News for 1-29

Announcements:

• Our Valentines Day Party will be Wednesday, February 14th at 8:30. We will enjoy a breakfast treat, play some valentines day games, and make a craft. We will end our party with students passing out their valentine cards. We have 23 students in our class. On your cards please have students leave the TO line blank and only have your child write their name in the FROM line. This makes passing out valentine cards much easier on the day of our party. Thank you! 

• SNOW GEAR - Please have your students bring in a separate bag for snow gear (let me know if you need one). It is too much to put in their backpack. Please label snow pants AND boots and make sure to send in shoes to wear in the classroom as we keep the boots outside of our classroom. I will be sure to communicate with specials teachers to make sure students have on their coats, hats, gloves, and boots when leaving their classroom at the end of the day.
• SNACK - please make sure your child has a snack each day and they know where it is located. At this point in the year they can be responsible for making sure they put their own snack in their backpack :) Thank you! 
• OPINION ORAL PRESENTATIONS - Please check the calendar sent home for your child’s presentation day. I am asking them to bring something to school that they love. This item should fit in a bag so they can easily transport it. Please have them describe what they are sharing and give at least 3 reasons why they love it. 

Learning This Week:

• Readers will...
• get started as a nonfiction writer
• learn how to study nonfiction pages in a book
• learn more by chatting about what they see in nonfiction books
• reread to make sure they understand their nonfiction books
• share facts they learn with a partner
• Writers will...
• be immersed into opinion writing
• take a position and give reasons why
• explore and write about their collections
• add reasons to be convincing
• Mathematicians will...
• use two digit addition in real world situations
• continue to practice adding with tens and ones
• subtract with teen numbers
• Scientists will continue to learn about cold weather (snow/ice) and conduct an ice experiment! 

Specials This Week:

• Monday: Art
• Tuesday: Media
• Wednesday: Music
• Thursday: P.E.
• Friday: Art

Dates to Remember:

• 2/2 - Report cards come home via email
• 2/19-2/20 - Mid Winter Break, No school for students
• 2/23 - Snowball 6:30-8:30 pm

News for week of 1-22

Announcements:

• Our Valentines Day Party will be Wednesday, February 14th in the morning. More details to come next week on the exact time for the celebration. We have 23 students in our class. If you are purchasing valentine cards for each student please leave the TO line blank and only have your child write their name in the FROM line. This makes passing out valentine cards much easier on the day of our party. Thank you! 

• SNOW GEAR - Please have your students bring in a separate bag for snow gear (let me know if you need one). It is too much to put in their backpack. Please label snow pants AND boots and make sure to send in shoes to wear in the classroom as we keep the boots outside of our classroom. I will be sure to communicate with specials teachers to make sure students have on their coats, hats, gloves, and boots when leaving their classroom at the end of the day.

Learning This Week:

• Readers will...
• think about the story to problem solve words
• think about what kind of word would fit
• be like editors by listening and fixing up parts that don't sound right
• slow down to break up long words
• Writers will be writing small moment narratives for the next two weeks focusing more on the who, what, and where of the story and adding details with dialogue.
• Mathematicians will...
• learn counting on strategies for two digit numbers
• practice adding with two digit numbers
• learn and play addition games
• take the unit 4 test

Specials This Week:

• Monday: art
• Tuesday: media
• Wednesday: music
• Thursday: P.E.
• Friday: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

Dates to Remember:

• 1/26 - Teacher Work Day, No school for students
• 2/2 - Report cards come home via email
• 2/19-2/20 - Mid Winter Break, No school for students
• 2/23 - Snowball 6:30-8:30 pm

FIRST GRADERS SINGING OUR "READING BOSS" SONG

News for this week

Announcements:

• SNOW GEAR - Please have your students bring in a separate bag for snow gear (let me know if you need one). It is too much to put in their backpack. Please label snow pants AND boots and make sure to send in shoes to wear in the classroom as we keep the boots outside of our classroom. I will be sure to communicate with specials teachers to make sure students have on their coats, hats, gloves, and boots when leaving their classroom at the end of the day.

