November 12th Newsletter

We have been working very hard on fluency for the last few weeks, but this past week we marked one of our poems in phrases of two to four words.  We read the lines in different ways to see what sounded better.  When we were all done, we read the poem, paying attention to the phrases we had marked.  What a difference it made!  Our first graders are starting to really understand how reading should sound.  We are also working hard on this in guided reading.  When you read the take home books with your child, be sure prompt him or her to "read it like this," as you model it, in a few places.  Remember that reading picture books to your child is still very important.  They need to hear you model that phrased, fluent reading!  Keep up the great work! 

This week in math we will solve story problems involving missing addends (Example: I have a garden with 9 flowers. Mom planted some more flowers. Now there are 13 flowers in the garden. How many flowers did mom plant?).  We will also discuss different strategies for how to solve missing added problems and tools we can use to support our thinking (number lines, ten frames, drawing pictures, using fingers, making number bonds, etc.).  Remember to keep practicing addition and subtraction facts at home.  This quarter, we will be working on addition and subtraction facts to 10.

We will continue working on our Communities unit in Social Studies.  We will discuss how people work together to make their communities a good place to live.  We will also work with reading and making maps of our classroom, home and neighborhood.

Special Points of Interest

• Winter is quickly approaching.  Now is the time to start thinking about packing an extra pair of socks and mittens in your child's backpack.
• Please continue to remind your children to bring their take-home books back to school.  Nightly reading is so important!
• If you aren't able to make it to the book fair, I will still be placing a book order this month.  Scholastic Book Orders are due Tuesday, November 20th. Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX
• Parent-Teacher Conferences are this Wednesday, November 14th and the following Monday, November 19th.  I am looking forward to meeting with you to talk about your wonderful children!
• Friday, November 16th - Stuff the Bus Food Drive
• No School next Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday