October 19-23, 2015

Parents,

Please don’t forget to sign up for a conference.  The sign-up sheet is in Google Doc form, and it was sent out a week (or so) ago.  If you need it shared with you again, please let me know and I will share it with you.  Thank you!

Ms. Smith                

READING

This week we will read expository/non-fiction books.  Writers of expository books are expert in an area and therefore they write the expository texts to teach us about that subject. We will learn that the purpose of reading expository books is to get information. We might have questions before reading a non-fiction book, or questions during reading the non-fiction book, or even after reading it. These questions will help us to read more and find out more. We will learn about the features of non-fiction such as: table of contents, index, glossary, real photos, labels, and captions.  

WRITING

We will continue revising our stories for one more week.  Ask your child what revising is and what is the purpose of revising.  They should be able to explain it to you.  We are learning to reread our stories carefully a couple of times to make sure that our stories make sense.  In the process, we are learning to add some more words or take off a few that are not needed.  We are checking for sight words misspelling, neat writing and correct punctuation.  Some of us are even adding dialogues in quotation marks to make our stories more interesting. I am so proud of my young writers!  

MATH
This week we will learn to tell time.  We will learn to tell time to the hour using a digital and an analog clock.  We will learn about the hands, the hour hand (the short hand), and the minute hand(the long hand) and how they move: The minute hand makes one full turn while the hour hand moves slowly from one numeral to another. Later on in the year, we will learn to tell the time in half-hour.

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week we will learn about a few historical figures such as Alexander graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Garrett Morgan, and Richards Allen who influenced our nation by their individualism and inventiveness. We will learn about their inventions and the contributions that these important people made to our lives.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders, and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom. Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!

More than anything, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Library is on Tuesday.

*Homework bags come back to school every day.  Please leave the books and response notebook in the bag.  We will use them during the day at school!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Oct 24:  Harvest Festival

Oct 27:  Library Day

Oct 28:  Early Release @ 12:45

           Skate Night

Nov. 3:  Flu Shots @ Caraway

Nov. 23-27:  Fall Break/No School

Dec. 2:  Early Release @ 12:45

           Skate Night

Dec. 7-11:  Book Fair

Dec 10:  International Festival

Dec. 17:  Class Holiday Party

Dec 18-Jan 5:  Winter Break/No School

October 13-16, 2015

I am so proud of my class this week!  We finally filled up our compliment jar!  Tomorrow we will have a crazy sock/stinky feet party.  This means that the kiddos can wear crazy/mismatched socks and we will be able to  take our shoes off in the classroom.  Please remind the kiddos of keeping up with their hard work in following the rules, showing respect, and being a great citizen! 

GROWTH MINDSET
Albert Einstein said, "I am not a genius, I only stay on a problem longer".  Perseverance is the key to success. Our children will learn in time that is not a matter of luck, or being smart that makes us successful.  It is our hard work, consistency, and perseverance that make us successful.  We will read some wonderful children's stories such as "Whistle for Willie", "Ruby's Wish", and " A chair for My Mother" and see how the characters in these stories all wanted to achieve something.  It took a long time for each to get their wishes but eventually they all got what they wished for with their hard work.  

This week:

READING

We will continue reading some of our favorite children's stories and practice thinking while reading.  Strong readers constantly think about what they read, they put the clues in the story together and make thoughtful predictions.  They think about the characters and not only try to remember the characters' names, but also think about their personalities.  What kind of a character is my main character? Is this character, funny? Generous? Friendly? Scared? Thinking about the characters, setting and plot of the story will help us to have a better understanding of the story. 

WRITING

We have been writing great stories/small moments about our lives.  This week, we will learn how to reread and revisit our stories and make any changes that would make our stories much better before publishing it.  We will learn to read our stories carefully to make sure our stories make sense.  In the process, sometimes we need to add to our stories and sometimes we need to take off from our stories.  We will learn to fancy up our stories, by adding to our pictures, coloring neatly and writing neatly and then publishing our stories!

MATH

This week, we will be learning about length and measurement.  We will talk about longest and shortest and longer and shorter.  In First Grade we will not use rulers to measure but instead use non-standard units of measurement such as pencils, cubes, paper clips, and etc.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!

