November 14th 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 be practicing finding the values of collections of pennies, nickels, and dimes.  We will continue to explore domino/dot patterns to provide practice for basic addition facts.  This week’s homework will include Home Link 3.12 and an addition practice sheet.  Also look for the Unit 4 Family Letter to come home this week.

We will continue working on our Communities unit in Social Studies.  Thank you in advance to all of the parents that are coming in to talk about your jobs!

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.
• Scholastic Book Orders are due Friday, November 18th. Flyers will be coming home sometime this week.  Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX
• Parent-Teacher Conferences are this Thursday, November 17th and the following Monday, November 21st.  I am looking forward to meeting with you to talk about your wonderful children!
• No School next Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday

November 7th Newsletter

Welcome to second quarter!  It's so exciting to reflect on the growth of our class from the beginning of the year to now!  In just a little over two months our students are thinking about what would make sense when they are stuck on an unfamiliar word, and then they cross-check that with the letters on the page to make sure it looks right too.  Just to be sure, they know how to "slow check" the word by running their finger slowly under the letters of the word to see if the letters match the sounds they make as they slowly say the word.  This strategy also works great in writing too!  

In writing, we finished working on our small moment stories and this week we'll be doing a study of punctuation.  We've learned a lot about how writers write about what they know, and so we've worked on writing about small moments from our lives.  We take one small moment and write lots about it.  We write about what happened, how we felt and what we though.  Many of us are remembering to punctuate some of our sentences already, and hopefully we'll get closer to punctuating every sentence soon!  

This week in math we will be introducing dimes and adding combinations of pennies, nickels, and dimes.   We will review graphing by creating our own class graphs.  The children will be exploring dot patterns on dominoes to find the sum of the two parts.  Remember to keep practicing addition and subtraction facts at home.  This quarter, we will be working on addition and subtraction facts to 10.  Look for Home Links 3.9, 3.10, and 3.11 to come home this week.

This week we will be starting a new social studies unit on communities.  Please return the parent letter that came home last week if you would like to come into our classroom to tell the students about your job.

Special Points of Interest

• Scholastic Book Orders are due November 19th. Flyers will be coming home sometime this week.  Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX

Math Homework

Your child will be bringing home two math Home Links today (back to back).  We got a bit behind on our planned lessons as we are getting back into our normal routine now that I am back.  Please have your child complete this homework, but feel free to keep it at home.

It is so great to be back in the classroom with your children.  I missed them!  I am looking forward to seeing you soon at conferences.

Have a wonderful weekend!

October 31st Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week in literacy we did some focused work with vowels.  Vowels are tricky, and if we don't continue to notice and emphasize them they can be very confusing.  We found them in our shared reading poems, we sorted our word wall words into a vowel chart, and this week we'll be finding them on various print around the classroom.  We've been practicing both the short and the long sounds for the vowels.  You can help at home by doing the same with words you notice when reading with your child or even when looking at a Christmas catalog or a recipe!  Help your child understand that words are all around us, and they all have to have at least one vowel.  Keep in mind, it is best to use words that either have the short or the long sound in them, like in "bat," but not "ball."  Or in "that," but not in "the."  

We'll be wrapping up our first study of small moment (or narrative) stories for the year this week.  Some will come home, and some will be saved for parent teacher conferences.  It sure has been fun to learn more about these amazing kids and get to know them in the best way, through their stories!  We've learned about their friends, their pets, their families, their weekend adventures and more!  Keep the stories coming!

In math, we will continue to practice counting up and back on the number line in order to understand addition and subtraction.  We are working on problem solving skills using the hundreds chart and our number lines.  We will also be learning how to tell time to the half hour.  Look for Home Links 3.5, 3.7, and 3.8 to come home this week.

This week we will be finishing up our Land and Water science unit.

Thank you for all of the help and donations for our Halloween Classroom Party!  The kids had a blast!

Special Points of Interest

• No School this Friday, November 4th
• Remember to dress your child for the cold weather.  They will be going outside for every recess unless it rains.

October 24th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

During our literacy block, one very important time of our day is called Community Writing.  During this time, we do some writing together as a whole group, that relates back to a book we read or an experience we had.  For example, after a big book we read called, "In a Dark, Dark Wood," we wrote our own version called "In a Dark, Dark School!"  It was so much fun to share ideas and write the story together.  We work on composing a message, listening for the sounds in the word, spelling word wall words (sight words) correctly, and letter formation.  One goal is to keep the purpose of the writing very authentic, so we also wrote a letter to Mrs. Rocky's class (by vote) and asked them if they'd like to read our book, and the original story.  It was very exciting to have a real audience for our writing!  The kindergarteners read our story and even wrote back to us!   Today we completed a mural that focused on our field trip to Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary and you can find it hanging in the hall by our hooks! 

 

We are really growing as writers, this week we'll focus on telling a story part by part, so that we understand how to include a beginning a middle and an end.  See what authentic ways you can get your child writing at home!  They could help with the grocery list, or write a letter to a family member, or keep a diary/journal.  Seeing parents write at home is also very supportive!  

We will be starting a new unit in math this week.  The Unit 3 parent letter was sent home last week with information about this new unit.  This week we will be working on pattering skills, odd and even numbers, and reviewing basic number line concepts.  Your child should be able to add and subtract using a number line.  Look for Home Links 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4.  Please continue practicing skip counting by 2's, 5's and 10's, counting combinations of nickels and pennies, and memorizing addition and subtraction facts. 

We will be continuing our Land and Water unit in Science.  The students will learn about the ocean, the need for water, and fast and slow changes that happen to Earth's land.

THANK YOU in advance to everyone who will be donating items or volunteering to help at the party this Friday.  The kids are already looking forward to it!

Special Points of Interest

• Remember to bring in your pumpkin for Pumpkin Days!
• Halloween parties will be on Friday afternoon, please send your child's costume in a bag.  The children will be changing right before the party.
• No school next Friday, November 4th.  It is teacher progress report writing day.

October 17th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We're off to a great start in guided reading!  All groups have met as of Monday, October 17th and we're just so proud of these 1st grade readers!  Please remember when reading at home that it is very important to give children lots of practice with reading text that they are able to read well.  This means fluent reading that sounds good!   Don't be fooled into thinking that your child isn't learning or progressing unless they're struggling or working hard to decode.  Their reading should sound like good reading.  Soon we'll begin sending home the book they read in guided reading for a "fluency re-read."  If the reading doesn't sound fluent, feel free to try reading together for a few pages.  It will help your child to hear your fluent reading of the same text he/she is reading.  

This week during literacy, we'll continue to learn the routines of guided reading and we'll also be focusing on complete sentences.  You can help at home by encouraging your child to speak in complete sentences.  When they use an incomplete sentence, model what the complete sentence version would sound like and have them repeat it.  This will support our work in writer's workshop as we make sure we are beginning with a capital letter and using ending punctuation in our complete sentences.  

Our students have been working very hard on a small moment (narrative) story that spans multiple pages.  They have been adding to their story day by day as well as making corrections such as capital letters and ending punctuation.  We just may have to hold on to these pieces for Parent Teacher Conferences!  You will be so proud!

In math this week, we will continue to explore counting combinations of nickels and pennies.  Children will learn to exchange pennies for nickels.  We will also be working on subtraction number models and number stories.  Look for Home Links numbers 2.12, 2.13, and the Unit 3 Family Letter to come home this week.  Please continue practicing skip counting by 2’s and 5’s, counting combinations of nickels and pennies and memorizing addition and subtraction facts.

In science, we have been working on our Land and Water unit.  Your child has been learning about natural resources and their uses in the environment.

Special Points of Interest

• Our Halloween party is next Friday, October 28th.
• Scholastic Book Orders are due Monday, October 24th. Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX

October 10th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Mrs. DeRosa is back this week and ready to apply the new learning she gained in Ohio last week!  This week we'll get started with guided reading, now that we have learned how to do each of our centers.  Our centers have become one of the favorite parts of our day.  During this time students are reading independently or with a buddy, or with a small group.  In some centers we read with big pointers and in some we're reading the poems we learn during shared reading.  A new favorite is the listening center, where students use tablets and their headphones to listen to a variety of picture books, which are changed weekly.  We're also doing some word work, some free writing, and even some art!  Often we will be illustrating pieces of writing we did as a whole group and hanging them in the hallway to share.

Please remember that reading to you child is extremely important.  Modeling for your child with expression and sharing what you are thinking will truly set your child up for success later on.  Thank you so much for your support!  

This week in math we will be learning about counting up and back on a number grid, comparing quantities of pennies and nickels, and counting and writing by 2’s, 5’s and 10's.  We will be reviewing time and working on story problems.  Look for Home Links numbers 2.10 and 2.11 to come home this week.  Please practice counting combinations of nickels and pennies, telling time to the hour, and practicing subtraction facts to six.

This week we will be continuing our Land and Water science unit.  We will be learning about natural resources, minerals, and soil.

Special Points of Interest

• Annual Donut Breakfast is this Thursday, October 13th
• Scholastic Book Orders are due Monday, October 24th. Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX - Flyers will be coming soon