News for the week of September 17th

Notes from Ms. Rau:

• If you did not get a chance to sign up for fall parent teacher conferences please do so here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d45acab2fabf85-fall3
• Students are bringing home take home book bags today. They are a KIND bag that looks like a lunch box. These are new this year. We are moving away from zip lock bags in hopes that they last longer. Inside each bag is 8 books at your child's independent level. When they have finished reading them all, please send the bag back in your child's backpack. I will be on the lookout for take home book bags the first few weeks. After that it is your child's responsibility to get new books on their own during our morning routine. There is a note inside your child's FROG binder explaining how the take home book program works and reminding you of strategies to try with your child when they are stuck on a word. Remember, avoid saying "sound it out" when reading with your student. 
• If you took a donation dot from curriculum night, please send your items in soon. Thank you! 

Dates to Remember:
9/19 Picture Day
9/21 TRAKS kick-off assembly
11/6 Voting Day for Bond Proposal

Learning this week:

• Writers Will...
• stretch words to spell them
• zoom in on one small moment
• work on great endings instead of writing "and then I went home"
• use partnerships to storytell
• rereading our writing like books
• setting writing goals using a checklist
• Readers will...
• set and track goals during workshop time
• reread to smooth out reading voice
• track what their reading with their eyes by scooping up words (goodbye pointer power!)
• reread to see and notice more details
• Mathematicians will...
• review the partners for 7, 8, 9, and 10 
• make math mountains for these partners
• make circle drawings for these partners
• write equations for these partners
• review doubles (3+3)
• review switched partners (4+3, 3+4)
• Scientists will...
• study and notice patterns in school (schedule)
• study and notice patterns outside of school (weather)
• In social studies we will...
• celebrate constitution day and reviewing our class promise
• learn how to make and keep friends 

Pictures:

 

 
Nature Walk with 4th Grade Buddies. We observed many things including "The Moose Tree"!

 
 
 
 
 
 

We finally have our own private reading spots! Check out how organized we are with our planning mats. Great readers always make a plan!

 

 

Working on studying our own names and our friends names. We are on the hunt for short and long vowels, blends, and digraphs in names. 

More observing and exploring with tools during Science. We created a list of our wonders that we hope to find out in science this year! 

Welcome First Grade Families

Notes from Ms. Rau:

• Welcome to our classroom blog! On this blog I will include important reminders, dates, and notes, what we are learning for the week, and some photos from the week.
• Our classroom mascot is a stuffed lion named Rasheed. He is apart of our phonics program that is brand new this year. Students may talk about him frequently! If you have any old build a bear clothing items, please consider donating to our classroom for Rasheed. We are in need of a detective outfit and construction worker outfit to go along with our phonics/reading units. 
• I am looking for a volunteer to rip out and sort pages in our math work books by page # (ex: create a stack of 25 page 1's, create a stack of 25 page 2's, etc) by the end of this week. This can be done at your house or on the table outside our classroom. If you are interested please email me and I will get back to you ASAP. Thank you! 
• Many have asked what else they can donate to make our classroom complete. I do frequently add items onto my Amazon Wish List. You can view it here. I will also have a donation wish list that I will put out at curriculum night. Thank you! 
• May the Force be with Lake Orion!- The 2018 Lake Orion Homecoming Parade will be on Sunday, September 30^th at 3:00 P.M. in downtown Lake Orion. All students from Webber are invited to walk in the parade with an adult. The theme this year is STAR WARS, so feel free to dress up if you would like. October 1^st-October 5^th will be Spirit week at Webber. Please look for more information to come.

Important Dates to Remember:
9/12 - Curriculum Night

Learning This Week:

• Writers will...
• learn how to write a true story
• touch and tell, sketch, then write
• use pictures to add on
• use strong feelings to generate story ideas
• revise their story with revision strips
• Readers will...
• book shop at their reading level
• take a sneak peek to get ready to read
• work together with their reading partner
• do something at the end of the book
• get stronger by reading more and more
• remember to reread
• Mathematicians will...
• learn to see a number as a 5-group and more
• review partners of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
• review math stories, circle drawings, and math mountains
• review a break apart stick
• remember how to add and subtract with zero
• Scientists will...
• learn what scientists do
• go on a nature walk and use senses to observe
• observe our "discovery center" with magnifying glasses
• chart wonders
• In social studies students will...
• create a class promise and sign their name
• learn ways to get along in school

Photos:

Last Week

END OF YEAR NOTES

Read-In - On 6/12 we will have a read-in outside in the courtyard with all of first grade. Please send in a separate bag of books (10) from home as well as a towel for your child to sit on.

Board Game Day - on 6/14 in the morning, we will play board games. Your child is invited to bring in their favorite board game. Please no electronics! 

End of Year Celebration - on 6/14 in the afternoon we will have an ice cream sundae bar and watch Charlotte's Web. We read the book Charlotte's Web as a read aloud across this last quarter! 
*If you have the new Charlotte's Web DVD and are ok with us borrowing it, please let me know*

DATES TO REMEMBER

• 6/12 - Read-In (bring bag of books and towel from home)
• 6/14 - Board Games AM (bring in a board game from home)
• 6/14 - Ice Cream & Movie Celebration PM
• 6/15 - Report cards come home electronically

FIELD DAY PHOTOS

Week of 5/29

END OF YEAR NOTES

Please have your student bring back their baggie of "take home books." Students will not be taking anymore books out of the classroom for the remainder of the year. I will check off students name as the take home book bags come back. If you misplaced your bag of books please consider sending in $5 so I can replace them. Thank you! 