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week in social studies, we will learn about life in the past and present.  We will learn how technology has changed our lives comparing to the past.  People communicate differently, have different ways of transportation, entertainment, and hold different jobs comparing to the past due to technology. 

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders, and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom. Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!

More than anything, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Library is on Tuesday.

*Homework bags come back to school every day.  Please leave the books and response notebook in the bag.  We will use them during the day at school!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Oct 15:  Science Night

Oct 24:  Harvest Festival

Oct 27:  Library Day

Oct 28:  Early Release @ 12:45

           Skate Night

Nov. 3:  Flu Shots @ Caraway

Nov. 23-27:  Fall Break/No School

Dec. 2:  Early Release @ 12:45

           Skate Night

Dec. 7-11:  Book Fair

Dec 10:  International Festival

Dec. 17:  Class Holiday Party

Dec 18-Jan 5:  Winter Break/No School

October 5-9, 2015

GROWTH MINDSET
This week in growth mindset, we are going to talk about the importance of showing persevere, and being persistent.  Sometimes, when we are trying out something new, or taking a risk, things won't go our way.  We might feel we have failed and for this reason, we are afraid to try again. Starting today and for the rest of our lives, we are going to be persistent, and don't let our failures prevent us from trying again and again.  We will keep moving forward!

This week:

READING

Reading is thinking and as we read, we will learn how to think about the story or the information we are reading about.  Readers make connections between the story and themselves.  The story might remind them of something in their own life.  We call this text to self connection.  Sometimes we can make connection between one story and another story, meaning one story reminds us of another story that we previously read.  This is called text to text connection.  And sometimes we can make connections between text and the world or something that has happened in the world.  We call this text to world connection.  These comprehension strategies will help us to understand the text better. 

WRITING
We will continue writing stories about our lives.  Last week we learned how to "zoom in" on one thing and write about a small moment in time, something in our life that happened over a small few minutes.  This week, we will practice stretching one small moment across several lines or several pages.  We will read stories or part of stories that have those moments in them and see how famous authors stretch a small moment over few pages.

MATH

This week we will continue working on addition and count on strategies.  We will use a number track and show what happens when we jump from a number one step, two steps, or zero step (count on zero).  If we jump from 13, two steps further and land on 15, the matching number sentence will be 13+2=15.  We will apply these strategies in problem solving. We will also look at the "turn around" and see that 13+2 is actually the same as 2+13.  It might look different on the number track as far as where to start, but it lands on the same number.

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!

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders, and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom. Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!

More than anything, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Library is on Tuesday.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Oct 7:  International walk/bike to school day

Oct 12:  Columbus Day- No School

Oct 13:  Library Day

Oct 15:  Science Night

Oct 24:  Harvest Festival

Oct 27:  Library Day

Oct 28:  Early Release @ 12:45

           Skate Night

September 28-October 2, 2015

Thank you for returning the RRISD permission forms back to me promptly on such a short notice.  I truly appreciate you all! 

I have finally finished with the beginning of the year reading assessments…whew!  I am ready to start thinking about conferences (1 thing at a time!)  I will get a sign-up genius ready and sent out soon.

That being said, remember that homework will start next week.  You should look for a bag (it will either be blue, red, green or yellow) to come home with your child on Monday, October 5.  More info will go out with the bags next Monday!

This is on the agenda for this week…

GROWTH MINDSET
This week in growth mindset, we are going to practice how to give each other constructive criticism.  What is the best thing to say to each other in order to improve each other's work? We will learn how to start with something positive, saying something nice about each other's work. Next, we'll say something that can be improved and then end our talk with something positive again.  " I really like how your picture and your words match in this story, you could add more words to make your story more interesting, you are such a great story teller!" 

