Dear First Grade Families,
We had another busy week in first grade. We have been in school for 34 days, so we're officially past the first six weeks of school. It is amazing to see how well the students are doing with classroom routines and how much their stamina has improved since the beginning of the school year. We have a BUSY day in first grade and they're doing a great job with it. We continue to work on transitioning from one activity to the next and first time listening. Our class has a tendency to get very silly and has a hard time reigning it in when it is time to work. I want our classroom to be a fun place, but I also want to help students learn that there is a time and place for silliness! This week, we started "Mrs. Greene v. Students." The students were challenged to transition from one activity to the next with one reminder. If they did it in one reminder, they got a point. If they needed more than one reminder, I got the point. They were motivated to "get more points" so we had more successful transitions throughout the day. This is always a work in progress!
This week in Reading...
-We continued Unit 2 in Fundations. This unit is focusing on teaching students to "tap" out words to spell them. We are starting with CVC words like cat, dog, mat, and beg. Students are doing great with their short vowels. We have also added some "trick" words that students will be responsible for reading and writing correctly. These are words that have "trick" parts. When introducing a trick word, I say the word out loud, we count the sounds and then talk about how each part of the word is spelled. For example -- the word "his" has 3 sounds. /h/ /i/ and the /z/ but the /z/ is spelled with an "s" so that is the trick part. We have also started sentence dictation. Students are working on writing conventions -- capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, spaces between words, ending punctuation, and tapping out words to spell them. In addition to words that students can tap out, the sentences include "trick" words. This week's trick words are: a, and, the, his, is, of.
-We have also continued reading centers. During this time, I am working with small groups of students while other students are working in small groups or reading independently.
-We have been working on writing stories with a beginning, middle, and end. This week, we talked about adding speech bubbles to make our characters talk.
This week in Math...
-We practiced combinations of 10. We also practiced solving addition and subtraction number stories. Next week, we will wrap up Unit 2 and take our assessment. We have also been doing math centers. The students are really enjoying practicing skills in partners/small groups.
This week in Science...
-We learned about pumpkins. We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin. We also started our pumpkin investigation. Next week we will measure our pumpkin and do an experiment to see if it sinks or floats.
Important information
-Next Friday, October 28th, students can wear a costume or pajamas to school. Ms. Gamache sent out an email with details about costumes. For example - no face paint, masks, or weapons.
-We will be having a very low-key "fall celebration" in our classroom with a movie and popcorn. If you'd like to donate Smartfood to our classroom, please let me know! They could be in individual bags or a big bag that I could put in cups for students!
-PLEASE be sure to label your child's clothing, especially sweatshirts, jackets, hats, and gloves/mittens. These are the items that are frequently left behind and it is SO much easier to find them if they're labeled. You wouldn't believe how many black mittens/gloves there are at Mitchell School!
Here are some pictures from our week...
