Week of April 2-6

Dear Parents,

It was great to see all of you this week for conferences.  We had a lot of exciting things to share and are looking forward to the remainder of the school year!  We have many activities planned to welcome spring and many new thrilling topics ahead.   

A few reminders: there will be no school next Friday, April 6 for Good Friday and a half day on Friday, April 13.  Also, there will be no school from Monday, April 16 through April 20 for Spring break.  

Here is a look at the week ahead:

Reading: Students enjoyed sharing their favorite books and studying two favorite characters, Frog and Toad.  Next week we will continue our character studies and begin inferring regarding character traits and motivations.  We will use characters that we are very familiar with, like Henry and Mudge from our Author Study, to help us infer.  We will set some time aside, if necessary, for students to share their favorite books.  If students have not brought in one or two of their favorite books to share with the group, they may still do so!  

Word Work/Handwriting: Students have explored and applied the use of adjectives, nouns, and verbs through writing, reading, and games.  Next week, we will review what we have learned about consonant digraphs and focus primarily on “sh-“, “ch-“, “wh-“, and “th-“.  Games and activities will be used to review each diagraph. 

Writing:  Students have worked very hard and have published amazing Non-Fiction books.  The topics chosen and the research used to enhance their writing has allowed students to grow as writers.  Watch for their books as they will bring them home very soon to share!  Next week, we will spend a day sharing our final published Non-Fiction books and then move into our next writing unit, “Cross-Genre Writing: Self-Selected Writing”.  In this unit, students will choose from previously taught genres to produce their writing.  They will select their own writing pieces to create and begin writing with initiative, investment, and independence.  This unit will allow students to reflect and create in the genre that most interests them!  Next week, we will review each genre previously taught and allow students to begin composing in each genre.  From there, over the next few weeks, students will focus on one genre and collect many pieces.  

Math: Students did a wonderful job with Unit 7, focusing on patterns and counting by two’s.  We are ready to begin Unit 8, “Twos, Fives, and Tens”.  In this unit, topics include “Getting to 100”, “Twos, Fives, and Tens”, “Tens”, and “Adding and Subtracting with 2-Digit Numbers”.  Next week, we will revisit the 100 chart, games like ‘Ten Turns’, and counting to 100 and even beyond. A wide variety of materials and activities will be used to teach counting to 100 and beyond.  We will also revisit familiar games and activities to enhance our learning.  

Science: Students have been drafting their scripts for their animal projects and have been planning their pictures to go with their final presentation.  As a class we have decided to use a Voice-Thread to show off our projects, therefore, this week we will begin recording.  Students will create their pictures using the net-books and then begin recording their scripts.  Once the Voice-Thread is complete we will post it to share with all of you!  

We hope you have a wonderful weekend!  

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