Week of December 15-19

Dear parents, 

I just can't believe that we are approaching the end of 2014! This year went by so fast and we are almost half way through another school year.  

This morning we celebrated at our Holiday party with pancakes, games, hot chocolate, and crafts.

Thank you to all the parents who sent in food and items to help us celebrate.  Thank you to the parents who came in to make pancakes, hot chocolate and to do our crafts. Enjoy the photos below!

This week we have been learning how to visualize when we read and the book doesn't have pictures.  Visualization is a comprehension strategy for readers, we practiced this week with several poems and the story One Snowy Night.  We called it "making a movie" in your head.  We discussed visualizing during the book Charlotte's Web and how one person may picture the story differently than another person. 

We worked this week to begin publishing a small moment from our last unit of writing.  When we return we will begin writing How To's. The student's writing has become so much more clear in the last unit Writng for Readers.  

In January, I will be assessing students one on one for reading, this will take a few weeks but it will show me how much students have grown as readers.

In math, we are well into Unit 4. We have learned about the standard foot and inch, we will continue  learning about measurement in January.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! 

Mrs. Scheck

Week of December 8-12

Hello parents,

This week in First Grade we are beginning to wrap up the retelling unit we have focused on for Reading Comprehension.  Today we will read Little Nino's Pizzeria by Karen Barbour.  We will pracitice retelling the story with pictures.  Later this week we will begin a new unit on visualizing. Students will use inferencing and scheme to make a movie in their head of what is happening in the story. We will read the book Do You See What I Saw by Kay Winters.

Our popcorn words this week are: so, said, was, want, to, doing. Our phonics lessons this week will be about high frequency words.  We will play follow the path, a game to practice high frequency words.

 

In writing today we will work on revising with a partner. I will show students how to read their story over carefully with a pen and fix small mistakes,  we will continue to focus on writing for readers and making our writing readable.

In math, today is the Unit 3 math test. I will give the test in small groups.  We will begin Unit 4 this week.  The unit focues on measurement both standard and nonstandard, we will measure things with our feet and compare it to a regular one foot ruler. We will begin the unit looking at the thermometer and how to measure temperature.  The unit 4 Family Letter is coming home tonight.

In science, we have been working with liquids in the last few lessons, we observed liquid levels in different containers.   We will do a sinking and floating experiment this week. We have discussed the following vocabulary with liquids: viscous, transparent, translucent, foamy, bubbly, and colorless.The last part of the unit is solids and liquids together. We will begin the last part next week.

The family trees that were completed at home will continued to be shared this week. A few trees will be shared tomorrow and then I will hang the trees in the hallway.

We have a new student starting on Wednesday, welcome to Hailen Perin!

Thank you, 

Mrs. Scheck

Week of December 1-5

Hello parents,

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and maybe started to prepare for the next holiday that will be here before we know it!

This week in first grade we are continuing to work on retellings. I'll be showing the students how to retell with a "Shape Go Map."  The map uses three symbols to show the parts of a story.  First we will practice whole group and later this week the students will do a retelling independently.  The story we will practice on is called Hooray for Wodney Wat.  We will be reading it tomorrow and Thursday.

The new popcorn words came home today. The words are: make, my, there, they, this and will.  We have discussed how the word they is written with the and a y- not with an a.  This is a funny word that you can't "sound out."

In writing we are working on making our small moments writing readable.  We discussed today what makes a story a small moment. We remembered the parts of a small moment such as; the characters move and talk, there is a setting and a close in ending. A small moment is told in itsy-bitsy steps.

We remembered how to make our writing readable.  Writers do this by using spaces, neat handwriting and by spelling the word wall or popcorn words correctly because they are available to look at as we write.

This week we will begin looking at the properties of liquids in Science,  we will observe several liquids in their containers.  We will learn the words viscous, translucent and transparent.

In math we will be continuing to work on addition and subtraction.  We will do domino addition.  We will also work on story problems solving with groups of numbers.  A unit review test will be given early next week.

