Week of March 30-April 2

Dear parents, 

Wow, I can't believe we are already looking at turning the calendar to April this week! We will also be on spring break this Friday, April 3! There is no school from April 3 - 12. 

This Friday also marks the end of the third card-marking period. I will be assessing students in math. We will take the third quarter math bench mark on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I will break the test into a few pages per day. When we return from break, we will begin Unit 8. To better prepare for the test consider working with your child on the following: time to the half hour (they need to write the time and draw hands on a blank clock). Addition and subtraction facts- use some fash cards at home! Work on facts triangles by writing out the 4 facts.  Also, log onto www.everydaymathonline.com for games that mirror the ones we play in class for more fun practice. If you've misplaced your child's login ID, email me for a replacement card.

In reading, we have been reading non-fiction books in reading groups and as a whole class. This week I will begin to read realistic fiction stories. We will start thinking about the elements of this genre. We will read the book Not Norman, which is about a boy who gets a goldfish as a pet but decides he wants another kind of pet and tries his best to get rid of the fish.  We will learn how to develop a character through showing emotions and action. 

We will begin thinking about our new science unit soon.  We will be studying Insects after spring break. The students will love observing several live insects. We will care for, observe and write about them and have a hands on experience with mealworms. We will watch them change from larva to pupa to adult. We have a few exciting surprises just waiting for us in the classroom in April!

Remember to keep track of reading minutes on your at home reading log and turn it in on Mondays. 

Have a great week, 

Mrs. Scheck

Week of March 23-27

Dear parents,

This week in first grade we are enjoying learning from Mo Willems about how to be a better writer. We are practicing the following techniques in our writing: bolded words, tiny print to show sad or scared feelings, onamonapiea or sound words, a dedication page, using speech bubbles and thought bubbles. We have been writing stories like using craft like an author. We are getting ready to publish one story from The Authors as Mentors unit. We will begin a new unit after spring break called Realistic Fiction Writing. We have discussed the difference between fiction - fantasy, realistic fiction, and non - fiction. We shared our favorite one in class.

In math we are enjoying learning about geometric shapes.  We have discussed two dimensional shapes and will begin three dimensional shapes today.  I introduced symmetry.  Students worked with partners to make symmetrical patterns. The unit 6 math tests are came home on Thursday.  

In reading, we are finished with our non fiction unit of study.  We have learned text features and will write more non-fiction in April as our new science unit on insects begins.

We will be collecting our reading logs for the last time this coming Monday! The students have 

loved tracking their minutes!

Have a great week! 

Mrs. Scheck

Symmetry

Hello parents! 

Just a few pictures of your kids making symmetrical patterns with blocks! 

Enjoy your weekend, 

Mrs. Scheck

Week of March 16-20

Dear parents,

This week in first grade we are looking forward to the first day of Spring on Friday!

The student have been enjoying warmer weather and less snow. We will continue to wear our boots outside on these muddy days. Please send an extra pair of pants for wet and muddy clothes for your child to keep in their backpack.

This week in reading, we are continuing with non fiction texts.  We will read the book Raptors and learn about dinosaurs.  We will practice using our schema and I wonder statements to help with comprehension when we read.  

The popcorn word this week are: saw, straw, August, yawn, pause and because.  We will discuss the sounds -au and -aw make within words.  We will also sort words that end in -s or -es and begin to notice when to use -es.

In Writing, we will examine a new author Mo Willems to lead these writing techniques: bolted words, speech bubbles, and thought bubbles. We will read Are You Ready To Play Outside?

In math, we are preparing to take Unit 6 math test on Wednesday.  Students will need to write out fact families, tell time to the half hour, use and identify coins (penny, nickel,dime and quarter), read a tally chart, add to 20, fill in the rule for frames and arrows and write equivalent names for a number in a name collection box.  

We will be doing some St. Patrick's day fun tomorrow- some graphing and a small treat!

Have a great day, 

Mrs. Scheck

Week of March 9-13

Hello Parents, 

This week in First Grade we are excited for the sunshine and warmer temperatures! Students still need to wear the necessary outdoor clothing. Parents may want to send a change of clothing in case of muddy or wet pants as the snow melts!

In reading this week, we are focusing on using schema - the information stored in your brain.  We read the book Throw Your Tooth on the Roof. We discussed the familiar traditions that we have in the United States when a tooth is lost.  We learned many other traditions that children in other countries follow.  Schema can grow and change as information is learned. Readers use their schema on a topic to help understand the text. We will also read the book Look Who is Hatching and use our schema, words from the text and predicting to guess who is hatching on each page of the book.  

Our popcorn word this week are: night, fright, tight, tighter, kite and bite.  The long I sound will be discussed with silent e. We will generate words that have the -ight pattern.  

In writing, we will continue to learn more writing techniques from Angela Johnson. We have practiced using comeback lines, ellipses and stretching out a small moment like a rubber band to include more details.  This week, we will add facts to our stories and write a many moments story.  We will read the book When I Was Young In the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant.  We will use a graphic organizer to plan a story with one topic and three examples related to that topic.

In math, we have continued to work on building fact knowledge.  We practiced What's My Rule. We will explore with geo boards and pattern blocks to prepare for the unit nine. We will learn the value of a quarter. Practice counting coins to help with this! We will practice telling time to the quarter hour.

Expect a homelink on Thursday.  

Have a great day, 

Mrs. Scheck 

Scooter races

We had some indoor fun today in PE when Mrs. Scheck tried out as a PE teacher today. 

See the photos below!

Week of March 2-6

Dear parents,

This week in First Grade we are excited to turn the calendar to the month of March because March is reading month! The challenge is on for the school to read 200,000 minutes. All students are encouraged to read at home and log their minutes to beat the goal so that Mr. Bender can be a kid for the day! Logs are due every Monday. Please add up the minutes for the week and send it to school,  logs will be returned until the next week. Reading to your child counts as well!

Hopefully the weather begins to warm up. In the meantime continue to send boots, hats, mittens, etc. If you are missing items from home- the lost and found has many things in it and it may be wise to come have a look for your child's missing things.

In reading this week, we have read A Seal Pup Grows Up. We read the book and compared it to the book from last week about Kangaroo Joey. I'm amazed at how well the students retain facts about what they've read! The love non fiction books! We are still working on "I wonder" statements and making text to text connections in our reading workshop for comprehension strategies.

Our popcorn words this week are: very, funny, cry, sky, by, dirty.  We have talked about the two sounds that y can make at the ends of words. We sorted words with the "eye" sound and words that sound like "ee" at the end. 

We are continuing to work on fact families this week. Monday I introduced fact triangles,  we cut them out and practiced writing the facts. We talked about how fact families have a dad(biggest number) a mom (middle number) and a baby (the smaller number). The biggest number has to come first when we subtract and the smaller numbers are added together to make the biggest number.  We will focus on just subtraction facts this week as well.

In writing, the students were so excited to begin writing Tiny Topics in their very own little notebooks.

The notebooks are used for "seed ideas" not for the whole story.  We will learn how to write "comeback lines" like the author Angela Johnson this week and continue examining authors to see what ways we can make our writing better.

In Social Studies, we will read the book Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday. We will discuss opportunity costs. I'll also use this book to teach the character traits careless and irresponsible because he was careless and irresponsible with his money!

Thank you and have a good week!

Mrs. Scheck