Here is the line up for next week...

 

American Symbols - Statue of Liberty, Bald Eagle, Liberty Bell, and Flag

Word Family -
New: -est Review: -in

Math - Ten Frames, Part Part Whole Mats, Finger Patterns, Dice and Domino Patterns

Welcome Back

I was so happy to see my kiddos faces this morning. They were very TIRED! Here are some updates of what is happening in the swamp.

120's Club - Many of my students are now official members of the 120's club. Yay! If your student has not been tested, and they are ready, please send a note and I will test them ASAP. Make sure they can write all the way to 120, and correctly form all of the numbers.

Homework - I do not send home homework each night, but I am expecting them to be reading every night for 20 minutes. Do not forget that your child needs to be on a level 14 by the end of the year. You can do this on Raz Kids, or an actual book. The choice is yours. Huge growth can be made in reading if it is practiced and reinforced not only at school, but at home as well. Thanks for all you do to support me in your students learning.

Money - We have started money lessons today! This is a very fun, but very challenging topic for first graders. I want to encourage you to let your child use REAL money this week. I know most of us use plastic to pay for everything. Our kids can learn so much from a hands on experience.

ABC YA has some fun coin games your child can play.

http://www.abcya.com/learning_coins.htm

Our Spelling word family this week is -ip as in ship.
Our review word family is -ell as in well.

 

What is going on in first grade?

We have had a busy week! Thanks to all of you who came to Open House. It was great to see you. The kids just loved showing off all of the work we have been doing. I learn more and more about your kids everyday, and it was great to talk with you about them, and the work they are doing. I am so proud of all of them!

Next week we are starting some new topics. In Math we will be learning place value. It is a hard topic in first grade, so talk with your kids, and ask them what they have learned. See if they can explain it to you.

In Social Studies we will be learning about community helpers and the roles they play in our lives.

Reading this week will be all about predictions. When reading with your kiddos ask them to predict what might happen next. It is so fun to hear thier answers!

Our Spelling word family is -and as in land

Have a great day.

Math Stations

We have four math stations.
Teacher Group
Partner Games
Individual table top math
Technology

Here are some pictures of the fun we have been having!

Western Wear on Thursday

Howdy,

Students can wear western wear on Thursday for Fair Day!

 

The class with the most participation gets a jeans pass good FOR THE FULL WEEK OF FAIR WEEK  for their teacher.  WINK WINK :)

Why can't I skip my twenty minutes of reading tonight?

"Why Can't I Skip My Twenty Minutes of Reading Tonight?" Let's figure it out -- mathematically!

• Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week.
• Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.
Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 min./week.
Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes.Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.
Student A reads 400 minutes a month.
Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year.
Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.
Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.
Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year.
Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain these same
reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school
days Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.
One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened
considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think
Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder:

• Which student would you expect to read better?
• Which student would you expect to know more?
• Which student would you expect to write better?
• Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?
• Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life?

This information comes from here: http://www.teachingandlearningtogether.com/book-bags.html

We use our whole brain!

Dear Parents,
As the year progresses, you may notice that our classroom doesn’t run like other classrooms. We will be learning through Whole Brain Teaching, a research based system that utilizes all areas of the brain, keeps children engaged throughout their lessons, and helps them retain much more information than the standard lecture-discussion model.
Whole Brain Teaching is a highly interactive form of instruction that delivers information to students in short “chunks.” Kids then teach what they have just learned to their partners, using hand-gestures to help remember specific vocabulary. While students teach each other, the teacher walks around the room to discover who understands the lesson and who needs more instruction.
Research shows that children retain more information when they have an opportunity to put it into their own words and use gestures to emphasize key instructional units …plus, it’s amazingly fun! For more information about Whole Brain Teaching please go to www.WholeBrainTeaching.com.
Thanks!