Week of January 17-20

Dear Parents,              

We had another wonderful week!  Two fish have joined each of our classes this week to go along with our science unit and students have been very excited to make observations in their journals!  Students have also been creating some excellent “How To” stories!  We will be sending home our class “How To” books soon!

Here is a look at what we are working on next week:

Reading: We are continuing to work in our reading groups and centers.  We will be discussing how to make thoughtful connections to what we read.  We will explore the different types of text connections; text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text.  We will also be uncovering a new vocabulary word; schema.  We will engage students in discussions about how our schemas help us to understand what we are reading and how readers bring different experiences to reading.   

Word Work/Handwriting: Students will continue exploring different consonant clusters (such as “sh” and “tr”) while paying close attention to the “s” family and the “r” family.  Students will have opportunities to play different games that reinforce these consonant cluster families; such as the Cluster Lotto.  We will also be learning about our names and initials by using labels and drawings.

Writing: Our “How To” books are in the process of being published!  The students are eager to add their piece to our class “How To” book!  The class book will be sent home with a student each night so that your child can share them with you!  Next week, we will be starting a brand new unit; Opinion Writing!  We will introduce the genre and set up a new Post Office-style writing center as a class.  On Tuesday, students will be sent home with a blank address book.  We will be asking students to gather the addresses of friends and family and add them to their books.  Our goal for this unit is to have students write opinion pieces and send them to friends and family.  We will be eager to read any responses that come back to us!  We will be sharing different types of “Opinion” texts, such as the books from the “Don’t Let the Pigeon…” series.  Students will then create a list of opinion topics and will begin writing an opinion piece by the end of the week.

Math: Next week, we will be finishing Unit 4 with our assessment on Tuesday.  We will be jumping right into our measurement unit; Fish Length and Animal Jumps in Unit 5.  Students will begin using different means to measure the objects around them.  Students will use connecting cubes, paperclips, and tiles to help measure during math centers. 

Science: Students cannot get enough of our animal unit!  Our class fish added a wonderful hands-on experience for students and we are working hard to make thoughtful predictions and observations in our Fish Observation Journals.  Next week, we will be discussing mammals.  We will define and list what makes a mammal.  We will also use books, videos, and pictures to explore the different types of mammals in addition to how and where they live. 

Do not forget that there is no school on Monday, January 16th.  We hope you have a wonderful long weekend!

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