March 20-24, 2017

I hope everyone had a restful and fun Spring Break! This week will be very exciting in First grade! Our eggs will arrive on Wednesday and our incubators will be hard at work for 21 days! This is such a wonderful experience for our students...and Ms. Smith LOVES it too!  I will send pictures when the babies finally begin to hatch!

Reminders:

Monday (3/20):  Self Selected reading @ home

Tuesday (3/21): Reading Homework will come home.  It is due on Friday.

                        Library Check-out.                          

      Tuesday folders will come home. 

Wednesday (3/22): Skate Night 6-8pm

Thursday (3/23): Field Trip to the Zach Scott Theatre. Please send a lunch from home.

Friday (3/24): Parent Community Coffee 7:45am

Looking Ahead...

Next week our campus will be closed on Tuesday, March 28th and Wednesday, March 29th.  We will not have volunteers or lunch guests on these days. 

April 1st - Family Dinner Night

This week in Reading and Writing Workshop...

We will be starting our learning about chickens.  We will be using our workshop time to research and investigate chickens and their habitats.   As part of a Project Based Learning Unit we will design chicken houses. We will need to know a lot about chickens so we know how to design the best house for them.  We will be reading, writing and recording our thoughts as we work through this project.

This week in Math...

We will be learning about the relationship between addition and subtraction.  We will learn that fact families can help us learn our math facts and make solving problems easier.  We will practice solving problems using objects and pictorial models to make our learning more concrete.  

This week in Science...

We will continue our study of animals as we move on to Birds.  We will learn about how different types of birds depend on their environment.  We will learn about how bird's bodies adapt their needs. We will study their habitat and life cycle.  

Have a great week!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

March 22:  Eggs Arrive!

                Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 6:00 pm

March 23:  Field Trip to ZACH Scott Theater

March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

April 1:  Family Dinner Night

April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm

April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm

April 12:  Hatch Day!

April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School

April 22:  Earth Day Clean up

April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm

May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

May 15-19:  Book Fair

May 18:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30

May 19:   Field Day

May 26:  Career Fair

May 29:  Memorial Day- No School

June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party

March 6-10, 2017

I can't believe that it is almost Spring Break!  Wow, this year is flying by!  We have so much coming up this Spring semester. 

Field Trip permission slips will go home in the Tuesday folder this week.  There will be a fee of $4/student to help pay for the transportation to the theater.  I am sending an envelope with the permission slip.  If you could send the permission slip and the $4 back in the envelope by March 20, I would greatly appreciate it!

Reminders: This week is Education Go Get It Week (EGGI)
Monday (3/6):  Self-selected Reading for 15 minutes
Tuesday (3/7):   Reading Homework will come home.  It will be due on Friday.  I will email the TIC TAC TOE menu for optional Homework.

                   Tuesday folders will come home.                          

              Spirit Night from 5:00pm-8:00pm
Wednesday (3/8): Kinder Round Up in the Library- No library for us!
Thursday (3/9):
Friday (3/10): Shamrock 'N Roll 10:30am-11:20am.
                     Spring Break is March 13-17.  Enjoy your week!

In Reading Workshop...
We will be finishing up our study of Poetry.  Our objective is to read a wide variety of poetry and be able to think about the purpose of a poem. 

In Writer's Workshop...
We will be finishing up our study of Poetry as we write poems with a purpose.  We will write a poem with sensory language such as "A Rose smells as sweet as a chocolate."  We will study forms of poems like shape poems and color poems.  We will also create a book with our poetry so we can treasure it forever.

In Math...
We will be studying 3 dimensional shapes.  We will look for 2D shapes that make up 3D shapes.  We will discuss how many faces and vertices shapes with 3 dimensions have.  We will manipulate shapes and record things we learn about them.

In Science...
We will begin our study of Animals.  We will study fish first.  We will examine their body parts and discuss the functions.  We will learn about the fish life cycle.  We will also learn about the habitats that fish live in.  Can you keep a secret?? When we return from Spring Break we will begin studying birds and our eggs will arrive.  In First grade we hatch chicks.  Our eggs go in the incubators on the 22nd.  Our babies are due to arrive 21 days later! This is a very exciting time in First grade!

Have a great week!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

March 10:  ShamRock ‘n Roll

March 13-17:  Spring Break

March 22:  Eggs Arrive!

                Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 6:00 pm

March 23:  Field Trip to ZACH Scott Theater

March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

April 1:  Family Dinner Night

April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm

April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm

April 12:  Hatch Day!

April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School

April 22:  Earth Day Clean up

April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm

May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

May 15-19:  Book Fair

May 18:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30

May 19:   Field Day

May 26:  Career Fair

May 29:  Memorial Day- No School

June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party

February 27-March 3, 2017

Engineering Day was a wonderful learning opportunity! We listened to professionals describe what they do as engineers and we tried a few activities! In our classroom we made flower pots from newspapers. This helps save plastic from going into landfills and the newspaper is biodegradable so new plants can go straight into the ground with the little pots!  Engineers help find solutions to all kinds of problems.  

