1st Grade Update

We have enjoyed the amazing weather we have had this week. It is hard to believe we had a snow day 2 years ago today! If it does snow tomorrow, stop and take a moment to truly look at the joy in your child's face when he/she sees the first snowflake. The first time of the season that it snows it seems that kids are usually at school. I am not a fan of snow by any means, but I always love the first snow at school! It is truly a magical moment to watch your child experience!

Coming up: 

• Box Tops - Please continue to send your box tops in each day! 
• November 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break
• November 29 - Christmas Program - 6:45pm arrival
• December 2 - Early Release Day
• December 20 - Christmas Party - 9am
• December 21 - Last Day of School Before Break
• December 22 - January 2 - Winter Break

Reading: We began a new unit in reading focusing on characters. As your child is reading at home, if it is a book with characters in it, have your child explain what they notice about the character(s) in the book. We finished James and the Giant Peach and began our next book, Charlotte's Web. 

Writing: We moved into our new writing unit - opinion writing. We will be working in this unit to write letters to others thinking of a problems, stating reasons for the problems, and a solution. See the game below that you can play to help with stating reasons. 

Math: We have been busy working our way through story problems. This week we moved from unknown partner story problems into subtraction. Today we started solving mixed addition and subtraction problems. Have your child practice writing and solving some story problems on their whiteboard at home!

Game - What do you prefer?:Students learned a little "game" this week that you can easily use at dinner, while driving in the car, etc. to practice giving an opinion and reasons. 

You will ask your child, "What do you prefer - ____ or _____?" (For example, summer or winter).

Your child then answers, "I prefer ____ because _____." 

Your entire family will be able to join into this game. As your child becomes more skilled in answering, have them supply two or three reasons instead of just one. Your child could also write their answer out on their white boards. 

There will not be a newsletter next week with our short week. I would like to take a moment to share my thanks and gratitude to all of you for being such incredible families to work with. I appreciate your partnership and dedication to your child's success!

I also would like to give an extra thank you to the many volunteers that have been instrumental in our classroom. Between math workshop volunteers, computer lab, reading fluency practice, copies, sorting and filing, and so much more, I could not imagine this year without every one of you! Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving!