Week of Dec. 17

Upcoming Events:

JJan. 7 Students back to school from Winter Break

J Jan. 16 2 hr. early out

Notes:

J Merry Christmas and I hope that you all have a restful and relaxing winter break.  Thanks for all your help with making your child’s first half of first grade a success.

JThank you to everyone who attended the music program on Tuesday night.  Our class was very well behaved and sang beautifully. 

J Occasionally, I am sick or have a sick child therefore I have a sub.  When that occurs AR books will not be tested on or checked out that day.  I will look at them when I return. 

JThere are a few students who are not reading AR books very often.  If your child does not read 100 books by the end of first grade they will NOT get to participate in the root beer float party.  The average of the class is between 40 and 70 books read already!

Things to Work on:

JWe have finished the first half of our math units this year.  I sent home the first journal.  Over break students may work on completing any unfinished pages.    

What we have been up to:

Reading: This week we focused on the /wh/, /tch/, and /ch/ sound.  We had a chance this week to read a Reader’s Theater called Smile, Mike!  Students really enjoyed having a part.    

Math: We have finished unit 5 and took a test on it on Thursday.  Prior to the test we reviewed patterns in the number grid and how that can help with adding and subtracting.

Science/ Social Studies: We have also finished our unit on Maps and Globes.  We completed My World booklet in which they learned about the world, continent, country, state, city, and house.  This week we briefly touched on recycling, reusing, and reducing waste but will spend more time on it later in the year.

Spelling Week of Dec. 17

1. whip
2. whale
3. catch
4. match
5. chin
6. chop
7. slip
8.spin
9. our
10. your

Week of Dec. 10

Upcoming Events:

JDec. 18 K-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

J Dec. 21 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

JThank you to parents who have already provided items for our gingerbread houses. 

JNow that the weather is cold please send your child with hats and gloves every day.  We go outside unless it is below 0.  When it does snow and you send snow pants and boots please write your child’s name in them. 

JWe have spent a lot of this week assessing for 2^nd quarter.  I have been very pleased at the progress students have made.

Things to Work on:

JHere are some reading strategies to help your child when they struggle on a word: look at the pictures, flip the vowel sound, chunk the word into parts that you know, and s-t-r-e-t-c-h it out. 

What we have been up to:

Reading: We read books/ stories about different kids around the world and how they play.  This week we focused on comparing and contrasting kids around the world. 

Math: This week in math we made a 100 grid and talked about the various patterns that we see.  We used the patterns to help us with money and adding large numbers.

Science/ Social Studies: We continued our study on maps and globes.  We learned about various landforms and the cardinal directions.  We continued making My World book with my house and my town.  Vocabulary words that we learned last week and this week are: ocean, Earth, globe, continent, border, country, state, location, valley, plain, neighborhood, farm, shelter, and transportation.

Spelling Week of Dec. 10

1. sled
2. slip
3. snake
4. snap
5. spill
6. spin
7. make
8. game
9. people
10. water

Week of Dec. 3

Upcoming Events:

J Dec. 12 Early Out (2 hr.)

JDec. 18 K-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

J Dec. 21 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

JMonday we will mail out our travel teddies.  As soon as we receive it back we will pin it on the map and send it out again.  We look forward to seeing all the places our travel teddies go. 

J We have had several students get sick in our classroom and school.  We have talked about proper handwashing at school.  Please remind your child of this at home.  Getting a good night of sleep is so important to fighting off germs. 

Things to Work on:

JSight words

J Read AR books.  Our goal is for each student to read 100 books by the end of the year to receive a root beer float. 

What we have been up to:

Reading: We read the big book A Friend for Little Bear  and talked about the story structure (characters, setting, events, problem, solution).  The story map in their AR bag is an example of story structure.  We also talked about making predictions.  Our spelling skill this week was on long /a/ a_e. 

Math: This week we started Unit 5.  We have started to learn about the value of dimes and how to count dimes and pennies together.  We played a new game called penny, dime exchange.  Students rolled a die and took however many pennies they rolled.  When they had 10 pennies they could trade the bank for a dime.

Science/ Social Studies: We have finished our lessons on animal habitats and took a test on Monday.  We also read about the food chain and drew a picture to show the process.  We have started our new social studies unit on maps and globes.  

Spelling Week of Dec. 3

1. make
2. take
3. came
4. game
5. gate
6. late
7. black
8. flag
9. walk
10. all