Dear Parents:
What a wonderful week we had Celebrating the Arts last week! We had a wonderful docent on our trip to the Dali Museum who helped us learn so much about the artist, Dali. The drumming experience on Tuesday was a blast! Each child and teacher had a drum. It was amazing how the children were able to repeat the various drum cadences. We also got to do a little dancing to the drums! We also really enjoyed the rock group on Thursday during music. Then on Friday, we enjoyed some time learning to dance a little hip hop and then had Carson's uncle, Mark Gonzalez share his amazing artwork and love of art. Each child received their own piece of art from him as a gift! Mr. Gonzalez shared his ABC of art... always be creating! The performance under the trees was fantastic! Sitting on our blankets, listening to the wonderful songs, and feeling the breeze in the air made for a delightful end to a perfect week! If you have any pictures to share, please do so! I have begun an album on our shutterfly site.
The countdown has begun to our next BIG show... Commotion in the Ocean! We have a lot of preparing still to do! The children and I have been working hard practicing our songs, learning dances, and practicing poems. I am also sending home a speaking part for your child to learn. Please help your child practice saying their part with great expression and voice projection - a BIG voice! Please practice daily!
In addition to practicing for our program, we are learning a lot about the ocean and its inhabitants! Reading, writing, and science are all woven around the ocean for the next several weeks. Please read the homework calendar carefully as there are some changes now. Each week the new words on your child's ocean word ring will be vocabulary for the main sea creature that we will focus on that week. This week our main focus will be on sharks. Please be sure to practice the words daily with your child. The children need to be able to read them, spell them, and know their meaning. This will help in their understanding when both reading and writing about sharks. In both reading and writing workshop, our main focus is non-fiction. We know that non-fiction books are books that teach us about something. We are reviewing the features of non-fiction texts and using them to help us find information and learn. The children will have the opportunity to read about sharks and many other sea creatures. We continue to practice using the many reading strategies and comprehension strategies that we have been working on throughout the year.
What a wonderful week we had Celebrating the Arts last week! We had a wonderful docent on our trip to the Dali Museum who helped us learn so much about the artist, Dali. The drumming experience on Tuesday was a blast! Each child and teacher had a drum. It was amazing how the children were able to repeat the various drum cadences. We also got to do a little dancing to the drums! We also really enjoyed the rock group on Thursday during music. Then on Friday, we enjoyed some time learning to dance a little hip hop and then had Carson's uncle, Mark Gonzalez share his amazing artwork and love of art. Each child received their own piece of art from him as a gift! Mr. Gonzalez shared his ABC of art... always be creating! The performance under the trees was fantastic! Sitting on our blankets, listening to the wonderful songs, and feeling the breeze in the air made for a delightful end to a perfect week! If you have any pictures to share, please do so! I have begun an album on our shutterfly site.
The countdown has begun to our next BIG show... Commotion in the Ocean! We have a lot of preparing still to do! The children and I have been working hard practicing our songs, learning dances, and practicing poems. I am also sending home a speaking part for your child to learn. Please help your child practice saying their part with great expression and voice projection - a BIG voice! Please practice daily!
In addition to practicing for our program, we are learning a lot about the ocean and its inhabitants! Reading, writing, and science are all woven around the ocean for the next several weeks. Please read the homework calendar carefully as there are some changes now. Each week the new words on your child's ocean word ring will be vocabulary for the main sea creature that we will focus on that week. This week our main focus will be on sharks. Please be sure to practice the words daily with your child. The children need to be able to read them, spell them, and know their meaning. This will help in their understanding when both reading and writing about sharks. In both reading and writing workshop, our main focus is non-fiction. We know that non-fiction books are books that teach us about something. We are reviewing the features of non-fiction texts and using them to help us find information and learn. The children will have the opportunity to read about sharks and many other sea creatures. We continue to practice using the many reading strategies and comprehension strategies that we have been working on throughout the year.
In science this week, we will focus on sharks! This is always a favorite ocean creature to learn about! In May, Lisa Peck will be bringing dogfish sharks to dissect with us! But, before we dissect sharks, we'll have a couple of other dissections. We begin this Friday when Lisa will be bringing squids to dissect with us! Then, next Tuesday, April 30, we'll dissect sea urchins and starfish. We are so lucky to have Mrs. Peck share these experiences with us! I dare say I don't know of another school that gets to have these kinds of experiences in first grade! The children will also spend time researching their chosen ocean animal. They are using both books and the internet. At the end of our ocean unit, each child will have created a project on their animal and written an All About book during writing workshop on it. They'll be teaching the class all about their ocean animal, sharing their projects and books with other classes, and sharing them with you! As the time gets near, you will receive an invitation to come to our project share!
In Math, we have been working on counting up as a strategy for making change. This is tricky. Please work on this with your child at home. Play a shopping game where you are shopping and your child is the store clerk. You can use the grocery store ads or just make up shopping number stories to help them practice counting up to make change. We'll also begin to learn about fractions this week as we talk about equal shares. We will divide objects and shapes into equal parts to build understanding of fractional parts of a whole. We'll also introduce unit fraction notation.
This week our word work focus will be on words with long /a/ sound spelled ai as in rain. We'll also review other spelling rules we have learned this year. Remember, as always, the spelling assessment will be on our word work focus this week as well as our vocabulary words (word ring words). It is always an application assessment.
There are a lot of dates coming up for some special events, so please note these on your calendars!
On Sunday, April 28, Shorecrest is participating in an event called Feeding Children Everywhere. Volunteers are needed from the Shorecrest community to help pack food bags in the new Athletic Center. The event is It starts at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 2:00 p.m. It's another great way for the Shorecrest community to come together to make a difference in the lives of children.
Shorecrest's Fifth Annual Daddy-Daughter Dance is just around the corner! This memorable affair ia designed for girls in kindergarten through fourth grade. It offers up a DJ, games, prizes, a photo booth, dancing, a dessert bar, and refreshments for all those who love dressing fancy and hula hooping the night away! It will be held Friday, May 3, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Shorecrest Athletic Center. You can register for this FUNdraiser (all proceeds benefit Shorecrest Parent Association initiatives) online by visiting shorecrestgala.com . Just click on the "Shop Items" link. Admission is $65 for each daddy/daughter pair and $75 for more than one daughter. Check out photos from last year by visiting http://shorecrest4dd.
Friday, May 10, is our first grade program, "Commotion in the Ocean" and you don't want to miss it! It begins at 8:30 in the Janet Root Theater.
Friday, May 17, is Splash Day during PE! Children will need towels, swimsuits and swim shoes. They will change into these before PE and change back into their spirit clothes after PE.Friday, May 10, is our first grade program, "Commotion in the Ocean" and you don't want to miss it! It begins at 8:30 in the Janet Root Theater.
Our last field trip will be on Tuesday, May 21. We will be going to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. Parents are welcomed and encouraged to join us!
Monday, May 27, is Memorial Day. There will be no school that day.
On Thursday, May 30, we will have our end of the year party beginning at 1:15. Parents are welcome to join us as always!
Friday, May 31, is the last day of school. Dismissal will be at noon.
Volunteers this week:
- Wednesday - Library Check-out - 2:10 - Lorraine Thorpe and Heidi Joswig/David Richardson
- Thursday - Math Game - 10:30 - Kim Gross
- Friday - Art - 9:15 - Sharon Cannella
- Friday - Parent Reader - 2:15 - Kristen Danielson
If you have any questions, just ask!
Have a great week!
Susan
No comments:
Post a Comment