Holiday party!

Week of December 14-18

Dear parents,

This week in first grade we were very busy! I cannot believe it is almost the end of 2015 and a new year will be starting soon.

In reading this week we read The Snowy Day and practiced retelling the story. We also read the book Too Many Toys by David Shannon. The character in the story had A LOT of toys and had to give some away. We learned these vocabulary words: catastrophe and inconsiderate. We wrote about how Spencer was inconsiderate when he left his toys all over the house.

In math, we took a Unit 3 test. The test was given over two days. We began unit 4. A family letter will come home tonight. Unit 4 is all about Measurement. We practiced today measuring with paper strips and unifix cubes. We will continue Monday using different objects to measure length.

In writing, we have learned how to put sound words in our story and we practiced adding flaps after reading The Gingerbread Baby By Jan Brett.  We will wrap up this unit on Monday and begin a new unit in January called "Writing for Readers."

In Science we have worked with Solid objects of varying size and we put them into bottles using a funnel. We observed how some objects moved slowly and some moved fast. We talked about how the size of an object can vary. A bottle could hold more smaller pieces than larger pieces. We also saw how the rice in the bottle stuck to the size with static electricity.

We are looking forward to our Winter Holiday Party on Tuesday at 11:00-12:30. Students will have fun playing games, making a craft and we will eat some yummy pancakes.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Mrs. Scheck

week of December 7-11

Hello Parents,

This week in First Grade we are working hard on learning how to retell a story including the Beginning, Middle and Ending. Please practice at home having your child retell a story after reading. Most students are able to retell and include the characters, setting, problem and solution in a story.

We read the book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. We worked on written retellings after reading the story. We learned a new character trait: calm. The main characters had to be calm in the story when they went "owling."

In writing this week we have been reading and discussing how to write a Many Moments story like an author. We have worked on adding details and using precise words. We noticed sound words in books and tried adding them to our own writing.

In math, we learned this week how to use a rule to complete a frames and arrow page. We also learned how to use the frames to find the rule! We will have a homelink Friday that is due Monday. Please help your child when working on it at home. We practiced adding and subtracting on the number grid and played Rolling for 50. We are completing Unit 3 and beginning Unit 4 early next week. Look for the family letter to come home. Students will have a unit 3 assessment on Monday of next week.

In science, we have worked with solids and with liquids. last week we were introduced these terms to describe a liquid: foamy, bubbly, viscous, transparent and translucent. Today we will work again with solids and put them into different sized containers. We tried sinking and floating objects in water. We noticed some objects that were light weight floated. Other objects that were metal sank. We will observe a wooden cylinder and a wooden craft stick over the weekend and see on Monday if they were still floating after being in water a long time.

Family trees were due on December 3. If your child still has not turned in a family tree, please send it in next week. I have re-sent directions to students that have not yet turned in a family tree.

Thanks!
Mrs. Scheck

Tower building!

Building towers with solid objects.

Future engineers!

Week of November 30-December 4

Dear parents,

I can't believe it is already December tomorrow! The time seems to be flying by here in First Grade!

This week we will work on the following popcorn words: me, make, they, there, this, will.
We noticed this morning how close the word the is to the words they and there. We will practice making these words all week in class, please practice tonight when the new words come home!

In math, we are in the middle of unit 3, working with addition and subtraction. We have been practicing hopping up and down on the number line. Today we noticed how counting by 2's, 5's or 10's is much faster than counting by 1's. We will have a home link tomorrow night to reinforce using the number line at home.

In writing this week we are continuing on with the "Authors as Mentors" unit of writing. Last week we learned how to use a repeating phrase in our small moment stories. Today we practiced adding details to our stories. We discussed how authors do "research" when they write, they think and remember the details in the story. For example, instead of writing "We watched a movie" we talked about saying "we watched Cars 2".  These details make our stories more interesting to read.

I read the book Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon today for reading workshop. We discussed the author's purpose and worked on retelling the story with pictures. We will discuss the character trait cruel with the story.