If you would like a 1st to 2nd grade summer work packet please email me and I will place it in your students FROG binder. I will not be printing one for each student.

Summer Birthdays - If your student has a summer birthday and wants to celebrate with our class please let me know. I will pick a date and we will make your student a birthday book, sing to them, and give them a birthday crown. Sending in a small trinket or pre-packaged nut free birthday snack is OPTIONAL!

DATES TO REMEMBER

• 6/1 - Bummer Summer
• 6/5 - Field Day 
• 6/8 - Half Day for Students
• 6/14 - Ice Cream & Movie Celebration PM

SUMMER TUTORING

If you are interested in having me tutor your child this summer once or twice a week at the Orion Township Library, please contact me for details!

SAFARI DAY PICTURES

Week of 5/21

SAFARI DAY!
First grade is planning a special activity day on May 24th, Safari Day featuring  Dan the Creature Man here at Webber.

It is time for our last Box Tops collection and competition of the 2017-2018 school year!  This collection will run from MONDAY, MAY 21 through FRIDAY, MAY 25. 

DATES TO REMEMBER

• 5/24 - In House Field Trip - Safari Day 
• 5/28 - Memorial Day, No school for students
• 6/5 Field Day 
• 6/8 - Half Day for Students
• 6/14 - Ice Cream & Movie Celebration PM

SUMMER TUTORING

If you are interested in summer tutoring once or twice a week for your child this summer at contact me for details!

LEARNING THIS WEEK

Readers will...

• learn that character's feelings change throughout a book
• retell how the character's feelings change
• use clues, like punctuation marks, to know how to a story

Writers will...

• write a book review
• write a movie review
• write a restaurant review

Mathematicians will...

• participate in math stations involving 2 digit addition
• review telling hour and half hour time
• review 2d and 3d shapes
• find math in the real world

The 3 photos below show the three methods to solving two digit addition problems. Your students drew a picture and wrote words explaining how each method works. 

"First we added 9 and 3 and it made 12 so we put the one above twos and added the twos and one and got three. And the total was fifty two."

This group's explanation was on the back. In the show all totals methods, students break apart each two digit number into tens and ones. They then add the decade numbers first  (20 + 20), then add the ones (3 + 9), then add both sums together (40 +12) to find the total. 

"First we wrote the problem then we drew our ten sticks and ones. then we counted all the 10 sticks and ones." (they also made sure to make a new group of 10 out of their ones).

Newsletter for 5/14

SAFARI DAY!

• First grade is planning a special activity day on May 24th, Safari Day! In lieu of a traditional field trip, we will host Dan the Creature Man here at Webber. 
• If you are willing to send in $2-$3 by May 18^th, I would appreciate it. I would love to get the students safari hats and provide some special treats for our Safari Day.
• Please send in empty toilet paper tubes so we can make binoculars for our Safari Day.

Dates to remember:

5/24 - In House Field Trip - Safari Day 

5/28 - Memorial Day, No school for students
6/8 - Half Day for Students

Readers will...

• learn about characters by noticing their relationships
• make characters talk more
• reread to learn more about characters
• become their characters

Writers will review opinion writing again. They will...

• give lots of reasons
• add details
• talk back
• use sparkly words
• quote experts

Mathematicians will continue to practice two digit addition. 

Scientists will explore how sound and light can keep you safe.

Week of 5/7

Important Items:

• Reminder that all snacks need to be TREE NUT FREE. This is more than just peanut free. Thank you! 
• First grade at Webber is planning a special activity day on May 24th. In lieu of a traditional field trip, we host a special science immersion day here at Webber featuring Dan the Creature Man. This is a chance for our students to expand on their learning in all areas of the curriculum. We may ask for donation or volunteers as our plans become finalized. Watch for details to come!
• Please send in empty cereal boxes by Tuesday for your student to publish their second series set in writers workshop. Thank you! 

Dates to remember:
5/10 - 7:45am Writing Celebration

5/24 - In House Field Trip
5/28 - Memorial Day, No school for students
6/8 - Half Day for Students

Readers will...

• revisit books to notice more
• reread to notice pages that go together
• learn about the main character
• sound like the characters in the story

Writers will...

• have a punctuation party
• use illustrations to tell important deatils
• create a meet the author page
• create their box set for their second series
• celebrate realistic fiction writing with families

Mathematicians will...

• continue practicing all three methods to solve 2-digit addition problems

In social studies students will continue to learn about places, how to change our environment, and adapt to our environment. 

Pictures

This week, Mrs. French (Eni's mom) came to speak to us about being an author! Mrs. French is the author of a children's series, Portia Parrott and a young adult series, The Breeders. We learned about creating characters, creating a setting, creating a problem, and figuring out a solution to help us with our own realistic fiction writing. 

We will read aloud the first book in the children's series above. You can purchase the rest of the series on Amazon if interested!