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Hello Families,

We now have a Facebook page! Please "like" our page, "Miss Grimes' s Fantastic Fabulous First Grade" on Facebook for all of our updates and news.

Weekly Update

Hello Families,

We had a short busy week! We also celebrated Annie’s birthday! I’m looking forward to getting back to work with the kids on Monday. I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend.  

 

 

Happy Birthday Annie!

 

 

 

Math

We continued learning about making whole numbers from 2 parts. This led us into our first lesson on number sentences. We learned how to write an addition sentence with an addend, a plus sign, another addend, an equal sign, and finally the sum. It’s important for your child to use these terms correctly when talking about math. A part and an addend is the same, and the sum and the whole is the same. We will mostly use addend and sum, but part and whole will be interchanged occasionally or for students are struggling.

Reading Workshop

We learned three fun new reading strategies: Eagle Eye, Lips the Fish, and Stretchy Snake. Eagle Eye reminds us to use pictures for clues to unknown words. Lips the Fish reminds us to get our lips ready to make the first sound of an unknown word. Stretchy Snake reminds us to stretch out the other sounds of unknown words to help decode. Using all of these strategies together is a powerful way for your child to move forward as an independent reader. Please practice these at home instead of saying, “sound it out.” Most words in our language are not decodable by simply “sounding it out.” We need to teach our children to use a variety of strategies when decoding an unfamiliar word.

Writer’s Workshop

We learned about journals this week. Journals are used for people to record their thoughts and feelings as well as recording life events. We will dabble with writing our own journals next week.

This Week I Really Learned!

Due to the short week we did not write in our T.W.I.R.L. journals. Watch for a new letter on Friday! J

Word Workshop

We reviewed short vowel CVC words and word families. Keep practicing with these words as well as our new 4 letter words with l and r blends.

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself. We also need to capitalize the first letter of our first and last name. We now that a comma comes after a greeting and the closing in a letter. Look for the commas when reading your child’s T.W.I.R.L. letter each week.

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

Bathroom

We are working on staying in class unless we really need to use the bathroom. Children need to use the bathroom each morning before coming to the classroom and after recess. We also take a bathroom break in the afternoon, and they may leave the class once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Right now they can go whenever they need to, but soon they will need to go during non-instruction times.

Birthdays

We celebrate birthdays during our snack time from 9:20 – 9:35. Please let me know the day before by email, voice mail, or a note if you’re planning on sending a birthday treat. Our 15 minute snack time includes passing out the treat and eating it, so the simpler the better. Please limit birthday treats to food only. Many children already have milk or juice and others have water bottles. Thank you!

Practice Packet

Your child’s practice packet will be sent home Monday. It was ready to go on Wednesay, and I forgot to put it in their mailboxes. Please don’t feel as though it needs to be turned in Friday. Next Monday is just fine. Thank you!

 

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

 

 

 

Weekly Update

Hello Families,

Next week is already MEA break. Time is going quickly. We take advantage of the short week with some word work review and some reading strategy lessons.

 

We have also learned about the communities we are part of. We are working on a simple project that should help them understand the concept of large and small communities that we are part of.

 

Math

We have started a unit on addition. New important words are: part, whole, addends, sum, inside, and outside. Today we learned how to make 6 and 7 from 2 parts. (2 and 4 make 6 etc.)

 

Reading Workshop

We are working on finding the main idea and supporting details in non-fiction text. This is tricky for most of the children. We will keep practicing next week. J

 

Writer’s Workshop

We are done launching our writer’s workshop and are ready to start our first unit next week. We will learn what journals are and how to write them.

 

This Week I Really Learned!

We ran short on writing time today, so your child’s letter may not be complete. It is absolutely okay to finish it at home if you’d like. We LOVE hearing the letters that are written to us! Each Friday students that have a letter written to them has the option of having it read out loud during snack. It’s a fun surprise for some to see who wrote to them. J

 

Word Workshop

Your child is now reading and spelling 4 letter words with r blends. Many of the children are having trouble hearing and saying the l blend in words like flag, blot, and sled. Practice segmenting these words by asking your child to say each sound then say the words in 2 parts, and then say the whole word. Example: crab    /c/  /r/  /a/  /b/      /cr/  /ab/   flag.  If they can do this they should be able to spell the word correctly as well.

 

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself. We also need to capitalize the first letter of our first and last name. We now that a comma comes after a greeting and the closing in a letter. Look for the commas when reading your child’s T.W.I.R.L. letter each week.

 

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

 

Bathroom

We are working on staying in class unless we really need to use the bathroom. Children need to use the bathroom each morning before coming to the classroom and after recess. We also take a bathroom break in the afternoon, and they may leave the class once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Right now they can go whenever they need to, but soon they will need to go during non-instruction times.

 

Birthdays

We celebrate birthdays during our snack time from 9:20 – 9:35. Please let me know the day before by email, voice mail, or a note if you’re planning on sending a birthday treat. Our 15 minute snack time includes passing out the treat and eating it, so the simpler the better. Please limit birthday treats to food only. Many children already have milk or juice and others have water bottles. Thank you!

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

 

Weekly Update

Hello Families,

We had a great week in first grade! We had our first Mystery Reader on Tuesday, and we celebrated Gael’s birthday on Friday. I’m looking forward to another week of learning next week!

 

 

 

The Birthday Boy

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Fleischacker

Our September Mystery Reader!

 

 

Math

Math workshop is officially underway. We completed a short unit on comparing and ordering numbers to 12. Our topic assessment will be on Monday. Your child should be using our new vocabulary: greater than, less than, least, fewer, most, more, between.

 

Reading Workshop

Our launching unit is complete and we have started our first reading unit. The reading strategy we will be working on is asking questions. The reading skill we will be working on is find the main idea and supporting details in non-fiction text.

 

Writer’s Workshop

Students dabbled with writing their first story this week. We are working hard at taking risks in our writing. First graders are NOT expected to spell most words correctly. We encourage them to “Write what they hear.” Please encourage your child to attempt spelling on their own at home too. Speaking clearly and requiring your child to speak clearly will help when trying to spell.

 

This Week I Really Learned!

We LOVE hearing the letters that are written to us! Each Friday students that have a letter written to them has the option of having it read out loud during snack. It’s a fun surprise for some to see who wrote to them. J

 

Word Workshop

Your child is now reading and spelling 4 letter words with l blends. Many of the children are having trouble hearing and saying the l blend in words like flag, blot, and sled. Practice segmenting these words by asking your child to say each sound then say the words in 2 parts, and then say the whole word. Example: flag    /f/  /l/  /a/  /g/      /fl/  /ag/   flag  If they can do this they should be able to spell the word correctly as well.

 

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself. We also need to capitalize the first letter of our first and last name. We now that a comma comes after a greeting and the closing in a letter. Look for the commas when reading your child’s T.W.I.R.L. letter each week.

 

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

 

Bathroom

We are working on staying in class unless we really need to use the bathroom. Children need to use the bathroom each morning before coming to the classroom and after recess. We also take a bathroom break in the afternoon, and they may leave the class once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Right now they can go whenever they need to, but soon they will need to go during non-instruction times.

 

Birthdays

We celebrate birthdays during our snack time from 9:20 – 9:35. Please let me know the day before by email, voice mail, or a note if you’re planning on sending a birthday treat. Our 15 minute snack time includes passing out the treat and eating it, so the simpler the better. Please limit birthday treats to food only. Many children already have milk or juice and others have water bottles. Thank you!

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!