January 12th News

The cold is officially here and so is inside recess!  Many lego creations and art projects are being created this week.   We are hoping it will warm up at the end of the week.  We have been busy starting lots of new units and we are also focusing on mid year reminders of classroom and hallway behaviors.  It's hard to believe that we are half way through 1st grade!  

Reminder: Yearbook order forms are due back by Jan. 22nd. 

Upcoming Events:

January 15: Early Dismissal
January 19: Family Night (Spaghetti and Art, 5:30)

January 20: No School

January 21: Gym Night 6-7 p.m.

January 29: NDLC/Quinney Dance 6:00-7:30 p.m. 

Curriculum Update: 

Reading: This week in reading students will think about what is happening in the story to help them problem solve a difficult word.  They will also work on listening carefully to consider what word might come next and thinking "What kind of word might fit here?" We will be looking closely at words towards the end of the week looking at different parts and recalling words that look similar to help us solve them.  An example is using the word bake to help us solve bakery.  I am continuing to meet with students to do our mid year assessment and we have had many mini celebrations as they are all growing so much as readers! 

Writing:  We are continuing to write opinions.  This week we will become review writers, writing about anything and everything: toys, restaurants, video games, the works..  Review writers not only share their opinions but also persuade others to share their opinion.  Students will have to use their persuasive voice by writing as though they are talking right to their reader and offer important information.  We will also make comparisons and include why their topic is better or worse than others.  At home you might have conversations about your favorite restaurants, movies, restaurants, vacations, or even games to support this work at school.

Word Study: The new words this week are: with, this, over, very, want.  Please continue to study reading and writing these words at home.  The words have become a little trickier to spell correctly and might need a little more practice!  

Math: In Math this week we are focusing on adding with tens and ones or both.  Students will need to look closely at the numbers to notice place value.  Some examples of the problems that we will be solving are:

3+2= 5

30+60= 60

30+6= 36

When adding mixed equations we will be using the counting on strategy or drawing pictures.  Some examples are:

28+5=

28: 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. So, 33 is the answer.  

Social Studies: This week in social studies we are continuing our Family unit.  We went on PebbleGo yesterday to learn more about families and compare now and long ago.  We will be reading and doing some writing about reading with the book My Family Community and at the end of the week we will begin our centers. Below are some pictures from our work on ipads! 

As always if you have any questions, let me know!

-Samantha