March 20-24

Hello,

Spring is here! Although some days it might not feel like it yet! With the changing weather please make sure that your child is dressed for that days weather. Thank you for continuing to practice your KAT questions at home. I look forward to meeting with you next week during our Portfolio Conferences to share the growth your child has made so far this year in first grade.

Here are some areas we are looking for volunteers:

Book Fair

http://signup.com/go/zkKGHy

Conference Meals

http://signup.com/go/bEgipo

http://signup.com/go/TNwaqh

Here is the sign up link for Knowledge-a-thon​

Timber Rattlers Reading Program: Remember, if your child is participating in Fang’s Reading Club and completes the 2 week reading assignment, fill out the the corresponding Fang and bring him back to school. If your child completes all the the assignments, he/she will earn a complimentary ticket to the Timber Rattlers game on June 11th at 1:05 PM.

Classroom Need:  We are in need of more pens for writing.  We use the Paper Mate: Flair Pens in black.  If you are out and about and could pick up a pack we would appreciate it!   Thank you for all the donations so far!

Upcoming Events:

3/28 & 3/30: Portfolio Conferences 4:00-7:00
3/29: Wacky Hair Day
4/3: Sports Day
4/11: Egg Crack Off

Reading: We are doing an amazing job of making our stories come alive! This week we’ll be spending some time acting out what we think might come after the end of the story by thinking about what we know about the characters. We’ll also share different ideas about how a book might be performed. We’ll end our week by thinking about the lessons stories are trying to teach us and keep that life lesson in mind as we read new stories to see how they fit together.

Writing: We’ll be starting our realistic fiction writing unit this week, From Scenes to Series. In the first part of this unit writers will invent characters and small moment adventures for their characters. They will plan and act out their stories to help add details. In the second part of the unit, writers will put their characters in more than one book and more than one adventure. We’ll spend some time studying mentor authors to help us add details. We’ll end our unit by publishing our books, making sure to edit and revise in meaningful ways, and create a “meet the author” page.

Word Work: The new words this week are: saw, eat, ran, after, must. Please have your child practice these words on a regular basis. As they become fluent with them, it’s helps them with their reading and writing.

Math:  We are continuing to solve comparison story problems. We are also learning about how we can use comparison bars to help us solve these situations. We’ll be having our unit assessment on Friday.

Content: We are continuing our study of US symbols. We’ll learn about a couple more symbols and then we’ll choose a symbol we want to learn more about and do our own research using books and Pebblego. We’ll end our study by presenting our learning to the rest of the class.

March 13-17

Hello,

There are many exciting opportunities happening at New Directions this time of year! Portfolio conferences are the the last week of March. Please let me know if you haven’t received your scheduled time. The KAT is also coming up April 7. Packets with information came home on Friday. Please spend some time going through the questions with your child. They are all things we’ve learned in first grade, but sometimes a little extra practice is helpful! We’ll be practicing the questions at school too. This is an amazing fundraiser for our school, and the PSC is so supportive of all of our school initiatives. My classroom does have a title to defend...Last year we won highest average score :)

Here are some areas we are looking for volunteers:

Book Fair

http://signup.com/go/zkKGHy

Conference Meals

http://signup.com/go/bEgipo

http://signup.com/go/TNwaqh

Here is the sign up link for Knowledge-a-thon​

There are so many exciting offerings for summer school this year. Have you seen them? If not, here is the course description packet. Registration opens on Sunday, March 19th at 2:00 pm. There are a few New Directions Teachers teaching summer school this year. Check out this list to see what classes are being taught by New Directions teachers. I am sure you will agree that there are many great options for enrichment this year!

Timber Rattlers Reading Program: Remember, if your child is participating in Fang’s Reading Club and completes the 2 week reading assignment, fill out the the corresponding Fang and bring him back to school. If your child completes all the the assignments, he/she will earn a complimentary ticket to the Timber Rattlers game on June 11th at 1:05 PM.

Classroom Need:  We are in need of more pens for writing.  We use the Paper Mate: Flair Pens in black.  If you are out and about and could pick up a pack we would appreciate it!   Thank you!

Upcoming Events:

3/15: No School for Students

3/17: Wear Green
3/28 & 3/30: Portfolio Conferences 4:00-7:00
3/29: Wacky Hair Day
4/3: Sports Day
4/11: Egg Crack Off

Reading: This week we are continuing to act like we are our characters. We’ll be working with our partners to act out the scenes together. Partners will take turns being the character and narrator. We’ll also notice parts our characters aren’t talking and think about what the character might be saying and add that in. Then we’ll be joining up with another partnership and forming clubs to act out our books. We’ll be looking closely at the words, pictures and pay close attention to what the character does and says.

