Five for Friday!

We had another great week in first grade. To give you a peak, here's a look at five things that have been going on in our classroom and some events that are coming up too. 

 Monday was an exciting day for everyone! Students met our student teacher, Anna Turnmire, for the first time. Miss Turnmire will be with us for the next ten weeks. She will then complete the remainder of her student teaching semester in Costa Rica! If you didn't catch her welcome letter in your child's folder, you can read it below.

Our timed math tests have been a success! Students are doing a great job practicing their facts and testing the next day. If your child is not ready to be tested or you notice the same test come home again, please take another night to prepare. At this point, most students are on or near level 5.

Here's a peek at some levels that are coming up. You can see how the quizzes bounce back and forth between addition and subtraction. On the last level, #26, students are asked to recall both addition and subtraction problems. Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

This week we read the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. 

After reading, we dug deep into learning new comprehension strategies. These included:

*Identifying story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution)

*Sequencing the story (first, next, then, after that, finally)

*Retelling the story (beginning, middle, end)

These strategies are great to use when reading any book. To ensure your child is comprehending their AR books, feel free to ask about the story using these strategies.

Next week we will begin our penguin unit. We will spend the first half of the unit reading Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester. Again, we will use our comprehension strategies (and some new ones too) to help us understand what we have read. After we're finished with our fictional text, we will move on to the nonfiction portion of the unit. I look forward to sharing pictures in the next few weeks!

Yesterday we had our class spelling bee. All students participated for fun and did a great job. After calling many challenging words, the top 3 spellers from our class were Allie, John & Leah. 

The school spelling bee was held today. All class winners were asked to attend. Even though no one from our class made it into the top 10, I am very proud of these three students for giving the spelling bee a shot. All students will be asked to participate next year in the second grade. 

Last week I sent home some classroom reminders and important dates. Here are a list of those dates below:

*Monday, January 19- No School (MLK Holiday)

*Our next book fair will be during the week of February 2nd

*Friday, February 20- No School (Mandatory Teacher Workday)

I hope everyone has a great LONG weekend!