Our first month of school has been so much fun! I am thrilled to see so much growth in the students already. October calendars are ready and will be sent home on Monday. The first grade teachers will be in a meeting Monday morning with our literacy consultant, so we will have our first Guest Teacher! Please remind your child to treat our Guest Teacher with respect. Thank you! :-)
Math
We completed our topic on comparing numbers. I have corrected both Topic 1 and Topic 2 checks. The first grade team has been working on devleoping a the standard for a M (meets standard), P (partially meets standard), and D (does not meet standard) which is why they have not been sent home yet. They should be coming home next week.
Topic 2 was a bit more challenging. Please continue to use greater than, less than, and between whenever you can in family conversations.
We are now working on adding. We refer to adding as making a number from two parts, We have been working on making 6, 7, 8, and 9 from two parts. Your child should be able to tell you all the ways to make 6, 7, 8, and 9. Example: 6 0+6, 1+5, 2+4, 3+3, 4+2, 5+1, 6+0. Beginning math fact flashcards for these facts will be very helpful! :-)
We are playing Number Top It when we have extra time. This is a version of war. As our math skills grow we will be adding cards together instead of only comparing 1 card at a time. Students are required to say, "I have ____." and " ____ is greater than _____." before they can take the cards. This is helping us develop and use our academic language.
Reading Workshop
I am continue to be amazed with the reading stamina of these readers. This week we have been reading for 10-15 minutes, then sharing something from our book with a partner. Then we read for 10-15 more minutes and share something from our book with the class in our reading workshop sharing circle. We are working on reading strategies for decoding words. Ask your child about Eagle Eye, Lips the Fish, and Stretchy Snake. Using all three of these strategies will help your child decode many words in age appropriate books.***Look for the following characteristics when helping your child find a "just right" book: It is read not too fast, but not too slow. He/she knows all or most of the words. The topic is age appropriate.***
Word Workshop
We are reviewing short vowel (CVC) words. First graders should be able to decode any regular CVC word. Even for First Graders that are reading, phonics review is very important. The little books are great practice for fluency. The studetns can choose to leave them at school in their books boxes or take them home for practice.
Our Review Sight Words so far: (Students need to recognize in 3-5 seconds.) Practice cards will be coing home! :-)
is
I
see
the
go
at
can
my
not
a
and
have
to
be
play
did
**cannot** tricky (explain it is the same as it's)
with
get
here
look
me
too
This Week I Really Learned!
Today your child will be bringing home his/her T.W.I.R.L. book for the third time. This week we brainstormed what we learned in a T.W.I.R.L. web. Each student was requried to write one sentence that started with I learned.... and then finish the sentence with an idea from the chart. Thank you for taking time to write to your child. We were able to enjoy some of the letters during snack break this week. They loved hearing your written words.
Mystery Reader
Our first Mystery Reader was Mr. Butler! He read a story called Two Bad Ants. We were engagted and making great inferences about where the ants were during the story. Thank you, Mr. Butler, for taking time out of his busy day to read with us!
Attention Getters
Miss Grimes has a lot of ways to get our attention. The chime is rung to signal the end of read to self time, the teacher bell is pressed twice to signal the end of math time, the show me 5 signal is used to get attention most other times, and the tambourine means "get to her feet on the rug quickly!" She uses the tambourine if she realizes that her directions weren't clear or if the whole class is off task and too noisy. We think the tambourine is very cool and thank Tony Kamana for it! :-)
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