Writing: We are finishing up our Writing Like Scientists unit. We’ve been working hard to add introductions and conclusions to our writing. We’ll also be spending some time editing for punctuation, capitals and spelling. At the end of the week we’ll be conducting one last whole class experiment and writing a lab report for our portfolios. Next week we’ll be starting to write realistic fiction.

Word Work: The new words this week are: so, ate, over, where, or, into Please have your child practice these words on a regular basis. As they become fluent with them, it’s helps them with their reading and writing.

Math:  We are continuing our  Comparisons and Data unit and moving on to solving comparison problems. We are working hard to make a movie in our mind to help us come up with a strategy to solve these problems. See tonight’s math homework for examples of the types of problems’ we’ve been solving. We’ve also been working hard on becoming with fluent with our addition and subtraction facts to 10. We spend time each day practicing these facts using our yellow, red and orange fact cards.

Content: We are continuing our study of US symbols. We’ve been taking notes on the different symbols we’ve been learning about. Some of the symbols we’ll be studying are The Flag, The White House, The Bald Eagle, The Liberty Bell, along with other symbols students are interested in.

Friday News

It's a busy time of the school year and there are many exciting things happening in our school.  Thank  you to everyone who came to Author's Breakfast.  We were very excited to share our writing in this unit.  I will send a blog post on Tuesday with classroom updates. Have a great weekend!  

• There are so many exciting offerings for summer school this year. Have you seen them? If not, here is the course description packet. Registration opens on Sunday, March 19th at 2:00 pm. There are a few New Directions Teachers teaching summer school this year. Check out this list to see what classes are being taught by New Directions teachers. I am sure you will agree that there are many great options for enrichment this year!

•  A message from Student Council: 
  HOORAY! Our 3D printer was fully funded! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
  As you begin your spring cleaning, please look for magnets, old electronics, toy cars, Knex, and legos. We will also take household items like measuring cups, paper products and utensils. Basic office supplies would also be helpful when building our makerspace. As always, you can send monetary donations with your child to contribute toward makerspace supplies. 

• Culver's Night is Monday, March 13th.  It is from 5-8 p.m.  I will be there during the last hour slot from 7-8 p.m.  

• NDLC Running Club
  New Directions is starting an after school running club!  Please watch your child's folder for information on the Running Club.  

• If you can help at any of the following, here are the sign-ups:

Book Fair
http://signup.com/go/zkKGHy
Conference Meals
http://signup.com/go/bEgipo
Knowledge-A-Thon
http://signup.com/go/TNwaqh

• If your child is participating in the FANG Reading program. Please have them turn in their slips weekly. They will receive prizes as they go. If you child starts now, and meets the requirements, you can sent them all in at once! :) 

• KAT packets are coming home today.  Make sure to check for it and start practicing the questions! 

• Birthday Box Reminder

We will be collecting Birthday box donations at conferences on March 28 &30. Please drop off donations at the designated tables.  Our highest need items are decorative birthday plates, napkins and tablecloths.  We will continue to collect all other items including decorations, candles, cake mixes (please check expiration dates), cans of frosting, cake decorations, and sprinkles.  Our goal is to collect enough items for 50 Birthday boxes.  

We are also in need of volunteers to help collect supplies on March 28 & 30th and to assembly boxes on April 22nd. Please click the link below if you are interested in signing up to help!

http://signup.com/go/fa4ZnY

Please contact Kristin McEneany at  kristin.mceneany@gmail.com  with any questions.

• Check out this months newsletter to learn more about other important happenings in our school!

March 6-10th

Hello,

Conference notes with your scheduled time came home yesterday. Please let me know if you didn’t receive yours. This is a busy time of year in first grade. See below to find out what’s happening!

http://signup.com/go/TNwaqh

Here is the sign up link for Knowledge-a-thon​

Student Council sent out a letter introducing their next project: a Makerspace. You can see that letter here.

In addition to supplies, they are hoping to add a 3D printer to the Makerspace. Please go here to donate. If you donate before March 10th, Donors Choose will match your donation if you use the code LIFTOFF.

Timber Rattlers Reading Program: Remember, if your child is participating in Fang’s Reading Club and completes the 2 week reading assignment, fill out the the corresponding Fang and bring him back to school. If your child completes all the the assignments, he/she will earn a complimentary ticket to the Timber Rattlers game on June 11th at 1:05 PM.