Please remember the family trees are due on Thursday, December 4.  We will begin sharing them in class.

Be sure to send students with hats, mittens and boots. It's cold out there and we go out on most days.  

Thank you,

Mrs. Scheck 

Week of November 24-28

Hello parents,

This is a short week for us due to Thanksgiving. We will not have new popcorn words, we will keep working on the list from last week.

In phonics this week we are working on blends with r, such as cr and br.  We will work on the blends with r next week too.

We are practicing retellings and we read Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats.  We discussed beginning, middle and ending of a story when we retelling it.

 

In writing,  We have moved on to a new unit called "Writing for Readers." We will keep writing small moments but our focus will shift. Our goal is to make our writing readable! We are working on using one finger space between each word. We are stretching out the longer words and writing what we hear. We are making sure the word wall words are spelled accurately. We are focusing on neat handwriting.

In math we have introduced the dime last week and this week we are counting dimes, nickels and pennies.  We played a game which is easy to play at home. You need dice and 10 pennies,5 nickels and 10 dimes but any combination will work.  A player rolls two dice then he or she picks up that number in coins. For example if you roll 7 you pick up 7 cents.  The game is played until the pile of coins is gone, then each player counts their coins and the player with the most wins.

We are also continuing to work on addition and subtraction. Tomorrow we will learn domino addition.

In science we will be starting to work with liquids, last week we learned the words: engineer, tower, flexible and rigid.  

In social studies we began making our time lines today. We read the book When I Was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis.  We discussed the concepts of past and present.  We put our pictures on the time line. If your child has not brought in three pictures please send them tomorrow!

A note came home about the Family Tree Project.  Please read the note and have fun making a family tree with your student. We will share and display the trees in December!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your family!

Mrs. Scheck

The feast

Here are a few pictures from today's feast!

Tower building

We made towers today in science with our solid objects!

Week of November 17-21

Dear parents,

Brrr! It has gotten cold outside! Students will need to bring boots and their snow pants. It is hard to carry all of those things. If needed students may leave their snow pants in the coat closet. Please be sure clothing is marked with your child's name. 

This week in reading we are working on retellings, we have read the book The Biggeset Best Snowman Ever. Today we will retelling the story on a big snowman story map.  We will introduce a five finger retelling using a retelling glove too.  

In math this week, I'm teaching the students "Frames and Arrows". It is more practice with adding and subtracting using a rule and a diagram. Expect a homelink today.  We will also introduce counting up on a calculator. I will introduce the dime and we will begin counting pennies, nickels and dimes all together.

In social studies we will begin making our time lines using the photos the students brought in to school.

In science we will sort solid objects and group them by their attributes. Later in the week, we will construct with the solids and learn the words:cylinder, tower, and engineer.

In writing, we have started to write our final copies if one piece of writing, we plan to complete them this week.  

Thursday is our first grade feast! If you are bringing a dish to pass, please be sure to label your bowl and utensils so they can be returns to you.  Pack a small lunch for your child that day if they aren't buying the hot lunch and bring a drink!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Scheck

Week of November 10-14

Dear parents, 

We welcomed our new student, Olivia, to our class this week! All the students have been so helpful making Olivia feel at home!

This week in first grade we are beginning to work on retelling a story after reading. Today we read Caps For Sale.  We stopped throughout the book to turn and talk about the important parts of the story, we discussed the problem and the solution.  We also read the book Have Fun Molly Lou Melon.  We made text to text connections with the story to other books we have read where the characters had similar traits: courageous, brave, self-assured and adventurous.

Our popcorn words this week are focusing on words ending in silent e.  Have, here, come, some, came, like, little. We are noticing when we use words with silent e that the e can make the vowel in the word say it's name.

We have been working on publishing a small moment in writing, we met with a partner to revise or change things in our writing that didn't make sense.  We will spend time tomorrow making our writing readable for others by rewriting our stories.

