Well as you may have heard, your children have been busy learning the difference between spiders (arachnids) and insects and "Going Batty" studying the life of a bat. Both spiders and bats have thousands of different species and are fascinating. The children have learned lots of new vocabulary and would love to share it with you. Bat packets will come home this week. Thank you for all who volunteereed supplies and/or to help for our Halloween Celebration on Monday, October 31. The children are looking forward to it. The events will take place in the afternoon so the kiddos will be excited to bring home their creations. The next big event will be our First Grade Thanksgiving feast planned for mid November before conferences.
Speaking of conferences and report cards, I hope everyone has or will take advantage of any and all opportunities to hear information on the new report card and the new online system. It is very important that you understand the new reporting system and the language of the learning standards. The grades will sound like this: E means exceeding the standard, M means meeting the standard, P is progressing toward the standard and a B beginning the standard. (All standards will be addressed and will acompany the report card.)
Your children have been working very hard in all areas of the curriculum. In writing, they are practicing the writing of a complete thought using a capital at the beginning of a sentence and a period at the end. They also have learned that I should be capitalized at all times and days of the week and names should be capitalized as well. Lots of information for little ones to remember but they are progressing toward the learning standard. In Fundations, this week they will be learning the first of a set of glued sounds. "ALL" as in ball is a glued or welded sound. Refer to the First Grade Wiki for more information.
In Math we are finishing up with unit 2 and will be assessing by the end of the week. Your child should be practicing coin values and counting change using pennies and nickels. Also have them practice counts by 2s, 5s, and 10s as it will help when counting coins, telling time and grid counting as a learning goal. Again check the weebly for more activities.
All reading classes have built stamina Reading to Self and how to ask good questions when Reading To Someone. Next, your child will learn Work Work and what it looks like in their reading classroom. READ TO SELF, READ TO SOMEONE, WORD WORK and LISTENING TO READING are part of The Daily5 Cafe for reading and strategy building.
Don't forget its spirit week. Tomorrow is favorite hat day. Have a great week!
