November 28 - Dec. 2

Specials
(Refer to your flipbook for a reference of what each day is)

Monday - 1

Tuesday - 2

Wednesday - 3

Thursday - 4

Friday - 5

Upcoming Events & Reminders
Homework needs to come back in the blue folder every day.
December 4 - PTA 5K
December 1-9 MAP Testing (all grades) We will assess on December 2nd and the 8th.
December 9th - PTA Winter Dance 6-8pm
December 15 - Winter Music Program 1:30 and 6:30
December 16 - Nonrotation day for Specials
December 19-30 WINTER BREAK!!!

Spelling List

Your student will know which list he/she is on.

LIST A (Green and Yellow Reading Groups)

Gate

Lake

Wave

Lace

Fame

shade

chase

 

LIST B (Orange and Blue Reading Groups)

Shade

Chase

Grape

Frame

Brake

*quake

*whale

 

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can write to tell how to do something.
I can use transition words in my writing.
I can read, write, and identify words with the a_e pattern.
I can correctly identify and use plural nouns. 
I can ask and answer questions about a nonfiction text.
I can solve subtraction word problems within 10.

Week in Review
No pictures from the past week. No worries - you will see many of them on the end of year video! :)

November 14-18, 2016

Specials
(Refer to your flipbook for a reference of what each day is)

Monday - 1

Tuesday - 2

Wednesday - 3

Thursday - 4

Friday - 5

Upcoming Events & Reminders
Homework needs to come back in the blue folder every day.

November 17 - 1st Grade Thanksgiving Lunch 10:50-11:15. You are invited to join us in class at 10:30.
November 18 - 1st Grading Period Student Recognitions 10am in gym. I have sent e-mails informing you if your child is receiving an award this 9 weeks. :) 
November 23-25 Thanksgiving Break NO SCHOOL
December 4 - PTA 5K
December 9th - PTA Winter Dance 6-8pm

Spelling List

Your student will know which list he/she is on.

LIST A (Green and Yellow Reading Groups)

cane

kite

robe

hate

ride

tape

cube

LIST B (Orange and Blue Reading Groups)

quite

bathe

spine

plane

grade

Jane

slate

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can write to tell how to do something.
I can use transition words in my writing.
I can read, write, and identify words with silent e.
I can correctly identify and use possessive nouns. 
I can tell the main idea of a nonfiction text.
I can relate addition to subtraction in fact families.

Week in Review
Hi everyone! I hope you've had a restful weekend. :) I am always so excited for the weekend to arrive but even more excited to spend another week with your first graders. Here is a glance at what we did this past week.

In our third writing unit, we are exploring How-To Writing. The kids helped me list types of things they might expect to see in a how-to piece (those are the orange items on the list below). 
To introduce this type of writing, I shared a simple recipe with the class.

They helped me identify the title (what the piece is going to teach me), the materials (and maybe what else would be important to use), and the steps/directions.

Of course, their engagement went THROUGH THE ROOF when they realized Mrs. Carney actually brought the ingredients!

We looked over the materials list again and double checked that we were ready to go.

The best part was having your first graders tell me the steps for making the trail mix.

So, so, so yummy.

The next day, we brainstormed a list of all of the things we know how to do. We are going to use this list throughout the whole unit to guide us in choosing topics as we learn more and more about the how-to process.

Here are some of our very first tries - just wait until you watch the transformation by the end of the unit!

"I can teach you how to flip."

"I can show you how to feed my fish. First get the food. Add three drops."

"I can teach you how to read a chapter book."

"I can teach you how to make a castle. It's so much fun! First you need to get blocks. Number two..."

"I can teach you how to do the monkey bars. You swing your arms."

The best part? I DIDN'T EVEN TELL THEM HOW TO DO A HOW-TO WRITING. We brainstormed our list and I released them to write, mostly so I could know what more I needed to teach them. My GOODNESS you have some amazing thinkers. Would you believe that almost every single kiddo started their piece with "I am going to teach you..." or "I can teach you how..." It was the coolest thing to see.

Throughout this unit, your author will learn to:

-add transition words

-"zoom in" (Think: how to do math vs. how to solve a subtraction problem)

-sequence their writing

-stretch out the steps

-identify materials needed

I am SO excited to see what they do. :)

In Language, we began to explore Possessive Nouns.

We had fun labeling our things!

We had a welcomed break in the week by walking over to LCA for Seussical the Musical! We were all very amazed by all of the fun things to look at while waiting to go inside.

 To end the week, we had fun practicing subtraction with...COOKIE CRISP!!!

(Some of us got a little distracted by the "Who Stole the Cookies" song...but that's okay :-P )

I hope you have a FABULOUS week!

November 7-11, 2016

Specials
(Refer to your flipbook for a reference of what each day is)

Monday - 3

Tuesday - No School

Wednesday - 4

Thursday - 5

Friday - 6

Upcoming Events & Reminders
Homework needs to come back in the blue folder every day.

November 8 - NO SCHOOL **CONFERENCE DAY**
November 9 - All Pro Dad's Breakfast
November 10 - PTA Meeting 6:30PM
ELL Thanksgiving Dinner 5-7pm
November 18 - 1st Grading Period Student Recognitions (I will let you know if your child is receiving an award closer to time).
November 23-25 Thanksgiving Break NO SCHOOL
December 4 - PTA 5K
December 9th - PTA Winter Dance 6-8pm

Spelling List

We will begin differentiating spelling lists this week. Your student will know which list he/she is on.

LIST A (Green and Yellow Reading Groups)

hill

well

buzz

pass

off

LIST B (Orange and Blue Reading Groups)

small

grass

stuff

chill

class

off

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can write to tell how to do something.
I can read, write, and identify words with double consonant endings.
I can correctly use possessive nouns. 
I can tell the main idea of a nonfiction text.
I can subtract in many ways.

Week in Review
In reading this week, we dove deeper into identifying the main idea of a fictional text. To begin, I brought in several items in a mystery bag and asked the students to identify the main idea of my items. (Bear with me - these pictures were snagged in the middle of teaching so they are NOT the best!)

With these items, the students helped me identify the main idea as Trick-Or-Treating. Throughout the week, we explained our understanding of main idea using various strategies.

We read the story below and worked to support our main idea with details.

We also learned that the details in a text support the main idea like a table.

The kiddos made their own main idea tables after reading this story:

In Math, we explored with doubles and doubles plus one. To begin, we talked about how doubles are like looking in a mirror. It's the same number twice! Knowing doubles and our doubles plus ones facts can help make solving problems easier in the future. 

We had SO much fun opening up this month's Scholastic order. :) Thanks to everyone who made our book box so exciting this month!

Our major focus this week was completing our Opinion pieces. For the past several weeks, we have been working to share our thinking and support our opinions through opinion writing. To complete our unit, we created one published piece and we had a BLAST celebrating the conclusion of this unit.

We worked in pairs to help identify "brain burps" in our writing. We know that authors don't write books totally alone! They need other people to help them notice things that they didn't see before.

To end our week...we had a DONUT You Like Our Writing? Publishing Party!

Our Fourth Grade Buddies came to celebrate our writing with us...sparkling grape juice and donuts were a MUST. 

 By the end of the day, this poster was filled with compliments about our writing from our buddies and from one another.

Thanks for another great week!