Next week we will celebrate Read Across America day! We will have fun reading activities all week to celebrate reading.  Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd.  As part of our week we will learn about this amazing author and read some of his stories! We look forward to celebrating reading with fun activities!  We will have a Read-a-Thon on Friday, March 3rd.  Please allow your child to bring 3-5 books from home for this event.  Please make sure their name is written inside the book.

Reminders:

Monday (2/27): Six Flags forms are Due no later than 3pm!

                          Reading Homework.  Due Friday

Tuesday (2/28): Tuesday folders.  Please return Wednesday.

Wednesday (3/1): Library Checkout. 

Thursday (3/2): Dr. Seuss' Birthday

Friday (3/3):

Looking ahead:

Thursday, March 2, Ms. Smith will be out for the day as the 1^st Grade teachers plan for the rest of the year.

Spring Break - March 13-17

This week in Reading Workshop...

We will be diving deeper into Poetry.  We will read and analyze different types of poetry and begin to discuss the meaning of specific poems.  We will explore poems and notice how poems make us feel.  

This week in Writer's Workshop...

We will be composing poetry utilizing strategies poets use such as

-finding a big topic that gives them big, strong feelings

-finding a small object or moment or detail that holds the big feeling

-looking with poet's eyes at the world around us

-writing about our feelings and how we see ordinary things in new, fresh ways

-finding ingredients for poems

-Showing, not telling

This week in Math...

We will wrapping up our unit on Making 10 and equality.  We will practice problem solving this week as we pay close attention to the questions being asked.  We will review all of the strategies we have learned for addition to find the ones that work the best for us as individuals.

This week in Social Studies...

We will begin our unit on Economics.  We will discuss the importance of saving and spending.  This will help us learn to be smart with our money.

Have a great weekend!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

March 13-17:  Spring Break

March 22:  Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 6:00 pm

March 23:  Field Trip to ZACH Scott Theater

March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

April 1:  Family Dinner Night

April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm

April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm

April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School

April 20:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30

April 22:  Earth Day Clean up

April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm

May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

May 19:   Field Day

May 26:  Career Fair

May 29:  Memorial Day- No School

June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party

February 20-24, 2017

Our Valentine's Day Party was a huge success! Thank you to our homeroom parents, for working so hard to make it perfect! We loved having time to celebrate our friendships!

Our school was disinfected over the three day weekend.  We've had another round of the Stomach Flu going around so we have been taking extra time to disinfect our classroom and materials as well as washing our hands frequently.  If your child is sick please make sure they are symptom and fever free for 24 hours before returning to school.  This will help everyone stay healthy.

Reminders: This week we will celebrate The Hour of Code

Monday (2/20): President's Day Holiday

Tuesday (2/21): Tuesday folders come home.  Please return them on Wednesday.

Wednesday (2/22): Library Lesson Day (students do not have to return books)

Thursday (2/23):

Friday (2/24): Engineering Day

A note about Engineering Day...

On Friday, February 24th Caraway will hold its 2^nd annual Engineering Day! 

We want to give the students a broad a view of engineering possibilities, so we have invited engineers from many different disciplines. We will learn about engineering, how people create solutions to everyday problems, how people merge art and technology to create wonderful new things or how people work with teams to change the landscape of our world!

Engineering Day will run for the first half of the day February 24th and be organized into three 45-minute rotations. 

-Rotation 1: 8:15am-9:00am

-Rotation 2: 9:00am-9:45am

-Rotation 3: 9:45am-10:30am

This week in Reading Workshop...

We will begin our unit on Poetry.  We will read many different types of poetry and think about why readers want to read poetry.  We will learn about the forms of poetry and how the reader understands what the author is trying to say to their reader.

This week in Writer's Workshop...

We will also begin our unit on Poetry.  We will think about how poets see things with fresh, new eyes.  We will think about how poets form their writing with line breaks so their reader can experience their poem.  We will also think about poems are big ideas in tiny packages.  We will be creating a collection of poems during this unit.  

This week in Math...

We will continue our unit on the Make 10 strategy.  We will extend our strategy and incorporate all of the strategies we have learning into our problem solving.  Please review the work that will come home in the Tuesday folder so you can help your student with this strategy.

This week in Science...

We will be explore Force and Motion during our Patterns of Movement Unit.  We will explore movement with small objects such as a ball and record what we learn about motion. We will also visit the Innovation Lab and work with the robots to investigate motion.

Have a great week!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Feb. 24:  Engineering Day

March 13-17:  Spring Break

March 22:  Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 6:00 pm

March 23:  Field Trip to ZACH Scott Theater

March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

April 1:  Family Dinner Night

April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm

April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm

April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School

April 20:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30

April 22:  Earth Day Clean up

April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm

May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

May 19:   Field Day

May 26:  Career Fair

May 29:  Memorial Day- No School

June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party

February 6-10, 2017

We just can't believe it is already February.  We started discussing expectations as we are growing into second graders a little every day.  We think about being responsible so we are prepared for next year. 