Learning This Week:

• Readers will...
• make a plan for their reading
• get help when they need it
• create new reading goals
• continue to practice book talk in their reading partnerships
• Writers will..
• publish their nonfiction cover on the computer
• edit their writing using a checklist
• celebrate their nonfiction writing with 5th grade buddies
• Mathematicians will...
• learn how to quick add a group of 10
• add with 10's and 1's
• use stick and circle drawings to help with addition two digit numbers
• review how to solve story problems

Specials This Week:

• Monday: NO SCHOOL
• Tuesday: art
• Wednesday: media
• Thursday: music
• Friday: P.E.

Dates to Remember:

• 1/15 - MLK Day, No school for students
• 1/22 - PTO meeting 7:00 pm
• 1/26 - Teacher Work Day, No school for students
• 2/2 - Report cards come home via email
• 2/19-2/20 - Mid Winter Break, No school for students
• 2/23 - Snowball 6:30-8:30 pm

Students playing a game where they add numbers until they get to 100.

News for the Week

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing break. Thank you all who donated towards my donors choose project to bring more books into our classroom. The project was funded and I will upload pictures as soon as the new materials arrive!

Announcements:

• SNOW GEAR - Please have your students bring in a separate bag for snow gear (let me know if you need one). It is too much to put in their backpack. Please label snow pants AND boots and make sure to send in shoes to wear in the classroom as we keep the boots outside of our classroom. I will be sure to communicate with specials teachers to make sure students have on their coats, hats, gloves, and boots when leaving their classroom at the end of the day.

Learning This Week:

• Readers will...
• review procedures, partnerships, and routines
• be the boss of themselves saying, "I can do this!"
• learn to cheer their partner on
• use everything they know to solve a word
• celebrate the growth they've made from entering first grade
• use a checklist to self monitor their reading
• Writers will..
• continue to write all about books
• print off pictures to use for their topic 
• edit on the go using appropriate punctuation
• add speech bubbles and bold words into their nonfiction books
• Mathematicians will...
• add with groups of 10
• make a 10 addition 
• practice with 10's and 1's
• use place value to compare numbers (greater than or less than)

Specials This Week:

• Monday: P.E.
• Tuesday: Art
• Wednesday: Media
• Thursday: Music
• Friday: P.E. 

Dates to Remember:

• 1/15 - MLK Day, No school for students
• 1/22 - PTO meeting 7:00 pm
• 1/26 - Teacher Work Day, No school for students
• 2/19-2/20 - Mid Winter Break, No school for students
• 2/23 - Snowball 6:30-8:30 pm

News for the week

Announcements:

• SNOW GEAR - Please have your students bring in a separate bag for snow gear (let me know if you need one). It is too much to put in their backpack. Please label snow pants AND boots and make sure to send in shoes to wear in the classroom as we keep the boots outside of our classroom. I will be sure to communicate with specials teachers to make sure students have on their coats, hats, gloves, and boots when leaving their classroom at the end of the day. 
• Our Holiday Celebration will be on Tuesday, December 19th from 8:30-9:30. 
• In the afternoon on the 19th we will have our Polar Express Day. Children are invited to bring in a small blanket. We will be watching the movie and doing related learning activities.
• On Wednesday, December 20th we will have a read-in during readers workshop time with all four first grade classes in the cafeteria. Your child can bring a separate bag of 10 books from home, a small blanket, and a small pillow.
• Instead of a holiday gift, please consider donating to my latest donor's choose project to help benefit my current and future students. Your donations would go towards more books for our leveled classroom library. You can read more about the project by clicking on the link - Books, Books, and more Books! Donors Choose Project

Specials This Week:

•         Monday: MUSIC
•        Tuesday: P.E.
•         Wednesday: ART

Dates to Remember:

• 12/19 Class Holiday Party 8:30-9:30 & Polar Express Day
• 12/12 Read-In
• 12/21-1/3 Winter Break NO SCHOOL

Photos from Last Week:

Elf Traps built with our 5th Grade Learning Buddies

Playing the Dreidel Game as we learn about Hanukkah

News for the Week

Announcements:

