November 28-December 2

Hello! It’s going to be December this week!  Wow!  It’s a busy and exciting time of year at school and at home.

I am sending home book orders today.  They will be due next Tuesday, December 6th.  Books make great Christmas gifts.  If you would like me to keep it a secret from your child when the books come in send me an email and we can make a plan for you to pick up the books. You can place your orders online at scholastic.com/readingclub using my class activation code: J4RGH or feel free to send in the paper version with a check made out to Scholastic.  

Upcoming Events:

December 6th- Kaukauna Christmas Parade

December 8th- Pajama Day and PJs and Publishing Family Night. Square 1 Art Orders will also be distributed this night.

December 13th- No School

December 23rd- No School- Start of Winter Break

Reading:

We are beginning the week with some practice applying the non-fiction strategies that we have learned so far in this unit.  Non-fiction books are filled with information in the words and the pictures and there are many strategies that we can use to help us learn as much information as possible.  We are also collecting the key words in books and working to understand them and use then to teach our partners more about our books. We will also be working on reading and rereading our books to try to find just the right way each page should sound and to make our voices sound like teaching voices!

Writing: We continue to work on our nonfiction all about books. First graders are experts on so many topics. We are trying to pick topics that we know alot about. For example, places we go or things we do. Brainstorming ideas for topics at home is a great idea. This week we will be using a table of contents to help us plan out our chapters in our books, planning out what we will write in each chapter, using tips we have been given out teaching books to write our chapter books, using comparisons to help our readers picture our books (shark’s teeth are as sharp as knives), and adding details by giving examples to help our readers learn more.

Word Work: Our new word wall words are and, big, here, little, up. We will be assessing these words on Friday.  Some fun ways to practice them are writing them in shaving cream on cookie sheets, writing them in the air, clapping them as you spell them, or tracing over words with different color crayons or markers. We will also be spending time each week work on phonics skills specific to each student’s developmental level.

Math: We have started our new unit, Place Value Concepts. A parent note came home yesterday with more information and examples. We will be working with numbers up to 100 and counting by 10s. We will be exploring teen numbers and learning strategies to find teen totals. We will learning more about tens and ones in 2 digit numbers up to 100, comparing two 2-digit numbers and using tens and ones to add.

Content: Our field trip to the Building for Kids was a great success. We learned alot about weather by participating in hands on activities, and had time to explore the museum. This week we will begin our weather centers. We will be learning more about clouds, temperature, wind speed and different types of weather. We will be visiting the site pebblego. This is a great site for young learners to explore science and social studies topics. Our username is electa and our password is electa if you’d like to visit this site at home!

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

Field Trip Pictures

November 14th-18th

Hello! Thank you to everyone who made it to conferences last week and I look forward to seeing the rest of you tonight.  I really enjoying sharing your student's progress with you on these nights! We will end our week with our field trip to The Building for Kids on Friday.  We will be attending a weather class while we are there and will also have some time to explore.  This is always a very fun day!

November 15th-Portfolio Conferences

November 17th: Half Day-11:30 Dismissal

November 18th: Field trip to the Building For Kids

November 18th: Badger Day

November 22nd: Twin Day

November 23rd, 24th, 25th: No School-Happy Thanksgiving!

November 28: Packer Day

Reading: Last week we focused on getting familiar with reading our non-fiction books.  This week we will transfer our focus to tackling super hard words in order to keep learning from our books.  We are referring back to many of our word solving charts from our last unit and adding a few new strategies.  We will teach to crash word parts together and then check if it makes sense.  We will practice doing this by reading the beginning, middle, and end of the word and then putting the parts together to form a word. We will also add that some tricky words are new words.  Readers solve these tricky words by saying the word the best they can then thinking about what that word means.  

Writing: We are working on adding to our picture to teach about our topic.  Students can do this by adding arrows, labels, or zoom in pictures. This week we will also teach that writers bravely spell the challenging, expert words that help teach about their topic.  At the end of the week we will notice that writers need readers to help them revise their writing.

Word Work: Our new word wall words are: had, are, play, she, go. We will be assessing these words on Friday.  Make sure to keep practicing them at home!