Today was a very exciting day! It is our 101st day of school! In First grade we celebrate on the 101st day of school with activities during our day. 

We also have our PE Program in the evening.  The kiddos need to be here by 5:45, and we will meet in the cafeteria.  This is such a fun event to watch! They have worked so hard to prepare! Please make sure your kiddo is wearing comfortable clothes and tennis shoes.  Wear comfortable clothes so you can move too!

Valentine’s Day is next Tuesday!  Woohoo!  We will be partying from 1:40-2:40 on this day.  I will send an email with the class list (just in case someone needs it again).  Please have your child make a Valentine for each student in the class, and let’s not forget Mrs. Letendre!

Homework this Week

There will not be any reading or math homework this week.  Please have your child decorate a Valentine’s Day bag (or box).  This is due next Monday, Feb. 13^th.

Reminders:

Monday (2/6): Reading Homework will come home- Time for Kids

Tuesday (2/7): Tuesday folders will come home.                          

       PE Program in the evening

Wednesday (2/8): Library (No check out)

         Skate Night

Looking Forward: 

2/14 Valentine’s Day Party 1:40-2:40

2/20 President’s Day- No School for Students

2/24 Engineering Day

This week in Reading and Writing Workshop…

we will be working on our Class Research Project.  We chose Animal Habitats as our topic then we all voted on animals we wanted to learn about in each habitat.  After that we generated some questions we had about those animals.  We found sources such as books, search engines like Explora and websites like Epic and PebbleGo to help us find the answers to our questions.  We will continue this as we wrap up our research and begin our presentation product this week.

This week in Math…

we will revisit the idea of equality and begin learning a new strategy, Making 10. Students have worked with the Count On Addition Strategy and the Use Doubles Addition Strategy. Another addition strategy, Make Ten, includes sums of addends that are close to 10 already - facts where 7, 8, or 9 are one of the addends. For example, 8 + 6 is the same as 8 + (2 + 4) is the same as (8 + 2) + 4 is the same as 10 + 4 which is 14. We will continue solving word problems and applying our learning to everyday situations.

This week in Social Studies…

we will begin our unit on Interdependence in our Community. We will begin by discussing what people in our community need to live. Then we will discuss our wants. These discussions will lead into how people in our community provide services for each other.

Have a great week!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Feb. 7:  1^st Grade PE Program @ 5:45

Feb. 8:  Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm

Feb. 14:  Valentine’s Day party @ 1:40

Feb. 17:  Jump Rope for Heart

Feb. 24:  Engineering Day

March 13-17:  Spring Break

March 22:  Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 6:00 pm

March 23:  Field Trip to ZACH Scott Theater

March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

April 1:  Family Dinner Night

April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm

April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm

April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School

April 20:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30

April 22:  Earth Day Clean up

April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm

May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

May 19:   Field Day

May 26:  Career Fair

May 29:  Memorial Day- No School

June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party

January 30-February 3, 2017

We had a great week last week! We enjoyed beautiful weather at the beginning of the week and a nice cool down at the end!

Reminders:

Monday (1/30):  Reading Homework will come home

Tuesday (1/31): Tuesday folders will come home. 

Wednesday (2/1): Library Check-out

Thursday (2/2):  Counseling Lesson with Ms. Amiri

Friday (2/3): Reading Homework is DUE

This week in Reading and Writing Workshop...

We are learning that a Researchers job involves reading information from sources and recording new things we learn.  So our Reading and Writing Workshops will flow together for the next two weeks.  We will be investigating a topic as a class.  We will find sources to read from such as books, PebbleGo, Explora, Epic and many more.  We will jot down things we are learning so we can teach someone about our topic.  Last week our class choose to investigate Animal Habitats. 

*Just a note...

We will begin our mid-year Reading Assessments this week.  Reading Homework will be a bit different during this time because I will not be meeting with the students as groups.  I will include more information next week!

This week in Math...

We will be reviewing place value, comparing numbers with words and symbols and finding patterns in numbers.  We will also be completing some quick assessments during the week before we wrap up this unit.

This week in Science...

We will be learning about Weather.  We will record the weather daily.  We will learn all about why we have different types of weather and how wind changes our weather.

Have a great week!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Feb. 7:  1^st Grade PE Program @ 5:45

Feb. 8:  Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm

Feb. 14:  Valentine’s Day party

Feb. 17:  Jump Rope for Heart

Feb. 24:  Engineering Day

March 13-17:  Spring Break

March 22:  Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 6:00 pm

March 23:  Field Trip to ZACH Scott Theater

March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

April 1:  Family Dinner Night

April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm

April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm

April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School

April 20:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30

April 22:  Earth Day Clean up

April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm

May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus

May 19:   Field Day

May 26:  Career Fair

May 29:  Memorial Day- No School

June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party