Our Holiday Party is coming up on December 22nd. I will send a detailed note tomorrow, asking for help! Our party will be in the morning at 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving with your family. I traveled to Wisconsin to visit my brother and his family. While we were there Brad coached two of his Cross Country runners from Walled Lake Western. The two boys competed in Kenosha, WI at the Midwest National Cross Country Finals. While I visited the Jelly Belly Factory with Kyle and Ben just a few miles away too...It was an exciting and busy trip!

Have a great week!
Mrs. Scheck

Feast

Week of November 16

Dear parents, 

We have been so busy the last two weeks preparing for our Feast, I am sorry for not posting anything last week.

This week in first grade students made hats and placemats for our feast. We wrote and talked about things we were thankful for and shared our delicious treats with the entire first grade at lunch time.

In reading this week, we read the story If You Plant a Seed. We focused on the character trait selfishness and discussed how sharing is the way to be kind.  The students practiced a thinking strategy called Step Inside, where they think about the story from different points of view. We had some good discussions and shared our views in writing. 

In writing workshop we are started a new writing unit called Authors as Mentors. We read two stories by Angela Johnson and learned how to use a dot, dot, dot (an ellipse) and how to use a repeating phrase in our own writing. 

In math we have begun unit 3. We are learning how to write number stories for subtraction. We will practice different ways to solve subtraction problems tomorrow and Friday.

In science the big news is we have had two science experiments exploring the properties of solids. We learned the words rigid and flexible. We  will also be learning how to build towers with solids and what an engineer does.

Friday is our field trip to the Northville Marquis theater. We are looking forward to seeing the play, Snow White. 

 

Thank you, 

Mrs. Scheck 

Week of November 2-6

Dear parents,

We had a lot of fun last week during the parade and at our party! If you were able to come and help at the party thank you! It was a success. The students had fun playing Jingo (Halloween Bingo), making a spider web, decorating a small pumpkin and having donuts and cider!

This week in First Grade, we are continuing to work on making text to self connections for our reading comprehension strategy. We read the book Waiting By Kevin Henkes today. We discussed the character trait impatient and patient. We discussed times when we are impatient or patient. We will read the book Best Friends Sleep Over By Jacqueline Rogers and make connections about a time when we were afraid to spend the night away from home.
Next week we will begin working on Retelling a story after reading.

In math this week, we are continuing our work with number stories. We learned today how to make a "change to less" or subtraction number story working with a ten frame. We played penny plate to practice making 10. There is a home link today to follow up on lesson 2.9. It is due Wednesday. On Wednesday and Thursday we will work on number models for subtraction and how to solve for an unknown. We will have a unit 2 assessment early next week.

In Social Studies, we have begun our unit on mapping. Last week we made a map of the playground. This week we will work on mapping the classroom. We have learned the following vocabulary for this unit: map key, compass rose, north, south, west and east. We observed how maps have a title and how the map key has to match the map in color and symbol.
An at home map project will be coming home soon!

In writing, we used precise words today in our small moment stories. We discussed how telling someone we got candy for Halloween is not as effective as saying a Kit Kat bar. We are still working on writing our stories using the words First, Next, Then and Last. We will continue with small moments this week.

Next week is Parent Teacher conferences on November 12th. If you were not able to schedule a time on Skyward, I will be assigning you a time to come see me that day. There is no school for students on November 3rd or 12th.

Our field trip is coming up on November 20th!  If you have not sent in your permission slip and money, please send them to school by November 11th.

Thank you!
Mrs. Scheck

Halloween party!

We had a great time today at our party and parade!

Mark's tornado

Donuts and Cider!

Taking a bite!

Jonathan as Sponge Bob!

Spider Girl Kaylie

Avery in his costume!

Week of October 19-23

Dear parents, 

Sorry for the late blog post! I was not able to get onto the blog and make an entry earlier this week!