Math: This week in math we are practicing mixed story problems. We are practicing setting up the equation to match the story problem.  Sometimes we need to solve for unknown partners and sometimes the total.  We are emphasizing the importance of visualizing the story taking place to figure out first if it is subtraction or addition and then next figuring out if they need to solve for a partner or a total.  The homework sheet tonight has some examples of the type of problems we are working on.  

Content: This week in content we are exploring weather words, seasons, and temperature.  We will be doing some hands on weather experiments on Friday during our field trip.

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

Weekly Update November 7th-11th

Hello!

What beautiful weather we’ve been having! Hopefully families have had a chance to enjoy it! Portfolio conferences start this week. Let me know if you need a reminder of your time and day! I look forward to sharing all of your child’s growth this year with you!

Upcoming Events:

November 10th & 15th-Portfolio Conferences

November 17th: Half Day-11:30 Dismissal

November 18th: Field trip to the Building For Kids

November 18th: Badger Day

November 22nd: Twin Day

November 23rd, 24th, 25th:No School-Happy Thanksgiving!

November 28: Packer Day

Reading: We are excited to be digging into nonfiction reading! On Friday we sorted our nonfiction books into topic bins, such as: underwater animals, vehicles, bugs, places, etc. This week we will be working on getting smart from nonfiction topics. We’ll practice taking sneak peeks before we even start reading to learn about our topic, stop and study each page to learn more, and chat about the page using your own words and ideas to talk about the book. We’ll also learn how at the end of the book we can think, “What have I learned about this topic? Am I smarter about the topic now? And then look back at our book and try to remember all we have learned. We’ll also work on reading with a teaching voice by making our voice sound smooth and lively.

Writing: Our writing unit ties in nicely with our reading unit. We’ll be writing nonfiction chapter books.  In the beginning of this unit we will be writing a basic information book similar to a picture book. By the end of the unit we will be creating multiple information chapter books filled with elaboration, interesting text elements and pictures that supplement the teaching of the words. This week we will find a topic we know a lot about, plan our topic across our fingers, and keep readers in mind when writing.

Word Work: Our new word wall words are as, good, this, at, can. We will be assessing these words on Friday.  Some fun ways to practice them are writing them in shaving cream on cookie sheets, writing them in the air, clapping them as you spell them, or tracing over words with different color crayons or markers. We will also be spending time each week work on phonics skills specific to each student’s developmental level.

Math: We are continuing to work with and practice unknown partners. We will be creating and solving story problems with unknown partners using math mountains and equations, relating subtraction problems to unknown partners and solve by counting on, create and solve subtraction story problems, and relate addition and subtraction stories.

Content: This week we will continue to learn about presidential elections and have a school election today to vote for our favorite candidate.

We’ll read some books about the election process and being a president, learn about the candidates using this site: http://election.scholastic.com/election-central/meet-the-candidates/

, and even imagine what we would do if we were president! Here are some pictures of our "official vote."

On Wednesday we’ll begin our study of weather, which will tie in with our visit to the Building for Kids.

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

Samantha

Weekly Update October 31-November 4th

Hi there,

It’s hard to believe it’s November already! Check out the pictures from our pizza party last week at the end of today's blog.I’m very excited to share your child’s progress at our Portfolio Conferences this month. Students have grown so much since the beginning of the year. Conference times came home yesterday. Please let me know if you have not received yours. If you have not returned your child’s permission slip and money for our field trip to the Building For Kids, they are due this Friday, November 4th.

Check out this link for the New Directions Newsletter

https://docs.google.com/a/kaukaunasd.org/document/d/1LSoOoTKPjCJU67Uyy9TQWQf-dXr6otelZUPv0F2T8JQ/edit?usp=sharing

Here’s a link to the November lunch calendar:

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2BiuAZD6NhGV0tQcWtjVENOejNUY3JtR294YW9IZUN5bHdF/view?usp=sharing

PSC NEWS

Show appreciation for the NDLC staff by bringing an item or two  for their conference meals. We'll be providing for for our teachers plus support staff and specialists. Thursday, Nov. 10th will be a Taco Bar and Tuesday, Nov. 15th will be Soup and Sandwiches. Please sign up to contribute at... http://signup.com/go/i1k9Qj

The Fall Book Fair is coming! Please sign up to help set up, cashier, or clean up! Slots are only 30 minutes in length to accommodate parent schedules with conferences. Feel free to sign up for more than one slot if you would like. Sign up at...http://signup.com/go/EQHxM2. Email ndlc.psc@gmail.com with questions!

