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