In math we have introduced odd and even numbers.  We have learned that in even numbers everyone has a partner, odd numbers have one partner left out. Here is a rhyme to help rememberodd and even.

Odd Todd thinks he is fine -  1,3,5,7,9.

Even Steven thinks he's great - 0,2,4,6,8!

We also used the number grid to find patterns counting by 2's and 5's.

In Social Studies a note went home asking for three pictures to make a time line in class.

Remember there is no school on Thursday, November 13th.  Parent teacher conference will be on that day, I look forward to meeting with parents and discussing all the great things your students are learning in First Grade!

Mrs. Scheck

Week of November 3-7

Dear parents, 

This week in first grade we are preparing for our first grade feast on November 20th.  We have talked about the first Thanksgiving and about why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  Over the next two weeks we will be making turkey hats and placemats for the occasion.

In math, we have begun unit three by looking at patterns. We will be taking the first quarter benchmark this week.  

In reading we read the book Too Many Toys by David Shannon. We learned that readers look at the cover of a book and a few pages to think about the featured character. In this story Spencer had too many toys and he learns the best toy is a cardboard box!

We will read the book Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon.  In this story we will do a short character analysis of the outside and inside traits of Molly Lou Melon. We will also look for patterns in her behavior to get to know her character better.

In social studies, we are wrapping up our mapping unit with the at home project due on November 10th.  We also will read Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute.  We discussed how the environment can become polluted by humans and that it's our responsibility to care for the environment.

Next we will begin Science, our first unit is Solids and Liquids.  We will begin by sorting solids by their attributes and learning the words rigid and flexible.

In writing this week we will work on telling our story to our partners first then writing what we say.

We will reread our stories to make sure they make sense. Then we will look for popcorn words to be spelled correctly.  We will be getting ready to publish a small moment soon.

November 13th is parent teacher conferences.  We will not have school that day.

Popcorn words, the words this week are: she, ship, so, sit, us, up.  We practiced them with pipe cleaners, sandpaper, magnetic letters, and did invisible word rubbings. 

Have a good week!

Mrs. Scheck

Week of October 27-31

Dear Parents, 

Today was our field trip to the Walled Lake Outdoor Center.  The students attended four different classes: camouflage, spiders, making soil and the insect class. In each class students worked on something hands on.  We camouflaged a potato then hid it for another group to find. We learned how important spiders our to the environment. We made soil from organic matter and used screens to grate it. We learned how insects see by putting on special insect glasses with many screens to see through.  

It was a great day! See pictures below!

In reading this week, I will read several Halloween stories and pumpkin books.  We will read a non fiction pumpkin book and I will teach the students non-fiction text features.  We will use the book to help us during "pumpkin math."  

Popcorn words this week are:no, not, ran, run, we, with.

In math we will be wrapping up unit two with lessons on subtraction number models and addition with three numbers.  We will have a test on Thursday. The test will cover, using a number grid to count up and back, time to the hour, counting pennies and nickels, word problems (number stories) with addition and subtraction.  I will also be doing pumpkin math. It is similar to apple math but I will supply one pumpkin for the whole class, we will cut it open on Friday to count the seeds!

This week in Social Studies we will begin to work on mapping, we will map the playground and classroom together. We will study maps.  I will present the following new terms: natural environment, human-made, pollute, map, may key or legend, bird's eye view.  An at-home project will be sent home on November 3rd and it is due on November 10th. Students will make a map with a map key of a room in your home or their bedroom.

On Friday we will have a Halloween parade and party at 2:45 p.m. Students need it bring, not wear, their costumes to school. We will change into our costumes before the parade.  After the parade we will come back to the room for Halloween Bingo and a treat.  Parents are welcome!

Savannah finds a spider!

Sophie learns how to make soil from organic matter!

Iris learns about what honey bees do in the winter!

Lucas learns how to use a magnifying glass!

I will post more pictures soon!

Week of October 20-24

Hello parents,

This week in First Grade we are learning about money, making text to text connections in books and learning about man made versus nature made things in our environment.