READING

This week we will work on a comprehension strategy; making predictions.  Reading is thinking.  As we start to read a story, we will look at the picture on the front cover, read the title and try to guess what the story is about based on the title and the picture.  When we read stories, we stop from time to time and predict what might happen next.  Sometimes our predictions are correct and sometimes they are not.  We will learn how to use all the clues in the story and things being said so far, to make the best prediction possible

WRITING

We will continue writing stories about our lives.  This week we will learn how we can "zoom in" and write about a small moment in time with details.  Our job from here on is to discover those small moments in our lives.  A small moment happens over a few short seconds or minutes.  For example, it could be about a moment that I was riding my bike and I fell into a mud puddle and hurt my knee, or about a time that we were in the car, coming back home and we had to stop the car in the middle of the street, because a deer was standing there and wouldn't move.  We will learn how we can expand our small moment with details and write it over a few lines.  We will also use our fingers and tell our small moments across our hand so we can record the beginning, the middle and the end of our small moments.

  

MATH

We have been practicing on how to use the number line/number track to find specific numbers and find out one more or one less.  This week, we will take that knowledge and apply it in addition. The strategies that we work on is "Count On Addition Strategies for Basic Facts". It is essential that all students are able to successfully calculate both mentally and with paper and pencil their basic facts. Count On strategies include Count On 1 (+1 facts), Count on 2 (+2 facts) and Count on 0 (+0 facts).  This week we will focus on Count On 0, count on 1 and turn around strategy.  If 12+1=13 then 1+12 is also 13.  We will apply this Count On strategies in problem solving.

SCIENCE
In science we will continue learning about properties of objects.  We will also make some observations and see what happens when objects are heated or cooled. We made some popsicle today and put them in freezer.  If all goes well, we will observe the changes in our popsicle  on Monday and taste our popsicles.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders, and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom. Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!

More than anything, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Library is on Tuesday.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Sept 29:  School Pictures

             Library Day

Oct 6:  Library Day

Oct 7:  International walk/bike to school day

Oct 12:  Columbus Day- No School

Oct 13:  Library Day

Oct 15:  Science Night

Oct 24:  Harvest Festival

Oct 27:  Library Day

Oct 28:  Early Release @ 12:45

           Skate Night

September 21-25, 2015

GROWTH MINDSET
We will continue to instill the attitude of "perseverance, embracing challenges, and giving our best effort", in our daily activities.  When something is a little more challenging, the children naturally say, "I can't do this".  We want the children to change their thinking and mindset: "I can't do this YET, but I will try and give my best effort, until I can".  Please help your child to change their mindset.  Use the same language at home when they feel defeated by modeling it yourself.

 Here is what we will be doing this week:

READING
This week, we will learn about fiction and elements of fiction.  We will learn about 

the setting; the place and time where the story takes place, the main characters; the important people or animals that do or say important things in the stories, and the plot which is a series of important events in the stories.  We will learn that just like the stories we write, fictions have also a beginning, middle and ending.  We will also discuss the author's purpose in writing fictions.

WRITING

We will continue working on our stories.  The children have done a great job illustrating and writing about some real events in their lives.  This week, they will practice planning their stories across their hand using the first finger to tell the beginning and the next finger to tell the next event.  This will allow children tell their stories with a beginning, middle, and ending.  We will continue to work on reading our stories to make sure they make sense and check for capitals, periods, and sight words.

MATH

This week in math we will review some of the concepts that we learned earlier this year in order to make sure the children have a strong foundation before moving on to count on addition.  We will work on reciting numbers forward and backward from 1-20, skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's and tell or record instantly the number of dots or other pictures that are in various structured arrangements.  We will practice counting on strategies.  Counting on will allow us to count and recognize numbers faster.  It also allows us to do addition faster. For example, we will start from 5 and count 2 more and we know that's seven, instead of counting from 1 and going up to 7.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We will continue learning about our state and national patriotic symbols.  Last week we learned about the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, and the United States Flag.  This week we will learn about our state's flag, Texas motto, and the Alamo.

SCIENCE
In science we will begin talking about matter and how matter can change.  We will focus on what changes happen when heat is added or taken away.  We will do a lot of experiments this week!

