October 20-24, 2014

Math:  This week, we will be learning about length and measurement.  We will talk about longest and shortest and longer and shorter.  We will not use rulers to measure in First Grade.  We will use non-standard units of measurement.  We will use pencils, cubes, paper clips, and other non-standard objects to measure.  We will even have a small history lesson to learn what a cubit is.  You can help your child with this skill at home by letting them measure different objects around the house.  How many steps is it from the front door to the couch?  How many pennies long is a fork?  Have fun!

Reading Workshop:  We have been learning about Nonfiction and this week, we will actually begin doing teacher guided research!  In the spirit of the month of October and Halloween, we will be researching Spiders.  The kids love this unit!  We will become experts on Spiders by the end of the week, and your child should be able to tell you some very interesting facts about Spiders.

Writing Workshop:   We are continuing our Nonfiction unit from Reading.   We will begin by learning the difference between fact and opinion since Expository writing is only facts.  We will talk about how authors who write Expository texts are experts on the topics they write about.  We will pick topics that we are interested in and that we already know a lot about to practice writing facts.  At the end of the week, we will write facts that we have learned during our Spider research.

Word Study:  We will begin working with a whole class sort in Words Their Way to get familiar with the procedure.  These sorts will be how we supplement our spelling instruction, and this work will be done in the Word Study Notebooks. 

Science:   This week we will be continuing our discussion on physical changes to materials.  We learned this past week, that adding heat and removing heat cause materials to change.  We will be doing more experiments this week to observe those changes first hand!

Here is a picture of our Crayon Experiment if you missed the email.

https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/?ui=2&ik=a2cb3592a8&view=att&th=1491edfe386134d4&attid=0.1&disp=safe&realattid=869948ae525318b8_0.0&zw

Habit #4 Think Win-Win:  I balance the courage of getting what I want with consideration of what others want.

Thank you!!!!

Claudia Aguilar- Classroom Chores

Meghan Stack- Parent Reader

Reminders:
*Specials- A Group:  PE on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
               B Group:  PE on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
**Wear tennis shoes for sure on these days!!!!
*Library- Tuesday 11-11:30
*Send orange folders back every day.
*Send a healthy snack with your child every day.  We will eat snack at 10:30

Dates to Remember:

October 25:  Harvest Festival

October 29:  Early Release Day dismissal @12:45

November 24-28:  Thanksgiving Break

December 3:  Early Release Day dismissal @12:45

December 8-12:  Book Fair

December 19:  Winter Break begins