We are excited for Halloween next week, we read the poem Five Little Pumpkins and made a book of it to read in class. We also read MuDuff and the Baby and practiced writing text to self connections about a time when we felt left out. We worked on the popcorn words. We learned a new strategy, how to check the end of a word. 

In writing we learned how to write our small moments in "Itty Bitty Steps" and to put these transitional words into our stories: first, next, then and last. 

In math, we focused all week on using 10 frames and making ten. We worked in partners to make a combination of ten apples with some red and some green. Another homelink is coming home today to practice at home.

In Social Studies we are beginning a new unit on Mapping, we read the book Goodness Gorillas. We will begin working on making maps next week. We will explore the playground and discuss man made and nature made objects. 

Friday is our Halloween parade and party. The parade is at 2:45 and our party will follow after the parade. Please send your child's costume to school in a bag, we will get dressed after lunch. Please do not put your child's costume on before school.

Field trip notes went home Thursday. If you need a new note, please email me!

Have a good weekend, 

Mrs. Scheck

Week of October 12-16

Dear Parents,

This week in First Grade we have been busy learning and working!

We learned a little about Columbus on Monday. We learned over 600 years ago he sailed for two months and bumped into the Americas! We read a book together and colored the book to read in school.

In reading we read the book Matthew and Tilly. We read this story to discuss how reader's make text to self connections when they read. We will read it again tomorrow and write about our connections to the book. We have new popcorn words: go, get, got, be, but, can and cat. We played a game today to practice segmenting the beginning and ends of words like this plate "pl - ate."
This helps students hear word parts when they write and read.

In math, we have begun a unit 2. We learned a new rule called the "turn around rule" for adding. We learned the rule means you can add 2 + 1 = 3 and turn the numbers around so that  1+2 also will equal 3. We also worked with all the ways to make 10. A home link will come home today to work on addition. It is due Thursday. Today I introduced 10 frames. We will be using ten frames for counting, adding and subtracting. Students were familiar with them from Kindergarten. We will play 10 frame top it tomorrow.

In Social Studies we are wrapping up Rules and have been discussing the concept of Fairness. Tomorrow we will finish reading Happy Birthday Martin Luther King! We will discuss how unfair laws can be changed and how Dr. King was able to change laws when he was a leader during the civil rights movement.

In writing, we have begun a new unit call Small Moments. This unit focuses on taking one small moment and zooming in on it. We will work on Small Moments for the next several weeks. Our class loves to write! I am seeing great work from all the children.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Scheck

Walkathon!

Here we are in our new shirts the PTA gave us! 

Week of October 5-9

Dear parents,

This week in First Grade...

In reading we have learned all five components of the Daily 5: read to self, read to someone, word work, work on writing and listen to reading.

The class has been working on using a task board to know which part of the Daily Five they are doing. Today we learned the final component, Listening to reading.

Next we will begin Reading Groups. Soon students will be bringing home a reading bag. Each book needs to be read at home and returned the next day to school. Students will read the book twice in their reading group before bringing home a book.

We read the book Owen by Kevin Henkes. We talked about the story and what connections we could make to the book. We will focus on these new vocabulary words this week from the story: essential, vinegar and handkerchief.

In writing, we have chosen a piece of writing to "fancy up" for publishing. We are getting close to wrapping up our visit writing unit. We have learned this week that there are different purposes for writing. We can write to tell stories, write letters to send a message or we can make lists!

In math, we are reaching the end of Unit 1. A homelink will come home Thursday night. We will begin a two day written assessment tomorrow. The assessment will be kept at school.

Friday is the Walkathon! You are welcome to come and walk with us at 2:30 p.m.

Have a great night,
Mrs. Scheck

Week of September 28- October 2

Dear parents, 

This week in First Grade we have begun Star of the Week! Torino is our star this week. He shared his poster and 8 pictures with the class. He is the line leader all week. Next week the star of the week is Brynlee!

In reading I have introduced the comprehension strategy Text to Self connections, we read the book When I was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis. We made connections to the book about when we were little. We wrote about our connections. 

