THIS WEEK IN FIRST GRADE...

Matthieu shares his story about the day he went skateboarding.

Writer’s Workshop: We are writers! Last week each child selected a piece from their Writing notebooks and worked to “fix it up” for publishing. This morning they shared their published stories as we enjoyed our first Writing Celebration!

Tomorrow we begin our new unit of study in Writing Workshop – Small Moments: Personal Narrative Writing. The children will learn that they can create stories out of the details of their own experiences. The opportunities that children have to take the moments of their lives and spin them into stories play an important role in their literacy development.

Language Arts: This week we are working on words with variant vowel /o/a - as in “all”. This week’s wall words are: how, make, of, some, town. This week’s robust vocabulary words are locate, search, symbol, overflowing, commotion, and muffle. We have also been learning about contractions and homophones. When reading, we will continue working on the comprehension strategies of classifying and categorizing. We will also work on adjusting our reading rate. It is important to understand what we read. Rereading more slowly may help your child to understand the information in a nonfiction selection. On October 7, Mrs. McKenzie and Mrs. Cameron will be presenting a workshop on helping your child select "Just Right Books". I encourage you to attend if you are able to!

Handwriting: During handwriting lessons, we will continue working on lowercase letters. I will share more about the handwriting program at our conference.

Math: In Math, we will be working on subtraction number models and making up and solving number stories. We will complete Unit 2 this week and take our second math assessment. The family letter for Unit 3 will be coming home on Friday. Please look for it in your child’s folder.

The children had a ball working on graphing skittles using Graph Club in the Computer Lab today!

Social Studies/Science: We will begin working on map skills this week, which will continue throughout the year. In science, our human body unit continues with a look at the muscles, nervous system, and brain. We will be having some exciting visits coming up during our human body unit!

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

There will be no school for students on Thursday due to Conference Day. Please see the conference reminder on your child’s homework calendar. I look forward to sharing your child's progress with you!

Please return the word ring on Friday this week!

Online Opinion Survey - Please remember to look for the online opinion survey on Friday, October 1. It is important that we have all parents participate in the survey to help guide and inform the goals we set for Shorecrest for the next five years. Your participation is crucial to the success of this reflective process. I will be posting the link for the survey on Friday.

There will be no school for students on Friday, October 15, due to a Professional Development Day for teachers.

VOLUNTEERS THIS WEEK:

Tuesday – Art – Kristen Danielson (12:05)
Friday – Math Game – Julie Piper (9:00)
Friday – Parent Reader – Michelle Clopet (2:20)

"Baby", the parrot kept us in stitches!

More pictures at the end of the blog!

This week at a glance:

Language Arts/Spelling: In spelling, we are focusing on words with short vowel /o/. We will continue reviewing the naming and telling parts of sentences and practice identifying nouns which are found in the naming parts of sentences. When reading and writing, we work on story structure by answering the questions “who, what, where, and when”. You can help your child recognize story structure by asking questions when they read or write such as “who is the story about”, “where are they”, “what is happening”. We will also be using graphic organizers to help us recognize the story structure and summarize the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

Don’t forget to use SpellingCity.com as extra fun practice with spelling this week!

I will be introducing robust vocabulary this week. The purpose of our robust vocabulary is to introduce the children to a stronger vocabulary for use when speaking, and ultimately writing. We will not focus on the spelling of these words, but rather the meaning to enrich their spoken vocabulary. This week’s robust vocabulary words are: horrible, invigorated, presented, aid, persistent, sweltering

Please don't forget that the word card ring should be worked on (reading and spelling) daily at home and returned to school on Thursday. This week's words: hold, soon, so, home, get

Handwriting: If your child has not brought in a small sock to use during handwriting lessons, please send one in this week.

Writer's Workshop: As writers, we like to write about what we love. We are learning that writers have choices such as writing stories, making lists, and writing letters. We have been doing all of these! This week we will be choosing a piece of writing to “fancy up” for publishing and sharing with our classmates!

