January 5th

Happy New Year!
Well winter is finally here!  Most students have been doing a great job of getting their snow gear on quickly and being able to keep track of everything.  Make sure to label everything...including snow pants.  Also, it's a good idea to send an extra pair of socks to keep in their locker during this wet weather.  Thank you for your help!

As we move towards January, New Directions begins to think about enrollment for next year. We have several informational sessions scheduled during the month of January for any families who would like to learn more about New Directions for their child. Word of mouth is the best way to spread the great things happening at New Directions, so if you know of any families who would be interested in sending their children to New Directions, here are the dates of our upcoming information sessions:

Tuesday, January 5th-6:00-7:00 PM Info Session at New Directions

Thursday, January 14th-6:00-7:30 PM District-Wide Info Session held at Tanner Early Learning Center

Tuesday, January 19th-5:30-7:00 PM-Spaghetti and Art Family Night

Wednesday, January 20th-10:00 AM-noon-Open House at New Directions

Monday, January 25th-6:00-7:00 PM-Info Session at New Directions

Families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours of our school. 

Upcoming Events: 

Friday, January 15: Early Dismissal
Tuesday, January 19: 5:30 p.m. Family Night (Spaghetti and Art Night)
Wednesday, January 20: No School
Thursday, January 21: Gym Night 6-7 p.m.
Friday, January 29: NDLC/Quinney Dance 6-7:30 p.m.

Curriculum:

Readers' Workshop: We started our new unit yesterday, Readers Have Big Jobs to Do: A focus on fluency, phonics and comprehension. This unit will focus on having students take on the important jobs a reader needs to do.  They need to be able to take charge of their own reading and get through the tough parts of books on their own. This week we are talking about being the boss our own reading.  First we stop at the first sign of trouble, then try something from our toolbox of strategies and if that doesn’t work we try something else, and finally we check to make sure that it makes sense, looks right, and sounds right. 

Writers' Workshop: This week we will start opinion writing in first grade, Writing Review. In this unit we will begin by writing about our favorite or least favorite things to play. Next we will move into writing reviews about anything and everything: toys, restaurants, video games, and anything else important to students. During the last part of this unit we will learn to write book reviews. 

Word Study: The words this week are: jump, not, off, have, eat.  Continue to practice spelling these words at home.

Math Workshop: We are continuing our work with 10s and 1s. We will be doing some beginning grouping of ones to compose a ten, adding a 1-digit number to a 2-digit number, solve addition story problems that involve grouping tens and extra ones, and using place value to compare 2-digit numbers.

Science/Social Studies:  Yesterday we spent some time talking about goals for the new year. Tomorrow we will be starting our new unit: Families Today and Long Ago. We will be exploring what makes a family, what families like to do together, and how families today are similar and different than families long ago.

If you have any questions please let me know!

-Samantha