In writing we have learned how to say words slowly and write what we hear, then move on to the next words. We used letter charts to help us find the sounds in words. We shared our stories in class.

In math we have begun tally marks. We learned a poem to help us remember when to draw the line. 

1,2,3,4 number 5 shuts the door. 6,7,8,9 number 10 draws the line.  We had explorations today with get boards, pattern blocks and base 10 blocks.

In social studies we read the book Oliver Buttons. We discussed rules that are fair and unfair. We sorted things that are fair and unfair. 

We will read the book Ruby Bridges later this week. It is a true story about a girl who was one of first children to begin integrating at an all white school in the 1950's. We will discuss that when laws are not fair they can be changed through peaceful ways.

 We are beginning Math and reading testing on the computer this and next week!

 

Have a good day! 

Mrs. Scheck 

Pattern blocks

Read to someone

Read to someone 

Read to someone

Pattern blocks

Bunny hop

Pattern blocks

Reading together

Ma

Week of September 21-25

Dear parents, 

Thank you to the many parents who came to curriculum night. I enjoyed sharing all that your child will be learning this year!

In reading this week we have learned the strategy "go back and reread when it doesn't make sense." We practiced this during readers workshop in class, it is the first strategy to use when your child is stuck.  We read the book The Big Bed. I modeled going back to reread. 

In writing we are well into the writing workshop. We are writing for 20 minutes independently.  Students are using materials independently too. They've learned "when you're done you've just begun!" They have been trying their best at drawing and writing even if it is hard. Today we will read Donald Crews book Freight Train to see how authors label their picture and try it in our own writing.

 

In Social Studies we are learning about rules. We discussed when a rule is unfair.  We will sort pictures of things that are fair and unfair.

In math we compared numbers playing top it and we played bunny hop! Student hopped their bunny on a number line. We reviewed making tally marks and talked about when we tally mark to show points in a game or to keep track of data. Students practiced counting animals with wings and without wings and tallied their results. We will have a homelink tomorrow night. 

Tomorrow is popcorn day, it's one dollar for a bag at lunch time.

Have a great day! 

Mrs. Scheck

Week of September 14-18

We have been busy this week in First Grade! 

We have begun readers workshop! The students have been practicing reading to themselves for a set amount of time and reading to a partner too.  I begun assessing students in reading. We have learned the following reading strategies: cross checking and one to one match. We read the book Stellaluna this week and learned the character trait, brave.  We found evidence in the book to show how Stellaluna was brave.

In writing we have learned how to write using the materials in the room independently.  We shared our stories with the class. We learned what to do when we are done... We can add more to the picture, add more words, or start a new piece.

In math, we discussed estimating.  We counted objects using different strategies: counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's.

We learned new math games. We played monster squeeze and the penny dice-game.

See you on Monday at 7:15 for curriculum night!

Mrs. Scheck

First week of school 2015-2016

Dear parents, 

We are on off to a great start in room 109!

On the first day we got to know each a little bit. We played a fun name game in the morning. We read the book First Day Jitters and The Night Before First Grade.  We wrote about our feelings on the fisrt day. We had snack and got our pictures taken!

In the afternoon we had an assembly and Mr. Bender talked about keeping Wixom Elementary safe!

We did a project the with our names.

On Wednesday, we began our day learning the School Family Song with sign language.

We began our first unit in math. We started Writing Workshop. The students brought home a letter about math unit 1. Parents have a little homework to do tonight, a survey about their student!

We are going to have so much fun this year!

Mrs. Scheck

Last class picture

We took a picture here 10 months ago, look at how much we have changed!

Insect day

Jack's praying mantis

Hailen's ant

Savannah's butterfly

Brianna's praying mantis

Dante's ant

Aankit's praying mantis

Saige's ladybug

Hayden's butterfly

Olivia's ladybug

Ariana's dragonfly

Brian's praying mantis

Katie's ladybug

Ayveri and Joel were greeters

Iris's butterfly

Hunters snake caterpillar

Hailen's ant