Weekly Update-February 22-25

Hello,

We are almost at the end of February already! We will be scheduling portfolio conferences soon, so if you haven't returned your conference scheduling form, please do so as soon as possible. Also, permission slips were sent home for an upcoming field trip to the PAC please remember to send them back.  Thanks!

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, February 25th-11:30 Dismissal

Friday, February 26th-No School

Monday, February 29th-Melodies and Masterpieces Family Night-5:30-7:00-Night includes a short concert put on by New Directions' students. 

Friday, March 11th-Author Breakfast

Monday, March 21st and Tuesday, March 22nd-Portfolio Conferences. Confirmation forms with scheduled times will come home Friday, March 4th.

Wednesday March 23th-Monday March 28th-Spring Break

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week we are continuing our "Going on Reading Adventures" unit. We will be studying the characters in our books closely. Without characters, we wouldn't have a story. Readers meet characters and study their relationships, learning all they can about their likes and dislikes, their wants, and paying attention to what they do and say to infer feelings and motivations. We'll learn how readers can reread in order to learn even more about the character, noticing new details to help them understand the character in new ways. Readers will work on fluency by reading in a way that reflects how the character is feeling. We'll learn how when you read, you don't only get to know about a character, you almost become that character. You read, pretending to be the character and you show it with your voice. When books take you on reading adventures, you don't just follow the character, you practically become the character. You can change your voice to show what the character is feeling and bring the character to life.  

Writers' Workshop: We'll be finishing up our small moments, making our writing readable, unit this week. We'll be using a checklist to make sure our writing is readable (capitals, end marks, word wall words, and spaces). 

Word Study: No new words this week! This would be a good week for review, as we've had some tricky words the past few weeks:

rain, who, after, house, out, what, where, new, teacher, school, down, zoo, when, because, some 

Math Workshop: We will be finishing up Unit 5, "Place Value Situations." We continue to work on the make-a-ten strategy in class using facts with teen totals. This week we will be using reasoning to solve problems, practicing numbers to 120 and taking our end of unit assessment.

Science/Social Studies: We finished up our solids centers. This week we will be exploring two new solids using all we have learned about the properties of solids so far.

Have a great week! 

-Samantha

Weekly Update

Hi! Thank you to everyone who sent in treats and Valentines on Friday!  We had plenty and we all felt loved J Here are a few pictures from our celebration!

Our new favorite Morning Meeting game is...Down By The Banks!  Here are some pictures from our class tournament this morning!  Be prepared to hear some singing at home...they just can't seem to get it out of their heads :)

See below for upcoming activities and events in first grade. Have a great week! It looks like it will be warming up outside, so students will be able to get out for recess. Remember to have your child bring snow pants, boots, hats and mittens to stay warm!

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, February 16th-Six-Flags reading logs due, if you are participating

Thursday, February 25th-11:30 Dismissal

Friday, February 26th-No School

Monday, February 29th-Melodies and Masterpieces Family Night-5:30-7:00-Night includes a short concert put on by New Directions' students. Look for more info to come home in a few weeks.

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week in reading we are "Going on Reading Adventures." Every time you open a storybook, you'll meet a character who is going places and doing things-and you'll get to go too! We'll spend some time focusing on using the words to keep track where and when the story is taking place, thinking about what's happening to predict what might come next, retelling the big events in sequence, reread to notice new details, and reread to notice how parts of the story go together. For example, you might notice how the same kinds of things happen again and again, or the way the trouble starts and ends. 

Writers' Workshop: As we continue writing small moment stories, we'll focus on making our writing readable by using word wall words, using words we know to spell unknown words, using the lines, all the while making our stories come alive by adding dialogue, action and thinking!

Word Study: New word wall words for this week are: 

down, zoo, when, because, some

These words will be assessed Friday, February 19. 

Math Workshop: We will be continuing our problem solving unit. This week we will be focusing on numbers through 120. We will be writing numbers to 120, finding 10 more or 10 less than a given 2-digit number, using the hundred grid to recognize ten-based (38, 48, 58, ... or 17, 27, 37...) and one-based sequences (3, 4, 5....or 33, 34, 35...), and adding and subtracting multiples of 10 (30 + 70 = 100). One way to reinforce some of these skills at home is to start at a number between 1-120 and have your child count up and down for a short sequence. For example, start at 56 and count up. After your child counts up a few number stop and start at a different number. 

Science: We are continuing our solids and liquids unit in science. This week we will be visiting centers to learn more about solids. In our centers we will be testing hardness, investigating solids in water, rolling solids and testing solids with a magnet. We are adding more and more properties to our solids chart! Ask your child what solid he or she is keeping track of and writing about. 

 Have a great week and let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

-Samantha 

February 8-12th

Hello!  On Friday we will be celebrating Valentine's Day in our classroom.  We will be meeting with our third grade buddies for morning meeting and then in the afternoon having a class celebration.  If you plan to send in a treat...send me a quick email or jot a note in the planner.  Thanks!

Reminder: Six-Flags reading logs are due Tuesday, February 16th if you are participating in this program. Have a great week!

Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, February 9th-11:30 Dismissal
Wednesday, February 10th-Yoga with Mrs. McEneany-Wear comfy clothes!
Friday, February 12th-Valentine Celebration
Monday, February 15th- Wear Red
Thursday, February 25th-11:30 Dismissal
Friday, February 26th-No School
Monday, February 29th-Melodies and Masterpieces Family Night-5:30-7:00-Night includes a short concert put on by New Directions' students. Look for more info to come home in a few weeks.

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week are continuing our, "Readers Get to Know Characters by Performing Their Books." We are getting to know our characters by focusing on the illustrations, paying close attention to characters' facial expression to learn about their personalities and feelings, paying attention to the setting by asking, "Where is the character right now? How does the setting change the way the character might say or do something?", and  retelling our books to our partners by telling the big events, who is in the story and what the character did.

Writers' Workshop: We finished up our review writing and will be revisiting small moment stories. These are true, one time stories from our lives. During this unit we will focus on making our writing readable by using spaces, forming our letters correctly (upper case and lower case), using endmarks (., !, ?), and using strategies to spell words correctly.

Math Workshop: We will be continuing our problem solving unit. This week we will be solving story problems with 3 addends: There are 5 red pencils, 7 yellow pencils and 6 green pencils in a cup. How many pencils are in the cup? We will be using a variety of strategies to solve these problems, including equations, math mountains and drawings. We will also be counting with groups of 10. Students will be developing strategies to count large quantities of objects, and use groups of 10 to help them. We will be spending some times building a hundred grid, finding and representing counting patterns and sequences on the hundred grid and writing numbers to 120, finding 10 more and 10 less than a given 2-digit number, and count to 120 starting at any number. Any counting practice at home is very helpful!

Science/Social Studies: We are continuing our solids and liquids unit in science. This week we will be observing the properties of solids including color and shape and noticing if they can roll or stack.

Word Study: New word wall words for this week are:
what
where
new
teacher
school

These words will be assessed Friday, February 12. Please remember to practice spelling them at home as the words are getting longer they are getting harder to spell!

Have a great week!
-Samantha

Weekly Update Feb. 1-5

Hello,

I hope you all enjoyed the snow day!  I did except for the shoveling! If you have extra mittens, these can be helpful as they tend to get rather wet at recess. There are lots of new things happening this week in First Grade! We will be starting our new reading unit, Readers Get to Know Characters by Performing Their Books. In science we will be starting our Solids and Liquids unit, which provides lots of hands on opportunities with solids and liquids. This is a favorite first grade investigation!

Upcoming Events:

Monday, February 1st-School confirmation notes went home. Please return as soon as possible. 

Tuesday, February 9th-11:30 Dismissal

Friday, February 12th-Valentine Celebration

Thursday, February 25th-11:30 Dismissal

Friday, February 26th-No School

Monday, February 29th-Melodies and Masterpieces Family Night-5:30-7:00-Night includes a short concert put on by New Directions Students. Look for more info to come home in a few weeks.

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week we will be starting our new unit, "Readers Get to Know Characters by Performing Their Books." This character unit builds on children's natural inclination for imitation and role-playing by inviting them to do this same sort of pretending with the characters in their books. We will spend time learning ways readers get to know a character and pretending we are characters and performing books with our partners to become character experts. This week we will think about story elements (character, setting, problem, solution) to help us learn more about our characters, think about how the pictures and words work together, and think about what all the pages together can teach us about our character. 

Writers' Workshop: Students are doing an awesome job of reviewing their favorite (or not so favorite) books. We will be finishing up this unit this week. We will be reviewing our reviews using our checklists to make sure we have all the parts. We will also be learning how we can use special print to emphasize words and phrases and be sharing our reviews on Friday.

 Word Study: The new words this week are: rain, who, after, house, out.  They will be assessed on Friday. 

Math Workshop: This week we will be solving and writing a variety of teen story problems. Problems will include:

* unknown partners (There are 16 flowers in the vase. 6 are pink and the rest are white. How many are white?)

*both partners unknown (I have 12 marbles. How many marbles can I put in a blue bag and red bag?)

*subtraction problems with various unknowns (15 butterflies are in the garden. Some fly away. There are 8 left. How many butterflies fly away?)

We will be using a variety of strategies to solve these problems, including equations, math mountains and drawings. Students will also be writing their own story problems to include these different types.

Science/Social Studies: We finished up our Families unit, and are moving on to Solids and Liquids. This is an exciting first grade science unit! With the help of our Einstein kit, we are able to explore and learn about solids and liquid hands on. In a few weeks, we will be writing like scientists in writing and creating our own experiments to write about. Our overall solids and liquid unit goals are:

*Solids and liquids can be described by their properties.

*Some properties of solids are color, shape, ability to roll or stack, hardness, magnetic attraction, and whether they float or sink.

*Some properties of liquids are color, tendency to flow, degree of viscosity or fluidity, whether they are miscible with water, and whether they float or sink in water.

*Tests can be performed to investigate properties of solids and liquids that cannot otherwise be observed.

Have a great rest of the week! 

-Samantha