Upcoming Events:

November 2nd-Little Mermaid Performance at Kaukauna High School

November 10th & 15th-Portfolio Conferences

November 17th: Half Day-11:30 Dismissal

November 18th: Field trip to the Building For Kids

November 18th: Badger Day

November 22nd: Twin Day

November 23rd, 24th, 25th:No School-Happy Thanksgiving!

November 28: Packer Day

Reading: Word Detectives have been working hard to use all they know about letters, sounds and words to read. This week we will be noticing contractions and compound words to help us figure out tricky words, make our reading sound smooth after we figure out the tricky parts, and then end our unit with a celebration by showing off all we have learned.

At the end of the week we will be starting our new unit, Learning About the World: Reading Nonfiction. We will be building on students’ natural curiosity as we dig into nonfiction books.

Writing: We will be finishing up our How-To writing this week, but continuing with information writing by writing All About books starting next week. This week we are using a checklist to make sure we have all the parts of a How-To, and then setting our goal and giving ourselves jobs if we notice anything missing.  We will be celebrating our How-Tos and meeting our goals at the end of the week.

Word Work: Our new word wall words are as, be, it, you, have. We will be assessing these words on Friday. These are the ‘snap’ words we are using as word detectives.  Some fun ways to practice them are writing them in shaving cream on cookie sheets, writing them in the air, clapping them as you spell them, or tracing over words with different color crayons or markers. We will also be spending time each week work on phonics skills specific to each student’s developmental level.

Math: We will be starting a new unit, Unknown Numbers in Addition and Subtraction. This week we will be focusing on solving problems with unknown addition partners. For example, We see 9 fish. Five are big. The others are small. How many fish are small?  We will be exploring multiple strategies for solving these problems.

Content: This week we will be learning about presidential elections. We’ll read some books about the election process and being a president, learn about the candidates using this site: http://election.scholastic.com/election-central/meet-the-candidates/

, and even imagine what we would do if we were president!

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

Weekly Update Oct. 17-21

The Penny War was a great success! We raised over $2000 for Timmy and the Romenesko family. Our class was the winner! We will have a pizza party to celebrate...I will let you know when we pick a date.

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, October 18th-Grandparents and Goodies Family Night, 6:00-7:00 PM

Thursday, October 20th- Packer Day 

Red Ribbon Week Oct 24-Oct 26-During the week we will be joining many other schools and communities throughout the nation to celebrate RED RIBBON WEEK…a week dedicated to celebrating a healthy and drug free life!

All Kaukauna schools will be participating in various activities that promote drug free living. Students will participate in several dress-up days to raise awareness of the importance of living a drug free life! The elementary dress-up days are as follows:

Mon. Oct. 24th Wear "Red, White, and Blue”

…I Elect to be Drug Free!!

Tues. Oct. 25th Wear “Active Wear/Sweats”

…Stay active and be drug free!!

Wed. Oct. 26th….District Wide “RED DAY”

…Unite against drugs!!

Thursday, October 27 & Friday October 28th-No School for Students

November 10th & 15th-Portfolio Conferences-Look for more information to come home soon.

Reading: Yippee! We completed all of our word solving missions and have received our official “Super Secret Detective Agency” Word Detective Badges. We are becoming amazing word solvers! However, our work is not over. Now we are focusing on words we know in a snap to help us figure out words. These are our word wall words that we know from Kindergarten and the new ones we are learning in First Grade that are sent home on Mondays. We are working on reading the words we know in a snap, using those words to help us solve unknown words (I know and, so that can help me read stand), and noticing words we read again and again and turning them into snap words. We are up for the challenge in first grade!

Writing: We have started our How-To writing. First graders are experts in some many things! Thank you for returning your green folders. If you haven’t yet, whenever you get a chance to would be great. This week we will be focusing on acting out our how-tos with a partner, using transitional words in our writing (first, then, next, after, before, finally, last), using mentor texts to notice what other authors of how-tos do, picturing our steps to add the exact teaching words and adding warnings, tips and suggestions.

