May 26-29, 2015

Tuesday folders will go home for the last time next week.  There was nothing to send home this week!

READING and WRITING
We will begin working on our First Grade memory books, and we will write about all the great memories that we've had in First Grade.  In doing so, we will review the writing conventions, such as capitalization, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, and correct sentence structure.
In reading, we will continue reading fiction books and review some comprehension strategies that we've been working on this year such as making inferences, predictions and connections.

MATH
In math we will review some important concepts that we learned in first grade such as place value, time, measurement, money, shapes and etc.  We will also review patterns and algebraic thinking and solve word problems that involve these concepts.  We will review the steps for problem solving such as reading the problem carefully, underlining important information, using number line, shapes, and tally marks to show our thinking, writing addition, or subtraction sentences to solve the problem and use words to explain our thinking.

SCIENCE
This week we will learn about the amphibians, particularly frogs.  We will learn about their food, habitat, predators and focus especially in their life cycle.

HABIT #6: Synergize: I value other people’s strengths and learn from them.  I seek out other people’s ideas because I know that by teaming with others we can create better solutions than anyone of us can alone.

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 a healthy snack with your child every day.  We will eat snack at 10:30

DATES to REMEMBER:

May 29:  Career Day

June 1:  1^st Grade Awards Ceremony

June 4:  End of the Year Party

June 5:  Last Day of School

May 18-22. 2015

It was an exciting week for the children to visit the Book Fair this week. This couldn't have happened in a better time since we are learning about goods and services and spending our money wisely.  I was so proud when I saw my students adding their money, or knowing how much they need to get back in return.  Real Life applications!! Thank you for supporting our school library! 

VOLUNTEER BREAKFAST
If you received an invitation to the Volunteer Breakfast on Thursday, May 21, I look forward to seeing you to say a big thank you for everything you did for our classroom!

READING and WRITING
We will continue our family writing.  I can't wait to share their writings with you.  They are sweet and precious.  After finishing our family writing, we will start working on our first grade memory books.  We will remember all the great things that we did in first grade and write about those things. As always, we will emphasize on neat writing along with correct capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure.    
In reading we will continue to read some of our favorite fiction books and review some important comprehension strategies.  We will use the picture clues as well as the text clues to make predictions and inferences, visualize a part of the story or make connections. 

MATH
For the next few weeks, we will work hard on problem solving.  We will review the steps of how to start the problem solving and work on different strategies that have been learning throughout the year.  Reading a math problem is like reading a story.  We need to visualize it first by drawing a relevant picture.  We need to remember the important things by underlining them, and we need to show our steps and strategies such as using a number line, ten blocks and ones, tally marks, and addition and subtraction sentences.  Whatever strategy we use, we also need to write our thinking in words.  These steps will help the children in the long run to do more advanced problem solving in higher grades.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We will continue our unit on economics.  The children have been learning about goods and services and how some jobs produce, or make goods and other jobs provide a service.  We all need money to satisfy our needs and wants, and in order to gain money we need to have jobs.  But we also need to make wise choices and be smart about spending our money.  We will also learn about scarcity problem, when we have unlimited wants and needs and limited resources.

HABIT #5: Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood: I listen to others without interrupting.  I try to see things from their viewpoint.  I am confident in voicing my own ideas.

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 and homework bags back every day.
*Send a healthy snack with your child every day.  We will eat snack at 10:30

DATES to REMEMBER:

May 18-22:  Caraway Canned Food Drive

May 20:  Ms. Smith out (Mr. Sparks will be my sub)

May 21:  Volunteer Breakfast

May 22:  Prezi Viewing Party

May 25:  No School, Memorial Day

May 29:  Career Day

June 1:  1^st Grade Awards Ceremony

June 4:  End of the Year Party

June 5:  Last Day of School, 

May 11-15, 2015

Thank you all so much for all of the wonderful gifts last week!  I feel so loved!  Y’all are the best!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms that I've had the privilege to get to know this year.  I hope you all had a relaxing day!  The world is a better place because of all you have done and continue to do for your children.

Our field trip to the Austin Nature Center was AWESOME!
We had a great day at the Austin Nature Center on Thursday.  The children had the opportunity see many live birds, mammals and reptiles and learn more about these animals. Thank you all for generously paying for the transportation and helping us to help the children have more hands on experiences.

READING and WRITING
This week we will write about our families.  We will think about each member of our family, and things they like and are interested in doing and write about those things.  We will review writing conventions such as capitalization, punctuation and correct sentence structure.  Please review the first grade sight words in your child's blue agenda and be sure to practice those at home.  Your child needs to spell those words correctly before going to second grade.

In reading we will read some of our favorite fiction books and review some important comprehension strategies such as retelling the story, putting the events in the order that they happened and making inferences.

MATH
This week we will work more on using non-standard units such as linking cubes and balancing tools to compare the weight of 3-D objects. We will also review strategies for addition and subtraction and apply those strategies in problem solving.  If you are practicing problem solving with your child at home, please be sure the steps such as drawing a picture to show the problem, the relevant addition and subtraction number sentences, and words to explain their thinking are all shown on the paper.

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week  we will continue our unit on goods and services. Goods are produced and services are provided in our community.  We will identify and discuss examples of goods and services, ways people exchange goods and services and the role of market and services in our community.  As part of media literacy, we will learn about advertisement and how people advertise for either goods or services in our community.  

HABIT #5: Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood: I listen to others without interrupting.  I try to see things from their viewpoint.  I am confident in voicing my own ideas.

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 and homework bags back every day.
*Send a healthy snack with your child every day.  We will eat snack at 10:30

DATES to REMEMBER:

May 11-15:  Book Fair

May 14:  Caraway Fine Arts Night

May 21:  Volunteer Breakfast

May 25:  No School, Memorial Day

May 29:  Career Day

June 4:  End of the Year Party

June 5:  Last Day of School,