In reading we have read Chrysanthemum and  the book The Name Jar.  We learned how to make text to text connections.  We have discussed how the stories both have characters that were teased.  We learned that readers can make connections from one story to another story.

In writing we have begun a new unit called Small Moments. In this unit writers are taking one small moment and zooming in on just that moment to write about. We read the book Salt Hands and saw how the author stayed focused on one moment. We have practiced making ourselves the star in our writing and setting the scene for the story.  

In  math we have worked on the penny and the nickel the last two days. Today we will play the penny nickel exchange game.  Practice counting coins at home and expect a homelink tomorrow, Thursday.

In social studies we went outside to explore the natural environment. We sorted items into man made and nature made.  We will begin a mapping unit later this week.

We are looking forward to our field trip on Monday, October 27th!

Have a great week, 

Mrs. Scheck

Week of October 13-17

This week in First Grade we will be beginning unit 2 in math.  Students will learn how to tell time to the hour, learn the minute and hour hands on a clocks and make a clock with both hands.

We will read the books Matthew and Tilly and McDuff and the Baby.  We are learning that readers make connections to the characters in the story. We call it a text to self connection.  Today we talked about making connections. This week we will write about making connections text to self and we will look for connections in our reading.  

Our popcorn words went home last night. As students work on learning the popcorn words, they are placed on our word wall. Students are responsible for writing the word wall words correctly during writing workshop.  Please continue to practice the new and old words at home.

This week we will work in Phonics on digraphs. Today we worked on sh  and ch, two letters working together to make one sound. We noticed words that have sh and ch at the beginning or ending.

In Social Studies, we are learning about consequences.  We will read The Story of Ping. In the story a little duck named Ping finds himself last to return to his owners boat and rather than face a consequence, he hides! This leads to another problem and illustrates how consequences happen.

Field trip money is due tomorrow. 

Have a great week!

Mrs. Scheck

Week of October 6-10

Hello parents, 

This week is Fire Safety week! We went to an assembly today presented by the Wixom Fire department. This Saturday they have an open house.  The fire department has a free hot dog lunch and lots of fun for families! I hope to be there with my boys!

This week in First Grade we are working on starting Unit 2 in math.  Last night a homelink was assigned and students brought home their Unit 2 Family Letter. The letter explains what we will be studying for the next unit in math.  I am sending home the unit one assessment tonight.  Parents please look over the assignment and then sign the attached note stating you've looked the test over.  

Practice skills at home such as number writing, counting by fives and counting back by ones.  

In math this week we are working on using the number grid effectively. Student learned how to count up and back on the number grid and played a game called "Rolling to 50."  Students learned how they can count up by one by moving their finger one space forward and they can also count up by 10 by moving their finger down one whole row.  

In reading we read the book It's Mine by Leo Lionni.  We are working on stopping to to turn and talk about the story to check for understanding. We discussed the following vocabulary words: quarrel, trembling, quibbled, and subsided.  

Popcorn words this week are: go, get, got, can, cat, be, but.

In writing we have moved on to writing longer stories that take more than one page. We are stretching out our stories over three pages.  Today we discussed when to use a period. We worked on putting periods at the end of complete thoughts. 

In social studies, we are still working on rules and what is fair and unfair. We will read this week about Martin Luther King and discuss how laws can be changed.

Our field trip to the outdoor center will be on October 27th.  Please send both the permission slip and $11.00 by October 15th.  

This Friday we will be taking a new state required on line assessment for math.  It's called "I ready."

 Please have your child at school on time that day, ready to take the assessment. 

Our PTA Walkathon is next Friday.  Students are being asked to raise money for the school.  The student who raises the most money receives a $200 gift card to Target!

Our character quote this week is "Today is a good day to try" from Walt Disney.

This weeks star of he week is Ayveri and next week Hope will be the star of the week!

Have a good week!

