Literacy at home

Hello Room 4 families! As we head into the winter break at the end of this week, I wanted to share some literacy links that I like and that your child can access from home. I hope you find some time to snuggle up with your child and do some reading over the break as well. Room 4 students have grown so much this fall! In January we will be checking in with each student to check his/her current reading level with use of the BAS assessment. Aside from reading, and more importantly, I also hope you have time to relax and spend some quality time with your friends and family. Wishing you all a happy and healthy winter vacation! 

http://www.uniteforliteracy.com

https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2010/07/20-sites-to-improve-your-childs-literacy.html

http://pbskids.org/games/reading/

Parachutes and Pajamas

Science is off to an awesome start in room 4! Students are grasping concepts about air, learning about compression, pressure, solids, liquids and gases and matter. Students did an exploration activity where they build parachutes and dropped them both inside and outside. They did a wonderful job working in teams and every person was involved. Then students were challenged to add a load to their parachute and design their own parachute. Students shared their parachute with the class and we discussed what worked and what didn't. It was amazing. Today students experienced air pressure using syringes and tubes. Students watched as air pressure built up and eventually launched the end of their syringe across the room. Students worked in pairs for this.

Pajama day was a hit and students were the envy on a day like today with the frigid weather. Students had time to read with their blankets, pillows and stuffed animals and got to design their own pajamas as a fun end of day activity.

In ELA we are looking at -er and -ed words. We are learning root works and have also learned that -ed can make 3 sounds: /ed/, /d/ and /t/. Students have been focused on retelling stories and more specifically on problem and solution and connecting with characters.

Tomorrow we will wrap up the first part of subtraction for the year. Students have done a great jobs using different strategies to solve subtraction story problems. Next week we will look at tallying and some data collection before the start of break!

The Nutcracker Ballet

Students had a great trip to the Nutcracker Ballet at the Academy of Music in Northampton! Students learned about the Nutcracker story, the characters, dancers, different moves the dancers do, ballet terms, the set and props, practice and hard work, and much more. It was fun and students did a great job listening and seemed to be engaged. One of our students will be performing as a gingerbread girl tonight and this Saturday as part of the ballet. We wish her luck and know she will do a fantastic job!

Students had the opportunity to visit their reading buddies class this week, which was set up like a long house and they learned a little about how the Womponogs lived. In science students are learning about air, wind, matter, pressure, force, resistance and gases, solids and liquids. Students made parachutes and got to drop them both inside and out. Students act as scientists, as they record their observations in science journals. Next week they will design their own parachutes and add a load to their parachute. 

In math, students are continuing to learn about subtraction as take away or less that and difference. Students have counted backwards, use manipulatives and built towers to compare numbers, drawn pictures, and used a number line to show different ways to solve subtraction and show difference. Students will be solving subtraction story problems next week and playing more subtraction games. 

In ELA students have started unit 4. We are looking at new pattern words that end in "er" and "ed". Students will also learn about non-fiction texts that author's write, taking on  the role of specialists on a specific subject. Students will then write thei own "All About" specialist book.

Just a reminder that next Wednesday is a 1:20 release and next Thursday is Pajama Day in room 4 and we also have a "Pizza, Pajama and Game Night" with families from 6:30-7:00. We are all set on supplies but would love some donations to put toward purchasing the pizzas. Have a great weekend!

Here comes the wind...

Well, we made it through a full 5-day week (it has been a while since we had a "normal" week). I suddenly came to the realization this week of just how much growth Room 4 students have made, when they read the morning message to me! Some of the words were not words I had intended for them to be able to read but they did it! YES!

Students finished their "How To" books and got to share their books with some of the students in Ms. Donoghue's and Ms. Bartolini's classes. It was a fun way to hear from other friends and see the learning that is going on across the grade.

Students are working on the endings: -le and -ng and have been noticing some patterns in words that end in -le, such as most of the time you need a double consonant before the -le (of course there are always a few exceptions to the rule). Students worked on categorizing and retelling stories. We also played a fun story game called "Fiddlesticks", where students worked together to tell a story and each student added a part to the story.

In math we have started subtraction and have solved using the number line and using concrete objects. Next week we will continue to explore "difference" by comparing and building numbers. 

We will also be building some background knowledge about the Nutcracker before we go on our field trip (Friday) and we will start a science unit which will include our writing curriculum, where students will learn about wind and clouds. Students will do experiments and explorations and then respond through projects and journaling. Students will have an opportunity to think outside the box and do some designing and trial and error. It should be really interesting.

Mark your Calendars!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving break and got to enjoy spending tie with your family Sandor friends. We have a few things coming up on the calendar between now and the December break First, remember to check the book calendar to see the days your chid may bring a book in to share. 

