Notes for Parents:
- We will be celebrating the 100th day of school on Tuesday, February 2nd! To celebrate, we will be dressing like we are 100 years old. This is completely optional, but here are some ideas if your child is interested in dressing up.
- Please take a moment to read how we will do Valentine’s cards in first grade![embeddoc url=”https://emilykuiper.edublogs.org/files/2021/01/ValentineCards.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]
- Here is the supply sign up for our Valentine’s Day party! Please send in supplies by Wednesday, February 10th.
CELEBRATIONS:
Quote of the Week – This week’s quote went to LIAM for always learning from his mistakes and using them as opportunities to grow!
First Grade Family Time – This week, Mr. Waldie joined us for First Grade Family Time! He talked about the importance of SOARing at Georgetown.
Mystery Reader – Elliott’s mom surprised us as a mystery reader this week!
OUR LEARNING:
Writing – We began Unit 3, Writing Reviews this week! Our unit kicked off with the great cookie debate… the oreo vs. the chocolate chip cookie. Students used opinions, reasons, and examples to argue why the oreo or chocolate chip cookie was better, and of course, we had to taste test! Then we began reviewing our collections to find the “best in show.” To do this we put everything in a line, compared the same thing on each, and decided which was the best and why.
Word Study – We began Unit 4 which is all about being word builders. Using unifix cubes with word parts on them, we practiced “building” big words together!
Reading – This week we ended Unit 2, Reading to Learn About the World. It has been great to see the kids become so interested in non-fiction books and they are doing well picking out the non-fiction features. We started Unit 3, Readers be the Boss- Say I Can Do This! We are excited to continue to build our students’ confidence in reading and continue to let them take ownership of their learning.
Math – We continued working on tens and ones and learned a new strategy to solve addition problems. Students can make a 10 and then add the remaining number to find the total!
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, February 1
- Tuesday, February 2
- STEAM
- 100th Day Celebration
- Wednesday, February 3
- Thursday, February 4
- Friday, February 5
- Early Release
- Chinese New Year Celebration (wear red to school)
- Monday, February 8
Notes for Parents:
CELEBRATIONS:
Quote of the Week – This week’s quote went to EMILIE for always striving to learn more and be a kind friend!
First Grade Family Time – Here are our “award-winning” first graders from this week’s family time.
Mystery Reader – Ariya’s mom surprised us as a mystery reader this week!
OUR LEARNING:
Writing– This week we practiced writing our very own nonfiction book! We researched by looking at pictures in real books and used what we learned to add more details to our writing.
Word Study– We focused on snap words this week! We learned some new snap words, relearned some tricky snap words, and practiced building longer words with snap words inside of them.
Reading– We are coming to a close of our nonfiction reading unit. The kids have just loved it and tying it in with writing has been great. This week they found interesting facts to share with a partner, practiced reading with feeling, reading like a writer, and looked for keywords.
Math– This week we began unit 4 of math! We learned how to add groups of 10 together (60+10=70), write equations for teen numbers (10+5=15), and build numbers with ten sticks and circles.
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, January 25
- Tuesday, January 26
- ART
- Bring collection for Writer’s Workshop
- Wednesday, January 27
- Thursday, January 28
- Friday, January 29
Notes for Parents:
- Friday Journals were sent home on Thursday. Please take a few minutes to write back to your child this weekend. We will be reading these during our morning meeting throughout the week.
- The official end of Semester 1 was Friday, January 15th. I’ll be finalizing report cards and they will be sent home Friday, January 22. Unfortunately, we won’t meet together until March for Parent-Teacher Conferences. I will do my best to be as thorough as possible and give explanations. Please know that we will continue to use the 1, 2, 3 scoring (while 3* is on the report card as advanced, we do not use this score). 2’s are totally acceptable and mean your child is growing on their way to where s/he needs to be by the end of the year.
- The Annual PE Apparel sale is happening now until February 1. The store is online only. For more information go to the PE Blog. http://mvankoev.edublogs.org
- Please take a moment to read how we will do Valentine’s cards in first grade![embeddoc url=”https://emilykuiper.edublogs.org/files/2021/01/ValentineCards.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]
CELEBRATIONS:
Quote of the Week – This week’s quote went to MADI for always cheering others up.
Mystery Reader – Reagan’s mom surprised us as a mystery reader this week!
OUR LEARNING:
Writing– This week we practiced writing with details and helping readers pictures by using comparisons. We also practiced making lists in our nonfiction books and fixing up our books by pretending to be a reader.
Word Study– We practiced using ALL of the things we’ve learned about word to help us figure out big, long words! We also learned the importance of having a vowel in every syllable of a word, especially when we are writing words.
Reading– This week we tried to figure out what to do when we learned new words. We looked at clues around the word to see if we could find a way to figure out how to read the word and what it meant. We also worked on finding key words and making our voices sound smooth and fluent while we read.
Math– We took our Unit 3 test this week! Next week we will begin Unit 4 which will focus on place vale.
Social Emotional– We learned more about the parts of the brain (amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex) and how they control our emotions.
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, January 18
- Tuesday, January 19
- Wednesday, January 20
- Thursday, January 21
- Friday, January 22
Notes for Parents:
- Friday Journals were sent home again today. Please take a few minutes to write back to your child this weekend. We will be reading these during our morning meeting throughout the week.
- Please continue to read baggie books with your child EVERY night for 20 minutes.
CELEBRATIONS:
Quote of the Week – This week’s quote went to REAGAN for always saying “I’ll try.”
First Grade Family Time – Here are our “award-winning” first graders from this week’s family time.
OUR LEARNING:
Writing – We continued our unit on nonfiction writing and began writing another nonfiction book. We practiced teaching with pictures as well as words, spelling domain-specific words, and using readers to point out parts of our stories that don’t make sense.
Word Study – We continued examining common word endings to make sure we read all the parts of words. We practiced hunting for blends and chunks at the ends of words (such as ing, ink, est). When we know these word parts well, we can read and write bigger, multisyllabic words!
Reading– This week we continued to work on making good habits for when we read hard words. We practiced crashing small word parts we knew together to make the whole word, doing a slow check to check all the sounds, and checking if the words looked right, sounded right and made sense. We didn’t let hard words get in our way!
Math– We are wrapping up unit 3 which has been all about story problems! We took our last quiz and spent the remainder of the week reviewing for our test next week. This can be a tricky unit for our kiddos due to increased reading and figuring out what the numbers represent (partner or the total). We will continue to practice and build on these skills!
Social Emotional– This week we picked back up with Little Penguin- Emotions and the Brain. We are continuing to learn about self management of our own emotions. We learned about the parts of the brain (amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex) and how they control our emotions.
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, January 11
- Tuesday, January 12
- Wednesday, January 13
- Thursday, January 14
- Friday, January 15
- Early Release
- MUSIC
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration
