Weekly News!

What an exciting week in first grade! We had our in-school field trip yesterday, when a scientist from High Touch High Tech joined us to do some fantastic experiments related to Matter. I was so impressed with how much the students retained from our unit on solids, liquids, and gases. They had a blast with the scientist, and even brought home a special crystals experiment that they can do again and again! *Please keep these crystals in a safe place, as they are not safe for pets or little brothers and sisters to ingest! Please visit our classroom website to view the photo album showcasing our scientific morning.

Reading:
Our Treasures theme this week was “Where Animals Live”, and we read stories about animals in the everglades, a red eyed tree frog’s home, ants’ living quarters, a koala’s habitat, and a prairie dog home. We practiced spelling words with the /sh/ and /th/ blends. As we read the selections for the week, we really focused on summarizing and identifying the main idea and the details of the story. During grammar instruction, we learned about irregular plural nouns, along with a review of checking to make sure all sentences have a capital at the beginning and an ending mark at the end. When we return from Thanksgiving, our Treasures theme will be “Sing and Dance!” Our word work and spelling words for the week will have the short /u/ sound. As we read the selections for the week, we will focus on visualizing and retelling. Our grammar lessons will focus proper nouns.

Writing (and Social Studies!):
This week, we tied much of our writing into our latest Social Studies project based on the Pilgrims, the Wampanoag tribe, and children today. We have been comparing and contrasting the daily life of these three groups, and we created flip books that focus on the similarities and differences in our homes, food, clothing, and games. This would be a wonderful opportunity for your author to share what they have learned and written about as you celebrate Thanksgiving next week! When we return from Thanksgiving, we will begin the letter writing unit of our Writing Workshop. Our Social Studies theme will focus on holiday traditions.

Math:
In math this week, explored various ways of collecting and examining data, and made a line plot to compare our data. We began using dominoes to practice addition facts, and played the game, “Domino Top-it”. This is similar to the card game Top-It, except you only need one set of cards (dominoes). You turn all of the cards face down, and Player 1 chooses a card at the same time Player 2 does. Each player counts the domino dots, and whoever has the highest number wins both dominoes. Continue playing until all of the dominoes have been picked up, and whoever has the most dominoes is the winner. The domino cards that the children cut out from their math journals came home in a plastic bag, and are yours to keep! Enjoy practicing Domino Top-It at home! The week after Thanksgiving will bring the start of Unit 4. We will begin by learning about reading thermometers, then explore measuring objects with nonstandard linear measures (fingers, hands, feet, etc). Next, we will learn about the difference between measuring with our feet versus a standard foot. Finally, we learned about measuring by the inch.

Progress Reports
Yesterday, progress reports came home! The students have so much to be proud of. When looking at the report cards, please do not be alarmed if your child does not have I’s. The Kindergarten report card is very different from the first grade report card, so if they were marked as Independent in Kindergarten categories and are now at the Beginning level for some first grade concepts, do not be alarmed. Many of the concepts we introduce in the first trimester of first grade will be spiraling through our curriculum and will continue to be part of our lessons as the year goes on, so mastery is not necessarily expected right away. The same can be said for behavior goals. First grade brings more responsibility, so the students will continue to grow into more independent first graders as the year progresses!

Have a nice weekend, and I look forward to sharing more about your child’s progress with you at conferences!

☺ Mrs. Glaser

Upcoming Events:
11/21-11/22: Parent Teacher conferences (No school for students)
11/22: LILY’S BIRTHDAY!
11/23-11/25: Thanksgiving break (No school for students)

Royal Reader!

Yesterday, Mick's mom joined us to read "Shark vs. Train". The students loved this funny story about a shark and a train who fearlessly compete in various activities to see who is the best! What a fun birthday surprise for Mick!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICK!

Happy birthday to our friend Mick! We are looking forward to sharing in the excitement of your birthday!

Weekly News!

Our first graders really enjoying our art appreciation lesson today!

Reading:
This week our theme in Treasures was “Helping Out”. We practiced spelling words with the short /e/ sound. As we read the selections for the week, we really focused on summarizing and retelling the story. During grammar instruction, we learned about plural nouns, and when we need to add an –s, and when an –es is necessary. During Guided Reading time, I met with our new Guided Reading groups. The students enjoyed the challenge of some more difficult books, and have made a relatively seamless transition to their new reading levels. I am looking forward to discussing your child’s progress in reading during our upcoming conferences! They have much to be proud of! Next week, our Treasures theme will be “Where Animals Live”. Our word work and spelling words for the week will have the short /o/ sound. As we read the selections for the week, we will again focus on summarizing, and identifying the main idea and details. Our grammar lessons will focus on irregular plural nouns.

Writing:
This week, we took some time to reflect on what we are thankful for, and wrote about those people or things and told why we are thankful for them. In preparation for Veteran’s Day, each student made a card and wrote a little message for a veteran. These cards were collected by the school and were mailed to a VA hospital to share with the veterans there in honor of their service. We also reflected on the versions of “The Little Red Hen” that we read throughout the week, and decided whether or not we thought the Little Red Hen should have shared her bread with the other animals. Some of us thought she should not share, because the other animals did not help her. Others thought that she should have forgiven the animals and shared her bread after all.

Math:
In math this week, we learned how to program calculators to make them skip count. Then, we began working with counting dimes, and practiced counting those in combination with pennies and nickels. We also worked on making exchanges with dimes, nickels, and pennies to show the fewest number of coins for an amount of money. Throughout the week, we also talked about writing a coin total with the cents sign, or in dollars and cents notation, but never using both at once! Today, the children took a trimester check-in assessment to help me gauge how well they are picking up on the concepts we have introduced thus far. Because we did not have a regular math lesson today due to the assessment, there will be no math homework over the long weekend! Next week, we will explore various ways of collecting and examining data, use dominoes to form addition problems, use the Mimio Vote system to review the concepts we’ve been working on in Unit 3, and finally, take our Unit 3 test on Thursday. Because conferences are so close, the Unit 3 test will not be sent home, but instead, shared with you at your conference.

Social Studies:
This week, we began discussing the history of Thanksgiving. We are learning about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indian tribe. After we learn about their food, homes, clothing, and games, we are going to compare their lives to our lives, and discover how they were the same as us in some ways, and how they were different. So far, the students are very excited to be learning about how life was long ago, and they are making some great connections to their lives today!

Art Appreciation:
Today, Luca’s mom joined us to talk about masks. She showed us various masks from different parts of the word and discussed how masks have meaning behind them. Next, the students each made their own mask, representing things that they are thankful for! They had such fun making their masks!!

Have a stupendous weekend!

☺ Mrs. Glaser

Upcoming Events:
11/11: Veterans’ Day (No school for students)
11/17: Dads & Donuts 8:30 am in the gym
11/17: MICK’S BIRTHDAY!
11/18: High Touch High Tech in school field trip
11/18: Progress Reports sent home
11/21-11/22: Parent Teacher conferences (No school for students)
11/22: LILY’S BIRTHDAY!
11/23-11/25: Thanksgiving break (No school for students)

Royal Reader!

Yesterday, Lily's dad surprised us as our Royal Reader for the day! He read us one of his favorite books, "The Giving Tree" and also a Thanksgiving story, "This is the Turkey". The children loved it so much they were begging for more stories, and even insisted that we could clear our schedule for the day to continue! Thanks for coming in to read to us!

Matter Chant

I've just posted a video of our Matter Chant in the sidebar to the right! This is a chant that we practiced throughout our Matter unit to help reinforce what we were learning about solids, liquids, and gases. They had so much fun making this video. Great job first graders!

Weekly News!

Look at these first grade scientists hard at work!

Reading:

This week our theme in Treasures was “Animal Families”. We practiced spelling words with the short /o/ sound. As we read the selections for the week, we really focused on summarizing and identifying the main idea and details. During grammar instruction, we learned about nouns, and identified people, places, and things in sentences. During Guided Reading time, I assessed students’ current reading levels, and am pleased to report that they are making steady progress! We will continue to work on decoding and comprehension strategies as our Guided Reading groups resume next week. Speaking of next week, our Treasures theme will be “Helping Out”. Our word work and spelling words for the week will have the short /e/ sound. As we read the selections for the week, we will again focus on summarizing, and we will revisit retellings. This is when we tell what happened first, next, then, and last in a story, along with identifying the characters and setting when applicable. These are excellent ways to practice comprehension strategies at home, too, after your child reads a book to you, or after you read to them.

Writing:

This week, we finished up our personal narrative writing by writing an opening and closing sentence. We learned that an opening sentence should introduce your reader to your topic, and that the closing sentence should wrap everything up and tell how that event made you feel. After we wrote our opening and closing sentences, we began publishing our writing in a story board format. This will carry over into next week as we work on doing our very best work for our published piece!

Math:



In math this week, we learned about and practiced telling time to the half hour. This included learning how to use the term, “half past” when telling the time. Please encourage your child to practice telling time whenever possible, particularly when they present the opportunity by asking what time it is! The next math lessons brought an introduction to the “Frames and Arrows” routine, and spent quite some time practicing this routine. I was very proud of the children for picking this up rather easily! We will continue practice with these problems throughout the year, but they are off to a fantastic start with a tricky concept! Next week, we will begin by programming calculators to count with them. Then, we will introduce dimes to our coin counting combinations, and practice counting those in combination with pennies and nickels. Counting coins is another concept that lends itself nicely to practice at home or in the “real world”. First graders can always benefit from any authentic experiences with counting coins! We will not have regular math instruction next Thursday, so there will be no math homework over the long weekend.

Science:







Our first grade Matter unit came to a close this week, and the kids had a blast experimenting with Oobleck! They were asking questions, making great scientific guesses, and thoroughly enjoying the mysterious Oobleck. We also completed the second half of the flip book we started on the very first day of our unit. On the first day, we wrote or illustrated what we thought a solid was, a liquid, and a gas. We ended the unit by writing or illustrating what we now know a solid is, what a liquid is, and what a gas is. Our Matter Chant was performed for the last time at school, but hopefully it will be performed many more times at home ☺ Next week, we will make the switch to Social Studies, as we begin studying the history of Thanksgiving.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Mrs Glaser ☺

Upcoming Events:

11/9: School photo retakes

11/11: Veterans’ Day (No school for students)

11/17: Dads & Donuts 8:30 am in the gym

11/17: MICK’S BIRTHDAY!

11/18: High Touch High Tech in school field trip

11/18: Progress Reports sent home

11/21-11/22: Parent Teacher conferences (No school for students)

11/22: LILY’S BIRTHDAY!

11/23-11/25: Thanksgiving break (No school for students)

Royal Reader!

Yesterday, Joe's mom and dad surprised us with a special Halloween edition of our Royal Readers! We heard the book, "Mouse's First Halloween" and the children listened in suspense as each page turned. Thank you for the spooky fun read aloud!!