Math: This week we will focus on counting combinations of pennies and nickels, and working with both addition and subtraction number models (sentences).

Science/Social Studies: Last week, Ramsey Taylor, a zoologist with the Miami Zoo visited and brought Baby the parrot and Stripes the boa constrictor. We learned so much about each of the animals and were thoroughly entertained as well by Baby! We also began learning about our skeleton last week during our study of the human body. Do you know what the biggest bone in our skeleton is? How about the strongest bone? On Friday, Dr. Burke brought a skeleton and an assortment of bones. As he talked with our first graders, he was amazed at what they already had learned in just one week and he taught us so many more things about our amazing skeletons!

Things to remember:

Please be sure to send in an apple with your child by Wednesday. We will be using them during a special apple project this week!

International Peace Day will be celebrated tomorrow beginning with a special Town Meeting gathering in the morning.

Spirit Day will be this Friday, September 24. The children may wear Charger spirit wear to school instead of uniforms.

Conference Day is September 30. There will be no school for students.

Homework should be done in pencil only. That way if there is a mistake made, it can be corrected easily. Ask your child what Mrs. Owen says about mistakes!

Please help your child learn responsibility for returning the word ring to school every Thursday. We are having difficulty getting them all back on time! Also, please be sure to have your child practice spelling the words as well as reading them.

Library books need to be returned by Thursday!

Dress Code: Please remind your child that the dress code at Shorecrest requires that their “shirts are tucked in” and that “belts in a neutral color must be worn with all items that have belt loops.”

Volunteers this Week:

* Tuesday - Art – Zheng Chris Chen (12:05)
* Thursday - Library Check-out – Ailsa Hudson and Liz Jack (2:05)
* Friday - Math Game – Leigh Harting (9:00)
* Friday - Parent Reader – Mindy Artze (2:20)

I wish everyone a peaceful week…
Susan

We were very brave with Stripes, the boa constrictor!

Center time is always a favorite in our class!

Sarah, Anna, Livvi, and Iona work on sequencing the beginning, middle, and end of the story, "Get Up Rick".

Spelling Fun!

Dear Parents:

Today I introduced the children to a new website that we will be using in our classroom and that they may use at home to practice spelling words. We had a blast with it at school today! I have made a link on the right side of this blog that you may click to take you right to SpellingCity.com. Then you can find our class spelling lists by clicking on my name on the left hand side. Then click Lesson 4 for this week. Next week will be Lesson 5. The list will appear and your child can immediately start using it to practice the words. Then click the Play a Game link and you will find a list of games that your child can play with our spelling words. Try out a different game each evening on SpellingCity! I recommend that you do this with your child at first before letting them go on their own. Each week, I will add the new spelling list on SpellingCity.com. The wall words for the week will be included on the spelling list since the children are responsible for learning to spell the words as well as read them. Therefore, there are 15 words on the list for this week. There is also a practice spelling test that your child can take. That would be great practice on Thursday evening as extra practice before our Friday tests! Have fun!

This week at a glance:

Language Arts/Spelling: In spelling, we are focusing on words with the digraph /k/ck/. In addition to reviewing the "naming part" of sentences, we are learning about the "telling part" of sentences (what someone or something does). Learning about the parts of sentences will lead us to learn about nouns and verbs. When reading, we are focusing on the beginning, middle, and end of a story. After reading several pages of a story, have your child stop and think about what has happened so far. Summarizing parts of a story will help your child understand and remember the whole story.

Handwriting: We are continuing with lowercase letters. Ask your child what it means to "bump" the lines. Each child needs to bring in a small sock to use during handwriting lessons (to hold their chalk and erase their boards). If you have not sent one in, please do so this week.

Writer's Workshop: We are learning strategies for adding to a story and that writer's write with many purposes.

Math: In math, we are using the analog clock to practice telling time to the hour, and are developing a sense of the duration of a minute. We will also be comparing the length of objects using rulers as well as using the rulers to draw straight lines. Both the analog clock and the ruler will be added to our math tool kits. We will also be counting pennies, learning about cents notation, and comparing numbers. Practicing these skills at home would be great reinforcement and help your child to develop confidence in math!

