I honestly cannot believe how quickly September went by! We are now entering my favorite time of the school year...fall! We are so lucky to live in an area where we are surrounded by crisp cool air and colorful leaves. This is a perfect time of the year for our class to be examining seeds (apples, sunflowers, pumpkins), leaves, and trees. This week we are spending time outside learning about seeds and sunflowers. Today the children observed our sunflowers in our school's garden. We drew diagrams and labeled the different parts just like scientists.
Reading: We are doing a nice job working in our Daily Five stations. I am now beginning to work with small guided reading groups during this time period. Your children will bring home 'reading bags' during the week. Please be sure to return all books back to our classroom. We are currently working on taking 'sneak peeks' at books, making predictions, and discussing the big idea in books as we read.
Word Wall & Spelling: We added six more words to our word wall: in, that, said, for, be, & of. We now have 24 words on our wall. The children should be able to read these words quickly in isolation without out stretching out letter sounds. They should also be able to recognize these words in books. This week we are also working on spelling words. We are practicing writing words with many different short a sounds and short a word families. Some of the word families that we are learning about this week are: at, an, ad, ag, & ap We can make many different words just by switching the first letter with these word endings. Ex: hat, bat, cat, sat, flat...
Math: We are now working on topic 2 in math ~ subtraction. We began this unit by learning about finding missing parts of numbers. We will soon begin breaking numbers apart, writing subtraction sentences, and solving subtraction problems.
Writing: This week we are learning how to tells our personal narrative stories in 'itsy bitsy' steps. We are working hard on bringing our stories to life by using speech bubbles and making our characters move. Adding details and tiny pieces of information makes our stories so much more interesting to read. Right now, writing workshop is our favorite time of the day! We dim the lights, put on 'writing music', stretch out, share ideas, and get our stories onto paper.
Homework: This is our first week of homework! The children were so proud to bring in their math papers to me today. They know that completing homework and turning it in is a 'big kid' responsibility. Remember, first grade homework is a all about building routines and accountability while keeping you connected to what we are working on in the classroom. Thank you for your support!
Farm to You Fest: This is a great opportunity for us to focus on healthy eating. Please send in healthy snacks and also donate produce if you are able to do so. Please see the note below from our district website.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
"Squash Hunger Produce Drive: Each school in the district will have collection bins for soft and hard produce all week. We are encouraging items such as apples, eggplants, squash and potatoes, since we would like the items to last. Lettuce and strawberries, for instance, can be quite perishable. How often does your student get to bring a whole eggplant or squash in their backpack? Volunteers will deliver the produce each day to McCarroll’s Delmar Marketplace, where Capital Roots (formerly Capital District Community Gardens) will weigh and collect the produce to be delivered to local shelters and food pantries. In 2014, our district donated a recored-breaking 1,659 pounds of fresh produce. Let’s top that impressive amount this year!"
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