Week of December 12-16

Dear Parents,                       

The holidays are fast approaching and we are busy here in first grade completing fun activities and centers!  Next week will be our last full week of 2011 and we have many new and exciting things to learn!

Here is a look at the week ahead:

Reading:  We are continuing to work in our reading groups and centers.  Students have been doing an excellent job retelling their books, noticing feelings as they read, and making thoughtful predictions based on the pictures and the words in the story.  Next week, we will work more with making predictions and reacting to what we read.  We will also begin discussing the characters in our stories; paying attention to emotions, traits, and connections. 

Word Work/Handwriting:  Next week, we will practice our letter formations on different lined paper in order to practice on a variety of lines.  We will practice forming capitals C, O, Q, and G.   Our focus next week will be primarily on word work.  We will continue looking at spelling patterns such as –at and –an.  We will then dive into some high frequency words, such as and, from, came, and have.  We will practice their spelling and use them in sentences. 

Writing:  Students have been doing wonderfully during writing.  We have learned about the components of a realistic fiction story and have read many examples from great authors.  Next week, students will choose one of their collected pieces to revise, edit, and publish.  We will discuss the importance of revision and how to revise written work.  We will also focus on editing for punctuation and word choice. 

Math:  Students have been working with addition and subtraction story problems and games.  They have been doing a great job using strategies that work for them on an individual basis to solve problems.  Next week, we focus on counting.  We will explore counting to higher numbers, extending sequences, counting to 100, and finding missing numbers as we count in sequence. 

Science: With the holidays coming up, we would like to explore the different holidays that are celebrated around this time of year.  We are asking students to take this weekend and write about some of their own holiday traditions for this time of year.  Writing and sharing our traditions will help kick off our holiday study next week!  Students will be sent home with a worksheet to fill out about their holiday traditions and we ask that they be returned on Monday. 

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

~Your first grade teachers: Miss Field and Mrs. McIntire