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders, and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom.  Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!
More than anything, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

          *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Library is on Tuesday.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Sept 23:  Early Release @ 12:45

Sept 29:  School Pictures

               Library Day

Oct 6:  Library Day

Oct 7:  International walk/bike to school day

Oct 12:  Columbus Day- No School

Oct 13:  Library Day

Oct 15:  Science Night

Oct 24:  Harvest Festival

Oct 27:  Library Day

Oct 28:  Early Release @ 12:45

             Skate Night

September 8-11, 2015

READING

We have started to learn about the procedures of reading workshop.   Reading brings joy to our lives and in order to become strong readers we need to practice every day. Whether we are using the classroom library or the school library, we have discussed how to choose a "good-fit" or "just right book".  These are the books that have only a few unknown words in each page and we can read with fluency and ease. As we teach comprehension and thinking skills, it is also important that we can understand the book we are reading. 

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S READING AT HOME?
Please make sure your child has access to a variety of "just right books" at all times. Public libraries offer a great selection of leveled readers as well as easy-to-read chapter books.
Make the reading time a special time where you and your child can sit together comfortably.  Pick a time in the day that you know your child is not too tired to read. Maybe your child likes to read after school, or before bedtime.  You know when it is the best time.  Sit beside your child, turn off the TV and have your child read to you.  If your child is stuck on a word, read the word to your child quickly so she/he won't lose the flow.  It is also important that you read to your child every night.  Children need to hear the fluent reading with expression from a parent.  Do a picture walk together before reading.  As you read, stop periodically and see if your child has understood the story so far.  Read together, laugh together and make this special time, as joyful as possible!

WRITING

In writing, we will learn about two skills: One is the importance of illustrations in our stories and how to make our illustrations match our words. We will look at many different picture books and discuss how illustrations can enhance a story. The other skill is to say the words slowly (stretch the words), listening for the sounds, and writing down all the corresponding letters. Your child will have independent writing time where he/she will be conferencing with me and working on what has been taught so far.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING AT HOME?
Provide a writing journal at home.  Your child can decorate the front cover however she or he likes to.  Have your child think of a memory, a place that they have been before, a time they could remember, an activity that they did.  Something true that they have experienced.  It could be just a short ride in the car to HEB, when you both saw a deer on the street!
Have your child draw a picture of that memory first, and then add words to write about it.  When writing, remind your child to start the sentences with capital letters, put one finger space between the words, and end their sentences with a period or exclamation mark. Show excitement, encourage and celebrate every attempt! Share their writing with family members and friends! Let them see that they are real writers!

MATH
We will work on grouping items such as cubes and beans in groups of 10. With any given number, we will discuss how many groups of 10 we can make and how many items are leftover (meaning they are less than ten and can't be grouped as 10). While working with groups of tens and ones (the leftovers), we will discuss the placement of digits in numbers and how each digit has a different value based on its place in a number. We will compare the teen numbers and apply our knowledge in problem solving activities.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING AT HOME?
Provide some counters such as beans, macaronis, pennies, buttons, or anything in that order for your child and have them count the items.  Your child will probably start counting by ones first.  Some children may count by 2's.  After that have your child record the number on a paper.  Let's say, your child counted 14 beans.  Ask your child, how many groups of 10 can you make with these beans? How many left overs do you have? let your child see that there is one group of 10 and 4 left over.  Ask: Is 14 greater than 13 or less? Show how you can take off one bean and now there are 13 beans.  So 13 is less than 14.  Practice with different numbers and counters and make this as fun as possible.

SCIENCE

This week, we will learn how we use our five senses to explore the world around us. We will also learn about some tools in science that could help us to extend and protect our senses such as hand lenses, goggles, stethoscopes, ear plugs, masks, and gloves.

SOCIAL STUDIES
In social studies we will learn about the leaders and authority figures in our community of school, city, state and country.  We will learn about the important jobs of our principal, mayor, governor and president.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom.  Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!  Most importantly, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

          *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Library will begin next Tuesday, September 15.  Please have your child bring their library books back that day.  We won’t have library again until September 29!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Sept 14:  Open House 6:30-7:00

Sept 23:  Early Release @ 12:45

Sept 29:  School Pictures

               Library Day

Oct 6:  Library Day

Oct 7:  International walk/bike to school day

Oct 12:  Columbus Day- No School

Oct 13:  Library Day

Oct 15:  Science Night

Oct 24:  Harvest Festival

Oct 27:  Library Day

Oct 28:  Early Release @ 12:45

             Skate Night