1st Grade Update

I hope you all had a chance to enjoy this beautiful weekend! We have been spoiled lately with gorgeous weekends. We have entered the last full week of April, as hard as that is to believe.
Below are a few notes and important reminders.

Coming Up: 

• Friday, April 28: Field Trip and Summer Reading Club Notes Due
• Friday, May 7: Neon Day
• Friday, May 12: Early Release Day
• Thursday, May 25: 1st grade field trip - Tsuesink's Pony Farm and Tunnel Park
• June 9: Last day of school

A Few Notes:

• Water Bottle Reminders: With warmer days ahead, I would like to give some reminders regarding water bottles. Staying hydrated is essential for learning, however we try to make water bottles as manageable as possible.
• No screw on tops. First graders struggle to get these back on correctly. Sport or straw tops that are spill proof only. 
• Only water. No gatorade, chocolate milk, etc. Water is what keeps our brains ready to learn! And if a spill does occur, it does not leave things sticky.
• Label water bottle with child's name. We will be storing water bottle on drying mats on the counter starting next week. This will help with condensation getting on papers. It will be important to have your child's water bottle labeled with his/her name.

• Shorts and Shoes: Though spring is here, our classroom is still quite cool. Layers are a great idea this time of year. Several students really want to wear shorts and short sleeves daily, however they end up pulling their t-shirt over their legs to stay warm. Layers allow options. A reminder to check your child's behavior calendar if you need a reminder of what days are PE days to be sure your child has the proper shoes. 

• Field Trip and Summer Reading Club Notes: Your child should have brought home two yellow notes in his/her folder on Friday. The first was regarding our field trip on May 25. The second was regarding the Summer Reading Club program Mrs. Farrell and I will be offering this summer. If you do not receive either note, please let me know. Both forms are due by Friday, April 28. Thank you!

• Reading and Writing: We have begun our animal research project. Students are busy reading about their animal, taking notes, and writing a nonfiction book with chapters. I am truly amazed by what writers they have become! It is so fun to watch them with this new genre. It is truly exciting!

• Math: We took our test on Friday, and are moving onto a new unit this week. Our new unit will first focus on telling time, then will move onto measurement, geometry and equal shares (fractions). We will be telling time to the half hour. Feel free to start pointing out clocks your child may have around him/her, and start to practice with telling time. 

• Science: We continue to explore weather and will be weather observers this coming week. 

1st Grade News

With only 8 weeks of school left, there will be a lot we are packing into the weeks ahead to be ready for 2nd grade!

Coming up: 

• Friday, May 7: Neon Day
• Friday, May 12: Early Release Day
• Thursday, May 25: 1st grade field trip (more details coming this Friday - be sure to check your child's folder!)
• June 9: Last day of school

Reading:
We started a new reading unit this week. We are are becoming researchers where we are diving into both fiction and non-fiction books about a single topic. We spent some time this week sorting and organizing our classroom library. We found books specific to animals, and by the end of the week, we all selected an animal to read and learn more about. Ask your child what animal he/she is studying. You may encourage checking out books from the library about their animal, or helping them search online for more information. We will be crossing over from reading about their animal to writing about them in the coming weeks.

Writing: 
We wrapped up our narrative unit, or small moment stories, this week. Students selected one final topic (spring break gave us many ideas!), and spent the week producing their best work. It is so exciting to see the growth students have made in writing!

Math: 
We are continuing to work through unit 6 in math, Comparisons and Data. We are working through comparison story problems currently (identifying more and fewer, etc.).

Science:
Spring is definitely a great time of year to study the weather, and students are always exciting to engage in conversations on the topic! We began our weather unit last Monday and have learned about temperature and clouds. We will focus on precipitation this week and being weather watchers.