Classroom Need:  We are in need of more pens for writing.  We use the Paper Mate: Flair Pens in black.  If you are out and about and could pick up a pack we would appreciate it!   Thank you!

Upcoming Events:

3/10: Author's Breakfast 7:15-7:45

3/15: No School for Students
3/28 & 3/30: Portfolio Conferences 4:00-7:00
3/29: Wacky Hair Day
4/3: Sports Day
4/11: Egg Crack Off

Reading: This week as we learn more about characters we’ll be putting ourselves in the character’s shoes and actually becoming the character. We’ll try to act, talk and think like we think our character would. We’ll match our voices to how our characters are feeling, and change our voices to match the feelings. We’ll also use clues such as dialogue tags and narration to help us know how to act and talk like our character. We’ll be working on making our voices sound smooth to really sound like our characters. We’ll spend time rereading to make our voices sound just right.

Writing: We are continuing to Write Like Scientists. Partners have planned and conducted a couple of experiments and completed lab reports. We are working on adding in detailed steps to make sure our how-tos are clear and concise and studying other lab reports to add more to our results and conclusions. We are excited to share our lab reports at our author’s breakfast this Friday.

Word Work: The new words this week are: help, going, by, away, down. Please have your child practice these words on a regular basis. As they become fluent with them, it’s helps them with their reading and writing.

Math:  We are continuing our  Comparisons and Data unit. This week we are comparing 3 sets of data and then will be conducting our own surveys and comparing the results.

Content: We started our study of US symbols today. Some of the symbols we’ll be studying are The Flag, The White House, The Bald Eagle, The Liberty Bell, along with other symbols students are interested in. We’ll spend some time learning about the symbol and what it stands for.

Feb. 27-March 3rd Update

Hello,

We had an amazing week of training at Columbia Teacher’s College, and I’m excited to try some things out in our classroom. Mrs. K enjoyed her time with students, and was impressed with how well they were able to follow our routines. I’m happy to be back in the classroom though and really missed our class!

http://signup.com/go/TNwaqh

Here is the sign up link for Knowledge-a-thon​

Classroom Need:  We are in need of more pens for writing.  We use the Paper Mate: Flair Pens in black.  If you are out and about and could pick up a pack we would appreciate it!   Thank you!

Upcoming Events:

3/2: Dr. Seuss Character Day
3/10: Author's Breakfast 7:15-7:45

3/15: No School for Students
3/28 & 3/30: Portfolio Conferences 4:00-7:00
3/29: Wacky Hair Day
4/3: Sports Day
4/11: Egg Crack Off

Reading: We have been continuing to get to know our characters. We’ve been going on adventures by keeping track of when and where our stories take place, predicting what might happen next, retelling the important parts (and marking those parts with post-its so we remember) and rereading to notice even more about our characters. We’ve also been working on having conversations with our partners to learn even more about our characters by using these same strategies together.

Writing: Last week we spent some time working on making our writing readable. We have such great ideas for stories, but we realized it’s important to make sure our writing is readable so others can enjoy our writing. We worked on letter formation, spacing, capitals, and punctuation. This week we are back to writing like scientists. Students will be setting up and conducting their own experiments with partners and writing up lab reports to share their learning. They’ll start with a question and hypothesis, write the procedure, conduct the experiment and then write about their observations, results and add a conclusions. First graders are super excited to conduct their experiments!

Word Work: The new words this week are: make, thing, funny, day, will. Please have your child practice these words on a regular basis. As they become fluent with them, it’s helps them with their reading and writing.

Math:  We started our new unit this week, Comparisons and Data. In this unit students will be representing and comparing data and solving comparison problems. We’ll spend a couple of days organizing, representing and interpreting data, and then students will be conducting their own surveys in our classroom and representing their data.

Content: We are finishing up our study of solids and liquids this week. We compared solids and liquids yesterday, and will be completing an assessment on Wednesday to show all we have learned about solids and liquids.

Feb. 13-17

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yesterday we celebrated the 100th day of school and today we are celebrating Valentine’s day...what an exciting start to the week!   Thank you to everyone who donated treats for our party this afternoon.   

Next week (Feb. 20-23) I will be traveling to New York to attend an institute at Teachers College at Columbia University.  I will be learning more about small groups and conferring...I’m looking forward to learning new things and bringing them back to our school and our classroom.  While I am out Maureen Kappell will be our guest teacher.  I will be checking email but if it is something that needs to be addressed that day please contact the school office.

See below for some opportunities to volunteer your time to  help with upcoming New Directions’ activities:

http://signup.com/go/TNwaqh

Here is the sign up link for Knowledge-a-thon​

http://signup.com/go/ghdv4U

This is the link for people to donate cookie for the Music and Masterpieces family night

http://signup.com/go/bErwXq

This is the link for people to sign up to help serve the cookies at the M and M family night

Reminder:

We’ll be collecting items for “Birthday Boxes” at our Music, Masterpieces and Munchies family night on February 27th. We'll have boxes out in the lobby to collect donations. Some ideas for items are: cake mixes, frosting, candles, hats, balloons, decorations, napkins, plates, etc

Classroom Need:  We are in need of more pens for writing.  We use the Paper Mate: Flair Pens in black.  If you are out and about and could pick up a pack we would appreciate it!   Thank you!

Upcoming Events:

February 14: Valentine’s Day

February 17: Six Flags Reading Logs Due

February 23: Early Release

February 24: No School for Students

February 27: Family Night: Music, MasterPieces and Munchies

Reading: Students have been really digging in and getting to know their characters! This week we will be paying attention to the illustrations and setting to help us learn more about our characters. We will also be studying tricky words and figuring out what they mean by reading the words around them, making a picture in our mind, and thinking about what makes sense. We will also be working with our partners to talk about what we are learning about our characters and growing ideas about our characters.

Writing: We have begun our Writing Like a Scientist Unit. How exciting! Don’t be surprised if first grade scientists start setting up experiments at home. This week we will be working through the scientific method together by conducting a whole class experiment and writing up a lab report. Our lab reports will include materials, question, hypothesis, procedure, results and conclusions. After we practice doing a couple experiments together, students will be planning, conducting and writing up their own experiments in a couple of weeks.

Word Work: The new words this week are: got, if, did, let, our, house. Please have your child practice these words on a regular basis. As they become fluent with them, it’s helps them with their reading and writing.

Math:  We are finishing up our unit on Friday. By the end of our unit students should be able to count, read, and write numerals to 120, add and subtract 10s, use strategies to add and subtract within 20 and solve story problems and add three numbers to solve story problems. We have been doing lots of work with numbers through 20 and using a variety of strategies to solve problems. This week we will be adding and subtracting tens. We’ll use a hundred grid to help us notice patterns, and count up by 10s starting at a variety of different numbers. You can practice at home by saying a 2 digit number and having your child tell you what 10 more or 10 less is (What is 10 more than 48? What is 10 less?). Then we will focus on adding and subtracting multiples of 10. For example, 80 + 20, 50 - 30.

Content: We will be continuing to investigate liquids this week. We will be studying how they flow and mix by participating in hands on centers, using liquids such as glue, water, shampoo and oil.

February 6th-10th

Hello,

This week in our classroom we began a kindness tree.  Students are collecting all the acts of kindness that their classmates are doing and adding them to our class tree. Hopefully it will be full by Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day!  If you are able to donate something for our party please let me know!

Upcoming Events:

February 7: Early Release

February 9-10: Math Staff Developer here!

February 14: Valentine’s Day

February 17: Six Flags Reading Logs Due

February 23: Early Release

February 24: No School for Students

February 27: Family Night: Music, MasterPieces and Munchies

Reading: In reading we are beginning a new unit, Readers Get to Know Characters by Performing Their Books. In this unit we will focus on ways to get to know a character and pretend we are the characters and perform our books to become character experts. This week we will get to know our characters by using the title, cover and back of book to get ourselves thinking about the character, thinking about what we learn about the character on each page and putting the pages together to see what we can learn about our character, and pay attention to the ending and see what it can teach us about our character. We are getting to know our characters like friends!

Writing: In writing this week we are using checklists to make sure that each and every part of our opinion writing is as strong as it can be.  We will then prepare our book reviews for publication.  We are especially looking at conventions as we finish up this unit.  We will have our on demand at the end of the week.  Our next unit will be Writing Like a Scientist.  

Word Work: The new words this week are: made, ride, get, there, what. Please have your child practice these words on a regular basis. As they become fluent with them, it’s helps them with their reading and writing.

Math:  In math we will continue to practice adding three numbers.  Students are using a variety of strategies to solve these equations!  They are doing great! We will also, start some work with counting.  We will count large quantities of objects by tens and ones, practice counting and writing numbers to 120 and then practice finding 10 more or 10 less than a two-digit number.  

Content: Yesterday we investigated two new solids using the properties of solids that we studied last week.  This week we will begin to observe and describe liquids.  We will look at six different properties: opacity, color, feel, viscosity, buoyancy in water, and miscibility in water.