7-13 March 2011
Welcome Back! Assignment: Bring a rock (big, medium-sized, or little, but interesting) to school this week.
We've begun our Read Across America goal and the reading logs for this special event were sent home on Tuesday in their blue homework folder. If you haven't already, please place and KEEP them in their READING BAG. I will be totalling all of their individual minutes with a class grand total, to see if we met our reading goal as a class each week! We had a total of 36 Reading Counts added to our class total which is 200 points! These additional points will be added to the students cumulative total who earned them, and, in turn, added to the class total as well. I'm very pleased that the students have made the transition to the Guided Reading library with ease. Once again, they are selecting their own books and seem to approach the tasks with confidence.
Our Reading Street Story Selection this week is:
Mr. Bones: Dinosaur Hunter. This story is certain to add interest to our science-based learning for the week. The Language Arts skills addressed this week are:
Genre: Biography The life of a famous person is retold-
Comprehension Skill: Author's Purpose
Comprehension Strategy: Monitor/Fix-Up while reading new text
Study Skill: Bar Graph
Spelling/Phonics: Long O, spelled -oa & -ow/3 letter blends: scr, shr, spl, spr, str, & thr
Language/Vocabulary: synonyms (2 different words that have similar meanings
Grammar: Adjectives for sizes
Writing: Reasons
We'll also be working on Writer's Workshop to complete the Unit 3 Benchmark writing assignment: Writing a Descriptive Paragraph about nature. Yes, 1st graders are expected to write a minimum of 3-5 sentences about a topic. You may want to discuss this with your child and 'get them thinking' about a nature-themed topic.
We've just finished our 2nd round of Math Lab with Ms. Breault. The students took their post test on the following topics covered during the last 3 weeks: Measurement (linear), Time (hour and 1/2 hour), Fractions,
Data and Addition and Subtraction. We've also begun our timed addition and subtraction fact drills. Their working hard and this should help them practice their strategies of counting up, counting back, locating the greater number and counting up to add and find the sum, and counting back to find the difference. The use of IXL and the number folders that we work on in class have a direct relationsihp to improvement on these skills. Please allow your child to participate on-line with IXL. Thank you.
I haven't been able to let the castles go home yet. They are absolutely amazing and your work and effort on the family/home project. Our next project will be easier and you'll be seeing it very soon. We hope to have these back and on display before spring break.
Thank you for all your continued support. Please send in your permission slip and Euro for the next Study Trip to the Aviano Market and Casa Bianca for lunch. These are due NO LATER THAN this Friday the 11th of March. Thank you!
Mrs. P
