Reading and Frobscottle!

It was an exciting day in 1st grade today! We chose a book on Monday that we thought a kindergartener would like to hear. All week we practiced this book - making sure we were reading like storytellers, using our reading finger, stopping to talk about the book, etc. Today students were paired up with a kindergartener to read their book to them. They did a fabulous job! Enjoy these pictures.

And of course the most exciting moment, out Book Club Lunch for The BFG! Students enjoyed eating their lunch in the classroom. They had a special treat of Frobscottle! (Easy to make at home - lemon-lime soda, strawberry or raspberry lemonade, a squirt of whip cream, and a few pop rocks on top.) It was a hit! We then joined in a circle and discussed the book with some questions. We were able to break into two groups to allow for more students to share their comments, with Mrs. VanBergen leading the 2nd group. I wish I could have recorded their comments! It was evident that they truly enjoyed this read aloud. My favorite question was "What did you like most about reading the BFG with your family?" The most common response was enjoying spending time with their family. Other answers included cuddling, seeing my mom or dad have to try to read the big words, helping my mom or dad to read the big words, and more. Thank you for joining in and giving your child this experience! There were a few students that did not finish the book yet. The ending was not given away today, and they are hoping to still have a chance to do so (the book is different (and better) than the movie anyway!). Please take a moment to complete the following survey to share your feedback to help us improve in the future: Family Read Aloud Survey. This is completely anonymous. Thank you for your time!

First Grade News

It has been a busy week in 1st grade! I enjoyed meeting with half of you this week, and look forward to meeting with the rest of you on Tuesday. 

Coming Up:
Monday, March 19: Dress like a book or movie character
Tuesday, March 20: Parent/Teacher Conferences (look for notes in folders today)
Wednesday, March 21: Book Fair Shopping
Monday, March 19: Finish The BFG at home
Thursday, March 22: The BFG Book Club Lunch 
Friday, March 23: Hudsonville Eagles or Bauer t-shirt 
Thursday, March 29: Read and Feed, pajama day - look for a list of food items we are in need of next week
Friday, March 30: No School, Spring Break Begins
Friday, April 13: Early Release Day, Wear your Bauer shirt

The BFG:
It has been fun to see students come in with such excitement after finishing The BFG. While Monday is the goal, our lunch will be on Thursday, so if you cannot swing Monday, please wrap up by Thursday. 
Students are responsible for their own lunch for our book club lunch on Thursday. Cold lunch may be easier if that is an option, however any students with hot lunch may go to get their lunch. 

Reading:
We have been busy in reading learning and reviewing strategies reader's use. (You have been excellent models of many of these with The BFG!) Some of these include: using our reading finger, matching our voice to punctuation, stopping at confusing parts, reading all the way through a word, and more. 

Writing:
We are nearing the end of our first independent small moment/narrative story. We wrote narrative stories in the fall. It is so exciting to revisit this genre this time of year - it really shows their growth as writers! I am really enjoying reading their stories. 

Math: 
We wrapped up unit 5 with our test this week, and we have moved into unit 6. We will be sorting, counting, recording and comparing data in this unit. 

Social Studies:
As I mentioned to those that had conferences on Wednesday, we will be starting our maps unit after spring break. Your child will be responsible for writing his/her address independently, including last name. Any advanced practice is encouraged.  

First Grade News

Wow - talk about a jam packed week! Monday Miss Ellie came to share stories with us, Tuesday author Aaron Zenz presented to us, on Wednesday Amy Dahlman from the Children's Advocacy Center was here, and it was Reading Night at Bauer, Thursday was our pizza party, and we made it to Friday! Phew! We definitely were busy building memories as we continued our journey through first grade this week.

We have a lot of important dates coming up with Reading Month. I will list those for the upcoming week as we go. Refer to the reading calendar if you want to see further out.

Coming Up:
Monday, March 5: Wear a shirt with words, bookmarks for bookmark contest due, email or bring in a picture of your family reading together
Friday, March 9: Early Release Day, Wear your Bauer shirt, Bring a flashlight to school to read with
Wednesday, March 14 and Tuesday, March 20: Parent/Teacher Conferences (look for notes in folders today)
Monday, March 19: Finish The BFG at home
Friday, March 30: No School, Spring Break Begins

Reading: 
We have circled back to learning what good readers do to read accurately, smoothly, and read for meaning. We have been working hard at making sure we use our reading fingers to slide our finger while reading, and making sure our eyes are on the words while we are reading. If you notice your child reading at home without sliding their reading finger, please remind them to do so!
We also had some fun reading Dr. Seuss books for Dr. Seuss's birthday.
How is The BFG going at home? I have loved hearing students share how much they are enjoying reading with you! Remember to pace your reading to be done by March 19.

Writing:
Thank you for sending in the small moments topics papers. Students have some great ideas! We started writing a class story about our visit from author Aaron Zenz this week. We will wrap the story up next week and start writing independently.

Math:
This week we have been exploring numbers on a 1-120 chart. We have looked for patterns, added numbers, and more. Feel free to practice equations on whiteboards with adding and subtracting multiples of 10. For example: 62+20=   19+20=   80-50=   60-20= 
Make sure one of the numbers has zero ones for addition, and both numbers have zero ones for subtraction.

Our door that we decorated for Reading Night. With the theme of "Rollout the Red Carpet" we were asked to select a book title that turned into a movie. It isn't a surprise that The BFG was a winning vote!

Mrs. Dahlman from the Children's Advocacy Center presented to our class. 

What joy having a pizza party brings!! Thank you, families! 

And thank you to parents that donated extras!