Weekly News!

Just one week left of first grade in 2011, and our bunch has been diligently working away! Here’s what we’ve been up to this week:

Reading:
Our Treasures theme this week was “Let’s Laugh” and we read funny stories, including a rhyming story that was fantastic for checking in on rhyming words. A great activity to practice at home would be to read a book with a rhyming pattern and stop on each page to have your child identify the rhyming words. Stories that rhyme are not only fun to read and listen to, but a nice way to build your child’s phonemic awareness at the same time! We practiced spelling words with /l/ blends (cl-, fl-, and bl-). 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 identified the sequence of events in the story. During grammar instruction, we focused on proper nouns, and how we should always capitalize the names of the days, months, and holidays. Next week will be an assessment week for Treasures. We will use the Mimio Vote system to check our progress on what we’ve learned in Unit 2. Because it is an assessment week, we will have no spelling tests or grammar packets. Guided reading groups will be uninterrupted, so you will still see your child’s small books coming home when their reading group meets. We will also explore six new Text Talk words with a Text Talk read aloud focus next week.

Writing:
This week, we continued our letter writing unit as we edited our friendly letters to the author Mo Willems, used our nicest, neatest handwriting on our final draft, and learned how to address an envelope to mail a letter. Next week, we will be working on how to write a thank you letter. If your child is looking for extra writing opportunities at home, a great way to tie this in would be to have them write a friendly letter to a friend or family member who lives in another city. They could have a new pen pal! This would be a meaningful way for them to practice writing, and very motivating once they receive their first response letter in the mail from their pen pal! Email is nice too, but there’s something so special about receiving something in the mailbox. Next week will also bring the opportunity to do a few special holiday writing projects, which I know the students will be so excited about!

Math:
In math this week, learned about measuring with a tape measure, followed by a day with explorations to review concepts and play games related to our math studies. Then, we practiced telling time to the quarter hour and learned about how long periods of time can be measured with timelines. On Wednesday, your child brought home a paper with clocks on the back. This is a nice reference to keep handy as we work on telling time to help them remember where the minute hand points for o’clock, quarter past, half past, and quarter before. Next week, we will begin working on number scrolls, which focus on writing numbers in order from 1 to 200. The students can then decide if they would like to challenge themselves to go further or stop at 200. Many students get excited about seeing how far they can go, and make it all the way to 1,000! Next, we will learn about “Fact Power”, which is practicing addition facts until they become automatic, or “snappy quick” as we sometimes call it when we recall information automatically. If you have any addition flashcards at home, now is the time to break those out and start practicing with them! On Wednesday, we will practice strategies like adding by 10 to help solve other addition problems, and we will learn the new game, “Shaker Addition Top-It. Finally, we will take our Unit 4 test on Thursday of next week.

Science & Social Studies:



This week in science, we took our plants and animals comparison from last week and focused our questions on plants. We discovered that each part of the plant serves a purpose. We wondered what purpose the seeds might serve. We investigated these seeds, measured them, and did scientific drawings of them. Next, we explored seed dispersal and discovered that a seed travels either by wind, water, or by animals.




In Social Studies instruction this week, we began learning about Holiday Traditions. We began by learning about Diwali, which is celebrated in the fall with the lighting of fireworks and small lamps called diyas. Houses are decorated, new clothes are worn, and sweets are eaten to celebrate the new year. Next, we learned about Eid. The students noticed some similarities between Diwali and Eid, like wearing new clothes and celebrating with parties and food. People who celebrate Eid also give to those who are less fortunate, and paint intricate designs on their hands with henna paste, which the students were fascinated by. Hanukkah was the next holiday we talked about, and we learned that it is celebrated for eight days in December. People who celebrate Hanukkah light candles on a menorah, play the dreidel game, and give gifts to one another and to needy families. We are starting to notice the common threads of lights, clothing, giving, and special foods among these different holidays! We can’t wait to learn about two more next week, Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Fifth Grade Service Project
Don’t forget that we are collecting items to go to less fortunate students who attend the McCutcheon school in Chicago! We are looking for school supplies, books, clothing, toiletries, etc. No donation will be turned away- if you think they can use it, chances are they are in need of it. If you are looking for a more detailed list of items, please let me know and I will get a list for you! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far! Our classroom box has had a steady trail of donations coming in, and the fifth graders are so pleased when they come to pick up the items each day. I can also see the first graders beginning to realize how good it makes them feel to be helping children their age who are in need. Bravo, first graders!

Have a wonderful weekend!

☺ Mrs. Glaser

Upcoming Events:
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