• SNOW GEAR - Please have your students bring in a separate bag for snow gear (let me know if you need one). It is too much to put in their backpack. Please label snow pants AND boots and make sure to send in shoes to wear in the classroom as we keep the boots outside of our classroom. I will be sure to communicate with specials teachers to make sure students have on their coats, hats, gloves, and boots when leaving their classroom at the end of the day. 
• Our Holiday Celebration will be on Tuesday, December 19th from 8:30-9:30. 
• In the afternoon on the 19th we will have our Polar Express Day. Children are invited to bring in a small blanket. We will be watching the movie and doing related learning activities.
• On Wednesday, December 20th we will have a read-in during readers workshop time with all four first grade classes in the cafeteria. Your child can bring a separate bag of 10 books from home, a small blanket, and a small pillow.
• Instead of a holiday gift, please consider donating to my latest donor's choose project to help benefit my current and future students. Your donations would go towards more books for our leveled classroom library. You can read more about the project by clicking on the link - Books, Books, and more Books! Donors Choose Project

This week

Reader’s will…

• smooth out their reading
• use partners to help make reading smoother and cheer each other on
• show off their word detective skills
• tackle the final word detective mission
• celebrate all their hard word being word detectives by reading to Mrs. Burks class

Writer’s will…

• use different kinds of writing in their nonfiction chapter books such as lists or how-to writing
• write introductions and conclusions for their nonfiction chapter books
• fix up their writing by pretending to be a reader
• use a checklist to edit their writing
• use commas in lists and dates

Mathematicians will…

• gain a better understanding for place value
• practice grouping 1's into 10's
• add with groups of 10

In social studies this week we will learn about different winter holidays around the world and learn how they are celebrated. We will compare them to Christmas.

Specials This Week:

•         Monday:  MEDIA
•        Tuesday: MUSIC
•         Wednesday: P.E.
•         Thursday: ART
•         Friday: MEDIA

Dates to Remember:

• 12/19 Class Holiday Party 8:30-9:30 & Polar Express Day
• 12/12 Read-In
• 12/21-1/3 Winter Break NO SCHOOL

News for the Week

Announcements:

As the weather becomes colder please make sure children have appropriate gear for lunch recess. We go to recess at 10:45 and it is still very chilly. Please label coats, hats, gloves, etc to the best of your ability!

Our Holiday Celebration will be on Tuesday, December 19th from 8:30-9:30. Please check our sign up genius if you are able to donate items to make our party successful. Party Sign Up

In the afternoon on the 19th we will have our Polar Express Day. Children are invited to bring in a small blanket. We will be watching the movie and doing related learning activities.

On Wednesday, December 20th we will have a read-in during readers workshop time with all four first grade classes in the cafeteria. Your child can bring a separate bag of 10 books from home, a small blanket, and a small pillow.

This week

Reader’s will…

• use parts they know to read new words
• write a thank you letter to the super secret detective agency
• watch out for unusual words
• look for contractions in their reading
• watch out for compound words

Writer’s will…

• write a table of contents
• create chapter titles
• plan and write chapters in their nonfiction books
• write with details and help readers picture the details

Mathematicians will…

• visualize teen addition 
• review the counting on strategy
• investigate adding with doubles
• understand 10's and 1's using our math board
• participate in a math exemplar challenge

In science we will continue to explore animals and their adaptations. We will look closely at how animals survive in the winter.  

Specials This Week:

•         Monday:  ART
•        Tuesday: MEDIA
•         Wednesday: MUSIC
•         Thursday: P.E.
•         Friday:ART

Dates to Remember:

• 12/2 Pancakes with Santa
• 12/19 Class Holiday Party 8:30-9:30 & Polar Express Day
• 12/12 Read-In
• 12/21-1/3 Winter Break NO SCHOOL 

Student work from our Friday Math Exemplar:  

A New Fish Tank Erin has a new fish tank. First, Erin puts five fish in the new fish tank. Next, Erin puts six fish in the new fish tank. Last, Erin puts nine fish in the new fish tank. How many fish does Erin put in the new fish tank? Show all your mathematical thinking.

Our Class "All About Peterbilt Trucks" book we made after having the chance to see one, get inside, and pull the horn. A fun day!