January 23-27

Hello families,

This week in first grade I have begun one on one reading assessments. I have been meeting with students for our January reading and writing assessments. This will take a few weeks. As the assessment takes place, I will stop taking reading groups. Please continue to read at home to and with your child daily. Practice retelling the story after reading...include the beginning, middle and end, characters, problem/solution.

We read the book Sheila Rae the Brave by Kevin Henkes. We discussed the character trait "fearless." We found ways the author showed the characters were fearless in the story. We wrote about the book and showed the different characters perspectives on a "circle of viewpoints" graphic organizer.

In writing we have moved on to a new unit of writing called "Authors as Mentors." We will study authors and look closely at craft moves that authors use to engage their readers. This week we have read two books by Angela Johnson, Joshua's Night Whispers and The Leaving Morning. We noticed that both books were small moments. The author kept the story about one thing. She used ellipses or the "dot, dot, dot" to show the writing was not finished or to make a lists over several pages. We are trying these techniques out in our own writing.

In math, we have continued to work on place value. We have begun scrolling! We are noticing patterns in numbers and learning how to write higher numbers. We played the base-10 exchange game. We will be finishing unit 5 next week and having a unit test soon.

In Science we have completed our Solids and Liquids unit. We made butter last week to show how a liquid becomes a solid. We shook heavy cream in a sealed jar and turn the cream to butter. Then we wrote How to Make Butter! Brave students sampled the butter and said it tasted creamy!

Next week we have a half day on February 1. Students will be dismissed at 12:05.

Thank you and have a great weekend!
Mrs. Scheck