared about our costumes.  We do not dress up at school but many wanted to share what their costume looks like.  If you have a picture you may send it in or email it to me for our share. 

Portfolio conference times went home yesterday. If you see that your time will not work please let me know as soon as possible!  I can't wait the share all the gains your child has made so far this year as a first grader. 

Field Trip Forms!  If you have not sent in your pink field trip form for the Building for Kids on Nov. 6th and/or money please do so.  If you need an extra copy send a note in the planner.  Thanks 

November Homework Calendars will be going home at the end of this week. Be sure to check for it.

THIS WEEK: 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 focusing on reading with smooth, fluent voices. One strategy to smooth out our reading is to scan the page to notice how much we will need to read and notice the punctuation first, before reading. We will also be focusing on retelling by using our fingers and words such as first, next, then, after that, and finally. Towards the end of the week we will be thinking about the lesson the author was trying to teach the character, or even us sometimes!

Writers' Workshop: First graders have so much to teach and have been writing lots of How-Tos! This week we will be looking at published how-to texts to notice things such as warnings, tips, introductions and conclusions we can add to our own writing. We will also be adding more details to our steps, making sure our pictures teach, and edit our writing for punctuation. 

Word Study:  The words this week are: for, come, in, am, us. We will be assessing these words on Friday. These are words we want students to be able to read and write automatically without having to think to sound them out. Students also continue to work on phonics skills and word sorts at their developmental level.

Math Workshop: We will be focusing on subtraction and noticing that there are addition and subtraction relationships (i.e. I know that  7 + 3= 10, so 10 - 3=7). These relationships can help us become fluent with our facts. Each day in math workshop we have also been working on solving problems and trying to use at least two strategies. Here's an example of a first grade problem: 

Science/Social Studies:  We have finished our organisms study. First graders were sad to say good-bye to our critters, but they learned so much about what living things need to live and grow. This week we will be conducting a mini research unit on bats and spiders. We will even be using the ipads to research online using Pebblego. If you'd like to access this site at home the usename is electa and the password is electa. The information is easily accessible for first graders. We will be visiting this website throughout the year.

In Gym they have been loving their biking unit.  Many students have learned to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time at school.  I have heard that many others are practicing at home!  Below are a couple videos of some learning for the first time. Thank you Mrs. Stratton for all your help :)

Have a great week and as always if you have any questions please let me know! 

-Samantha

Help spread the word!

New Directions Learning Community will be offering a free event

for senior citizens in the Fox Valley.

On Thursday November 5^th  from 8:30 – 9:15 am

seniors are welcome to visit our school.

Coffee and pastries will be served while they

learn about how school is different today than it was when they were young.