Here's what's happening this week in
academics
Spelling
Spelling words:
These words are sent home every Friday in your child's homework folder on the "Keep at Home" side. Please have them study these words daily for their test on the following Thursday.
There is a section called the "Fabulous Five" where students will be asked to spell words that are in the same word family as their spelling words. Students will be taught that if they know how "cat" is spelled, they will know how to spell "hat," "sat," "mat," and any other words that have the same ending sounds.
Each week there will be a list of six words for the spelling pattern and four high frequency words for the students to study each night. On Thursdays, there will be given a practice test. During the test, the students will also be given "Fabulous Five" words which are words that fit into the weekly spelling pattern. The goal is to have the students apply the weekly spelling pattern to words that rhyme with the assigned
words. If a student does not make a 100 on the practice test, they will be able to retake the spelling test on Fridays. The student's spelling test grade for the week will be an average of the two tests taken.
* The student needs to be careful about the writing of letters. Letters should be made properly. If there are any letter reversals on tests, the whole word will be counted as incorrect. Please remember to notice about capitalization. I will deduct a point for every capital letter placed in
the word incorrectly. This deduction will begin in January.
Practice Test: Thursday
Final Test: Friday
These words are sent home every Friday in your child's homework folder on the "Keep at Home" side. Please have them study these words daily for their test on the following Thursday.
There is a section called the "Fabulous Five" where students will be asked to spell words that are in the same word family as their spelling words. Students will be taught that if they know how "cat" is spelled, they will know how to spell "hat," "sat," "mat," and any other words that have the same ending sounds.
Each week there will be a list of six words for the spelling pattern and four high frequency words for the students to study each night. On Thursdays, there will be given a practice test. During the test, the students will also be given "Fabulous Five" words which are words that fit into the weekly spelling pattern. The goal is to have the students apply the weekly spelling pattern to words that rhyme with the assigned
words. If a student does not make a 100 on the practice test, they will be able to retake the spelling test on Fridays. The student's spelling test grade for the week will be an average of the two tests taken.
* The student needs to be careful about the writing of letters. Letters should be made properly. If there are any letter reversals on tests, the whole word will be counted as incorrect. Please remember to notice about capitalization. I will deduct a point for every capital letter placed in
the word incorrectly. This deduction will begin in January.
Practice Test: Thursday
Final Test: Friday
Reading
We are working in our centers daily and have been establishing a smoothly flowing rotation throughout our Reading block. The students have been put into their proper reading groups according to their needs and have been progressing well! We will continue to keep working hard on our reading skills and using our time wisely.
We are working in our center rotations- Centers, Seatwork and Guided Reading groups. The students will be working on their sight words. They will also working on practicing what Centers, Seatwork and Guided Reading groups look like and sound like. With guided reading, I will be teaching them the different decoding strategies which are:
* Look at the Picture
* Get your mouth ready
* Slide through the whole word
* Spell it out
* Reread
* Skip hard words then go back
* Try a different vowel
* Think of a rhyming word you know
* Chunk it
Students will also be practicing the different centers they will be visiting each week and their expectations which include:
* Buddy Reading Center
* Listening Center
* Word Work Center
* Library (Read to self)
* Writing Center
Seatwork consists of activities that reinforce the book we are working on at the carpet during our mini lesson.
We are working in our center rotations- Centers, Seatwork and Guided Reading groups. The students will be working on their sight words. They will also working on practicing what Centers, Seatwork and Guided Reading groups look like and sound like. With guided reading, I will be teaching them the different decoding strategies which are:
* Look at the Picture
* Get your mouth ready
* Slide through the whole word
* Spell it out
* Reread
* Skip hard words then go back
* Try a different vowel
* Think of a rhyming word you know
* Chunk it
Students will also be practicing the different centers they will be visiting each week and their expectations which include:
* Buddy Reading Center
* Listening Center
* Word Work Center
* Library (Read to self)
* Writing Center
Seatwork consists of activities that reinforce the book we are working on at the carpet during our mini lesson.
Math
**All First Grade classes are conducting "Minute Math". We will be testing on Tuesdays for their first try. They will be timed during the test to complete all math problems and get 100%. If they do not, they will be able to attempt on Wednesdays. They will be able to try again until they receive their 100% and move on to the next test. **
Every Friday we will be rotating in Math centers to review different standards already introduced in fun games and activities with partners so they will feel confident by the end of the year in all that's been introduced.
The students have been working on "Daily Data" which comprises of collecting data in different ways concerning the question of the week. Every day is another form of data collection they complete each morning:
Mondays- Write the question of the week and draw the magnets on the three options chart
Tuesdays- Complete the tally chart
Wednesdays- Write about it: "More kids..." "Less kids..."
Thursdays- Write an equation
Fridays- Graph the data
We are also working on a Calendar Journal, where we record the month, the days of the week, tally the date, write a number sentence, tell if the day of the month is odd or even, and write down the number of days we've been in school.
Once the students have had ample guided practice with their Calendar journals, they will be working on them independently and I will check their work instead of going over all the answers.
Every Friday we will be rotating in Math centers to review different standards already introduced in fun games and activities with partners so they will feel confident by the end of the year in all that's been introduced.
The students have been working on "Daily Data" which comprises of collecting data in different ways concerning the question of the week. Every day is another form of data collection they complete each morning:
Mondays- Write the question of the week and draw the magnets on the three options chart
Tuesdays- Complete the tally chart
Wednesdays- Write about it: "More kids..." "Less kids..."
Thursdays- Write an equation
Fridays- Graph the data
We are also working on a Calendar Journal, where we record the month, the days of the week, tally the date, write a number sentence, tell if the day of the month is odd or even, and write down the number of days we've been in school.
Once the students have had ample guided practice with their Calendar journals, they will be working on them independently and I will check their work instead of going over all the answers.
Writing/ Language Arts
Each quarter we focus on a different type of writing. The first nine weeks is narrative writing: creating a story with a beginning, middle, and end. The second and third nine weeks is informative writing; talking about how things are made (how-to writing piece). The fourth nine weeks is opinion writing; what their opinion is about a topic and reasons why they feel the way they do. We also like to integrate the Science and Social Studies topics within the Writer's Workshop to give time for discussion, read-alouds and writing based on the subject being focused on.
Science/ Social Studies
* The topics we discuss each month are as follows:
August: Classroom Community, Classroom procedures, Golden Rule
September: Our Community (Town, goods/services, jobs), Maps Apples
October: Fire Safety, Pumpkins
November: Nocturnal Animals, Thanksgiving (Native Americans and Pilgrims)
December: Book Studies: Gingerbread Man, Laura Numeroff author study, Polar Express
January: Polar Regions, Winter, Martin Luther King, Jr., Weather
February: Weather contd., President's Day, Dental Health, Space
March: Space contd., Habitats, Oviparous Animals
April: Frog Life Cycle, Insects, Plants
May: Ocean Animals, Summer Fun