Word Work: Our word wall words this week are: me, on, look, he, was.  We will be assessing these words on Friday. These are the ‘snap’ words we are using as word detectives.  Some fun ways to practice them are writing them in shaving cream on cookie sheets, writing them in the air, clapping them as you spell them, or tracing over words with different color crayons or markers. We will also be spending time each week work on phonics skills specific to each student’s developmental level.

Math: This week in math we are focusing on subtraction equations.  We are working on showing our equations and making a proof drawing.  Students are using these to prove that their equation is true.  We are also working to generate our own subtraction stories.  We will end the week by relating addition and subtraction.  An example of this is: 6+3=9, so I know that 9-6= 3.  

Content: It was great to see so many families on Friday come in and check out our aquariums and terrariums. Students are loving watching the living organisms each and every day. This week we will be comparing the freshwater and woodland plants and animals noticing the similarities and differences.

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

Weekly Update October 10-14th

Hello!  A reminder that book orders are due tomorrow if you would like to order books in October.  You can order online or by paper. Also, this Friday you are all invited into our classroom to see our Aquariums and Terrariums at 2:30 p.m.  I hope you can join us!

The Penny War for the Romenesko's is off to a great start. There was  A LOT of money brought in already today! NDLC families ROCK! To end the week, we are going to have a "wear lime green" day to show support for Timmy and all children struggling with Lymphoma. Thanks for all your support.

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, October 18th-Grandparents and Goodies Family Night, 6:00-7:00 PM

Red Ribbon Week Oct 24-Oct 26-During the week we will be joining many other schools and communities throughout the nation to celebrate RED RIBBON WEEK…a week dedicated to celebrating a healthy and drug free life!

All Kaukauna schools will be participating in various activities that promote drug free living. Students will participate in several dress-up days to raise awareness of the importance of living a drug free life! The elementary dress-up days are as follows:

Mon. Oct. 24th Wear "Red, White, and Blue”

…I Elect to be Drug Free!!

Tues. Oct. 25th Wear “Active Wear/Sweats”

…Stay active and be drug free!!

Wed. Oct. 26th….District Wide “RED DAY”

…Unite against drugs!!

Thursday, October 27 & Friday October 28th-No School for Students

Reading: We’ve just started our new unit, Word Detectives! On Thursday we received a “Top Secret” message asking us if we were up for the challenge of being word detectives by the Super Secret Detective Agency. Of course we decided we were! Each day we have been receiving secret missions. Mission 1 was word detectives are always on the lookout. They notice when there’s a problem and stop to solve it right away. Mission 2 was word detectives look CLOSELY to get clues and make sure to look across the WHOLE word. This week our missions will include: using everything we know to solve problems, doing a s-l-o-w check when trying to figure out a word we think we know, using our partners to help each other as we read together. If we complete all these missions successfully we will receive a word detective badge! Students are super excited for these missions!

Writing: We are finishing up our Small Moments unit. On Monday we edited our writing to make sure it was readable. We checked our spaces, spelling using the word wall and everything we know about letters and sound, and punctuation and endmarks. Today we fancied up our writing and tomorrow we will be having our celebration. On Thursday we will be starting How-To writing. This is procedural writing in which we teach our reader how to do something we know how to do well. This week we will be generating ideas by thinking about things you care about and what you could teach a reader about these things. We’ll also think of friends and family members and what we can teach them. We’ll work on planning our how-tos across pages and acting them out with our partner. We have new folders for this information writing. A note and folders are coming home today. Please return them as soon as you have a chance to decorate them.

Word Work: Our word wall words this week are: in, see, to, went, like.  We will be assessing these words on Friday. Some fun ways to practice them are writing them in shaving cream on cookie sheets, writing them in the air, clapping them as you spell them, or tracing over words with different colors or markers. We will also be spending time each week work on phonics skills specific to each student’s developmental level.

Math: This week in math we are working on the counting on strategy.  Students should see that it is more efficient to count on starting with the larger number in the equation.  We will also learn a new game with flash cards to help us practice addition equations up to 10.  At the end of the week we will move into subtraction and use pictures to represent subtraction equations.  A reminder that the math worksheets that come home on Tuesdays are just for practice at home.

Content: Our aquariums and terrariums are brimming with life. This week we will be studying what is happening in our aquariums and terrariums and recording our observations. We’re excited to share our habitats with you on Friday at 2:30 p.m.!

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

-Samantha