Mrs. Scheck

Week of September 29- October 3

Dear parents, 

This week in first grade we are working with our apples during math. So far we have counted the red and green apples we brought in with tally marks, made a bar graph, and measured the girth of our apples. Most students were able to weigh their apples using a pan balance. Tomorrow we will finish weighing them and then cut them open and count the seeds inside.

We began taking a math assessment for unit one today in small groups.  We will finish the assessment tomorrow. 

A letter for unit 2 will come home later this week.

In reading, we have read the book When I Was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis.  We worked on making text to self connections with the book, we also wrote our connections in our readers notebook. 

We began reading groups. I have five groups to meet with each week. Some days I will see three groups, some days I'll be able to work with all five.  Books come home after a story has been read twice.  Books will begin going home tomorrow.

The popcorn words this week are: in, it, is, if, me and mom. We worked on using one of those words to read and write a new word- like using in to write pin.

In writing this week, we are writing stories and stretching words. We will practice writing longer words "the best we can" and just keep going. Some students will ask me to spell for them, I tell them to stretch it out and write the sounds they hear. I will also be giving students an alphabet chart to keep in their writing folder, this tool will help them when they stretch words.

Tomorrow I'm sending home a permission slip for the outdoor center field trip.  I would like to have 5 chaperones to go on the field trip with us.  Please send the permission slip and money in by October 15th. The cost is $11.00 for students and $11.00 for chaperones.

Enjoy the photos below of students working on writing!

Thank you!

Mrs. Scheck

Week of September 22-26

Dear parents, 

Hello! This will be a busy week in first grade.  As a reminder this week there is no school on Thursday, September 25th.  Picture day is tomorrow, Wednesday, September 24th.

We are reading the book Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.  We read the book to introduce the strategy "look for a part you know." We practiced taking apart words together.  We also are reading the book to discuss the character trait "courageous" because the main character was courageous when he saved the baby birds at night.

The popcorn words this week are: a, as,  at, am, and, I.  We will practice in class and students should have brought the words home last night. 

In math, we have been working on writing numbers, playing top-it in a small group and number stories.  Monday of next week we will be ready for our first unit test.  Also students received their everyday math online log in. Please take some time to go onto the website www.everydaymathonline.com and practice a few games with your child.

In Social Studies we will be reading and learning about Rules.  We will discuss the concept of fair and unfair.

In writing, we are working on stretching words and writing the sounds we hear.  We read a book yesterday by Donald Crews called Trucking and we practiced labeling our pictures.  We will begin using a letter chart to help with writing the sounds and letters in the words we don't know how to spell.

Please look for a note asking parents to send an apple to school next week for some fun Apple Math!

Thank you,

Mrs. Scheck

Week of September 15-19

Hello parents!

Last night I was able to meet many of you at the first grade curriculum night! Thank you for coming to meet me and learn about first grade. If you were unable to attend, I sent home a copy of my presentation with your child today.  

This week in first grade...

We have been reading the book If you Give a Mouse a Cookie. We have used this book to locate periods at the end of a sentence. We have also been learning a reading strategy called "Go back and reread", when it doesn't make sense. If you child reads something and it is not right say "that didn't make sense, go back and think about the story. Reread from the start of the sentence." Always offer a strategy before telling your child the word. Encourage him or her to attempt to fix it on their own. 

In reading workshop we are continuing to build stamina in our reading, we are up to 10 minutes of reading to ourselves and 8 minutes of reading to someone.

We have begun a fall writing assessing called the DWA today.  Students are writing about a favorite animal. Their writing will be used to help me focus my lessons to meet the needs of the students. We will continue the assessment tomorrow.

Today in math we leaned how to make tally marks. We learned a poem to help us...

1,2,3,4

Number 5 shuts the door.

6,7,8,9

Number ten draws the line.

Tally marks can be used for counting and keeping score during a game, let your child practice tally marking at home.

In Social Studies tomorrow is Constitution Day.   We will watch a video and learn about the Statue of Liberty.

We will have a home link tomorrow night. Please watch for it in your child's folder.

Thank you, 

Mrs. Scheck