Weekly News!

We have been busy little bees in first grade this week! Read on to find out what we’ve been learning.

Reading:
Our Treasures theme this week was “Sing and Dance!”, and we read stories about dancing, making instruments, and singing. We practiced spelling words with the short /u/ sound. As we read the selections for the week, we spent time visualizing, or painting a picture in our minds of what the author was describing. We also continued to practice retelling the story’s main events. During grammar instruction, we learned about proper nouns, and when to capitalize the name of a person, place, or thing. Next week, our Treasures theme will be “Let’s Laugh!”. Our word work and spelling words for the week will be with words that contain blends. As we read the selections for the week, we will continue to visualize what the author is writing about, and will put the events of the story in the correct sequence. Our grammar lessons will focus on capitalizing proper nouns, particularly the days, months, and holidays.

Writing:
This week, we began our letter writing unit. Our authors learned a song to help remember the parts of a letter. It is sung to the tune of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, but the words are changed to match the parts of a letter: “Heading, Greeting, Body, Closing, Signature”. Have your child demonstrate this for you at home to see if they can remember these parts of a letter! We learned about how to write a friendly letter, and began writing our first drafts of a letter to the author, Mo Willems. Next week, we will work on editing our first drafts before beginning our final draft.

Math:
In math this week, learned about reading thermometers, then explored measuring objects with nonstandard linear measures (fingers, hands, feet, etc). Next, we learned about the difference between measuring with our feet versus a standard foot. Finally, we learned about measuring by the inch. Next week, we will practice measuring with a tape measure, followed by a day with explorations to review concepts and play games related to our math studies. Then, we will introduce telling time to the quarter hour (deep breaths!), followed by a lesson on timelines.

Science:
This week in science, we began by discussing what exactly a scientist is. I was so impressed with all of the ideas the students were able to come up with! We, as first grade scientists then began our study of living things by practicing some important skills. The first being how to use a magnifying lens, and the second being how to make scientific drawings. Finally, we compared plants and animals by creating collages of each and then completing a Venn diagram to organize our thoughts and determine what is the same about plants and animals, and what is different. Next week we will investigate fruits and seeds.



Fifth Grade Service Project
Today, a group of fifth graders came in to talk to us about their service learning project. They will be collecting items to go to less fortunate students who attend the McCutcheon school in Chicago. Our class will have a box in our classroom to collect our contributions. We will be looking for school supplies, books, clothing, toiletries, etc. If you are looking for a more detailed list of items, please let me know and I will get a list for you!

Have a beautiful weekend!

☺ Mrs. Glaser

Upcoming Events:
12/1: EMILIA & LUCIANA’S BIRTHDAY!
12/17-1/2: Winter Break
1/3: School Resumes
1/10: KATERINA’S BIRTHDAY!
1/16: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day- No School
1/23: Institute Day- No School for Students