Hello Families!

We are off to a great start in Room 109! Our class has a busy and fun-filled days as we are learning the our routines and the awesome things that we do in First Grade.

This week we will be reading the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. We learned how to turn and talk about the book with a partner. We will learn two new vocabulary words: dreadful and wilted. We will learn a thinking routine called Circle of Viewpoints where we look at the story from the perspective of each character in the book. We also will read Elmer. It is the story of an elephant that wanted to be like every other elephant. He learns to embrace his unique patchwork colors and to be himself. We will make our own Elmer pictures and write about why each one of us is special.
We have begun Daily five. Daily five is the structure I use to have the class working independently while I am teaching reading groups. The class is working on the first component called "read to self."

In writing we are rolling with our Writing Workshop. We have been working on building stamina as writers. We learned what to do when when we think we are "done" with a piece of writing.
Students have learned to: 1. add more to the words 2. add more to the picture and 3. start a new piece each time they finish a piece of writing. I have begun conferencing with students individually on their writing. So far, I have seen some great writing from our class!

In math, this week I will introduce tool kits and math tools to the class. We will work on counting strategies, counting by ones, twos, fives and tens. We will play fun math games: Penny-Dice game, Bunny Hop and Monster squeeze.

Thank you to everyone who sent in a family photo. It is not too late if you have not sent one in, please email me a picture of your family or send in a printed photo for your child to have on our "Friends and Family" Board.

I am enjoying getting to know each and every student in our class!

Have a great week,
Mrs. Scheck