Bryce, Sarah, Anna, and Livvi have fun playing 2 Fisted Penny Addition during math!

Science/Social Studies: We begin our study of the human body this week learning about the skeleton and its major functions. This unit always proves to be a favorite in first grade!

Tomorrow we have a very special visitor coming to first grade! Charlie' stepmother, Michelle Clopet, has arranged for a professional zoologist from the Miami Zoo to bring some animals to share with the children. Part of her job is to put on animal shows and we are very lucky to have her come to do this for us!
Things to remember:

Picture Day tomorrow! Please send in the picture envelope tomorrow if you have not already! Everyone will have their picture made whether you are ordering pictures or not. They will be used in the yearbook.

Book order is due tomorrow!

Word rings come back to school on Thursday! Please be sure to have your child practice spelling the words as well as reading them.

Library books need to be returned by Thursday!

Volunteers this Week:

• Tuesday - Art - Ailsa Hudson (art time has changed this week due to the zoologist)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Valerie Pillot and Kristen Danielson (2:05)
• Friday - Math Game - Valerie Pillot (9:00)
• Friday - Parent Reader - Liz Jack (2:20)
  

Have a great week!
Susan

Mrs. Eckert was our first parent reader last Friday! You all have BIG shoes to fill now because she was an EXCELLENT model for voice inflection for the children!

Mr. Thompson works with a small group in math.

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Labor Day weekend! We are back on track at school! Here is a look at this week:

Spelling: We will focus on words with short vowel /i/. Beginning with today's homework calendar, the spelling word sort activity will be a part of Monday night homework (tonight since there was no school on Monday). The children will need to cut the words apart and complete the activity sheet. Please do not send the "baggie" of spelling words back to school. They are to be kept at home. You do not need to keep them in the folder anymore if you prefer not to. We are learning about the "naming part" of a sentence. The naming part (who or what the sentence is about) is usually found at the beginning of a sentence. While reading, we will be working on the comprehension strategies of classifying, categorizing, and making inferences.

Don't forget that the word card ring should be worked on daily at home and returned to school on Thursday. This week's words: hold, soon, so, home, get

Handwriting: We are working on numbers and beginning our lowercase letters. Ask your child about "magic c".

Writer's Workshop: We will continue to work on stretching our words and spelling the best we can.

Math: We will practice counting up and back on the number grid and working with complements of 10. The children will learn to play a game called "2 Fisted Penny Addition". Please play this at home as often as you can. Here are the directions: Place 10 pennies on a table. Ask your child to grab a handful pennies with one hand and pick up the rest with the other hand. Have your child to provide information using this format: "I have 3 pennies in one hand and 7 pennies in the other hand." Using such language reinforces the idea that each number is a count of objects. Take it further by having them say "3 plus 7 = 10". This is great practice for addition facts! I will also introduce the calculator this week and we will be adding this math tool to our tool kit bags.

Your child's Math Journal will be coming home on Thursday for homework this week. Please be sure to complete page 8 together with your child and return the Journal on Friday.

Social Studies/Science: We will continue our character education unit through our author study of Kevin Henkes' books. We will begin our study of the Human Body next week. The children will love this unit! I am looking for doctors, nurses, EMTs, or others that work in the health care field that would like to volunteer to come in to share during this unit. If you are interested, please let me know!

Things to remember:

Word card rings are to be returned to school on Thursday.

Math Journal will come home on Thursday this week and MUST be returned on Friday.
Library check-out begins this Thursday! We will have library check-out each Thursday from now on. Please make sure that all library books are returned by then.

Picture Day is next Tuesday, September 14.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Cynthia Biondi (12:00)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Julie Piper and Molly Camp (2:35)
• Friday - Math Game - Emily Golden (9:00)
  
• Friday - Parent Reader - Margaret Young (2:20)

It's going to be a great week!
Susan