Week of October 25th

Hello First Grade Families,

We have had a busy couple of weeks! I cannot believe it is already the end of October.  We have been in school for 41 days.  It is amazing how much the students have grown in their independence, stamina, and confidence.  Our days are busy, busy, busy and full of fun and learning! Here are some updates about what we're learning!

Writing

We have been learning about sentences.  We learned that sentences are a complete thought.  Sentences have a naming part and a telling part.  We also learned about 5 star sentences:  capital at the beginning, punctuation at the end, spaces between words, a complete thought, and neat handwriting.  We have also started writing centers.  Writing centers have been a hit with the students.  During this time, students have a chance to work on different writing tasks.  Here are some pictures of writing centers in action.  On Fridays, we do "fix it up Friday" with a mixed up sentence and then "Free Write Friday" in our journals.

Reading

We are still working on our Word Detectives Unit.  We have practiced reading with partners.  We have been learning how we can use words we know to help us read new words (i.e., if you can read "can" then you can read "fan").  In word work, we learned about "bonus letters" (-ll, -ff, -ss) at the end of words (i.e., class, puff).  We have also been learning about digraphs (sh, th, ch).  We have been practicing reading and writing words with these sounds.  We have also been continuing our daily phonemic awareness lessons.  They are a lot of fun and the kids are doing really well!

Math

We have been working on writing number sentences to go with addition and subtraction number stories.  We have also started learning about number stories with unknowns (i.e., ?+3=7).  This is not a skill we expect first graders to master at this time, but we are practicing! We also started math centers.  This week we practiced counting, played a game, explored math manipulatives, and wrote number sentences.  Next week, we will have new centers and when our routines are established, I will be able to start pulling a group for enrichment or extra practice.  

Theme Work

We have been learning about pumpkins.  We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin and the different parts of a pumpkin.  This week we learned about nocturnal animals.  We will learn more about nocturnal animals next week!

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Reading partners in action!

Jack O' Lantern number stories! I love how each student put their own spin on the project! 

Math centers!

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Practicing our first grade sight words by vowel sound!

We read the story Creepy Carrots and made our own creepy carrots! 

Indoor recess..... 3 days in a row! We definitely had cabin fever!! 

Housekeeping....

-As the weather gets cooler, please make sure your child has a sweatshirt/jacket for recess.

-Please send your child to school each day with a water bottle!

-If you have not signed up for a parent teacher conference yet, please check your email and sign up.  Please note that masks are required at in person conferences!

As always, please email me if you have any questions or concerns.  I hope you all have a great weekend!