Weekly Update Jan. 3-6

Hello,

Welcome back! I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing break. With the new year brings many new units of study in first grade. See below for what is coming up this week.

As we move into 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:

Thursday, January 12th-6:00-7:30 PM District-Wide Info Session held at Tanner Early Learning Center

Monday, January 16th-6:00 -7:00 PM Info Session at New Directions

Wednesday, January 18th-10:00 AM-1:00 PM Open House ant New Directions

Tuesday, January 24th-6:00-7:00 PM-Info Session at New Directions

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

Upcoming Events:

Monday, January 16th-Friday, January 20th-Celebrate New Directions Week-look for more info to come about this great opportunity to celebrate our school!

Monday, January 16th-Family Night-Art Night

Wednesday, January 18th-No School-Staff Inservice

Thursday, January 19th-Family Night-Gym Night/Jump Rope for Heart

Friday, January 20th-Half Day

Reading: We’ll be starting our “Readers Have Big Jobs To Do” unit. As students begin to reach the end of first grade reading benchmark, the focus is on having them realize they’re ready to take on the important jobs readers need to do. They have strategies to be in charge of their own reading and get through the hard parts by themselves. In the first part of this unit we will focus on stopping when we run into difficulty and use the strategies we’ve been learning all year to help us out. Readers need to notice when there’s a problem and then fix it! Next we’ll spend some time expanding our word-solving strategies now that we are reading trickier books than we were in the beginning of the year. We’ll also spend some time monitoring for meaning, always making sure that what we read makes sense. Lastly, we’ll put it all together and problem solve on the run and read with fluency.

Writing: We are starting our Writing Reviews unit. In this unit students will be writing opinions. In the first part of the units first graders will be reviewing their collections. Collections could be marbles, shells, bouncy balls, Shopkins, markers, matchbox cars, etc. Next first graders will focus on writing reviews about anything and everything: toys, restaurants, video games, etc. The unit will end with students’ writing book reviews. They will summarize, evaluate, judge and defend their judgments. Students are very motivated to share their opinions :)

Word Work: No new words this week;

Math:  We are continuing our Place Value unit, which focuses on 2-digit numbers and tens and ones. This week we will be counting on from a 2-digit number to find a total using our fingers and drawings. We will also practice addition 1-digit and 2-digit numbers and comparing 2-digit numbers.

Content: We will be starting our Families Unit. We will be learning what a family is and how families today are the same as, and different from, families long ago.