On December 9th (next Friday) we will go to the Academy of Music in Northampton to see parts of the Nutcracker performance and learn about what goes on behind the scenes during a performance. Please fill out the permission sip and return it with $5 in order for your child to attend. Next on December 15th we have a family get together from 6:30-7:30. Families are invited to come (in their pajamas) to Room 4 for pizza and games. Please send a donation to hep cover the cost of the pizza and supplies. There is also an RSVP for for this so we can get a count for ordering pizza. Your child will be invited to wear his/her pajamas to school that day as well. If you would like to brig a board game to Let me know if anyone is interested in helping!
If you have ay questions, please feel free to contact me prattl@arps.org

Happy, Thanks, and Giving!

Hi Families! I just wanted to wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving break. I am so thankful to have your child and your family as part of our Room 4 community! The students in my room make teaching such a joy and at all of my family holidays I can never stop talking about how wonderful they are! Thanks again for all of your generosity with school supplies this year. We are in great shape with supplies but there is one thing we could use. I have had two families donate extra snacks for students who do not bring a snack. Snack is not provided or funded by the school so I have been buying snacks to several students who have been coming without. This number has been increasing and so I am asking parents if they can donate a non-parishable snack to the classroom. I would hate to not have a back-up snacks for students. Thanks for your support and have a great holiday!

Doubles!

-Ing, -ang, -ong, and -ung are the -ng word patterns we have been working on this week in reading. Students are learning that these are glued sounds and they stick together and make one sound together. Students are starting to read words like: king, string, sang, strong, wrong, long, lung, and hung fluently.


On Monday we did our first lesson in Comprehension Toolkit, where students are learning skills to strengthen their comprehension while they read and really think more thoughtfully about the content of the stories. Before starting we discussed the various reasons people read. Students helped me brainstorm ideas such as: to learn information or gain knowledge, to learn a lesson, to learn to read words, for enjoyment, for entertainment, and as a way to communicate or connect with others. We decided that it is important to think about The first lesson was based on , "The Art Lesson," by Tomie DePaolo. I modeled a read aloud and made connections with the text, based on my own life experiences. Students also participated in the read aloud by jotting notes on sticky notes and talking with a partner. Students also practiced retelling the story and talking with peers about the main idea or big picture. 

The Art Lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qDOZ1iqjz8

Students have completed their handwriting books and we now have started Superkids sentence writing. The students are wrapping up their first "How To" books and will be starting a second one soon.

In math we have been learning our doubles addition facts (1+1=2 or 33+33=66) and our doubles plus one/near doubles facts (6+7=13 or 20+21=41). Students are expected to know doubles facts up to the sum of 10 and anything beyond that is fantastic! We have been building towers and playing games to work on these skills. Here was a doubles song that we listened to on our first day of "doubles learning":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik_-OAgzD-8

As we move into Thanksgiving we have been learning a lot about families and will continue to talk about similarities and differences as well as traditions, how we help our family and needs vs. wants. Students have so many wonderful ideas about families and what it means to be part of one. I hope you find time over the holiday break, if not before, to have a discussion with them about families and your family! I also hope you find some time a little R&R. You children have been working hard and learning so much and they have definitely earned a break!

AVMR or Add+Vantage Math Recovery

AVMR or Add+Vantage Math Recovery is the new math training K and First grade teachers have been receiving training in. It is focused on building a strong foundation in numeracy and really targeting holes in student learning in very specified areas, personalized for each student and his/her needs. Here is a link that supports some of the AVMR ideas and activities. You may be interested or find some of the resources to be helpful:


 http://knp.kentuckymathematics.org/family/index.php

Friendly Debates and Discussions and What's Up Next

With this election, it seems funny to be discussing the idea of "friendly and respectful" debates, right? In our class we read the short decodable Superkids Story, "What a Pet!" and discussed the main idea, practiced retelling and what was the point of this story. We realized that this story, about Oswald who shows Hot Road his pet rock that is painted like a frog, brought up the question of whether or not a rock is a pet. Suddenly, a teaching moment, and a fun opportunity to have a debate. We encouraged students to listen to both sides and show respect to the opposing side  and to work with their team to brainstorm ideas and respond to the other side's points. We worked on giving everyone a turn so that everyone had a voice. The class broke up into two groups and Ms. Leah joined the side arguing against rocks being a pet, and I joined the group arguing that rocks are or can be pets. Here were some of the awesome points brought up by both sides:

• "Rocks are not Pets":
• the are not born
• they do not have a real heart
• they cannot walk or stand on their legs
• they do not have a brain
• they do not breath
• they do not need air 
• Rocks are Pets":
• you can clean them/give them baths
• you can take them for a walk (in your pocket)
• you can swim with them
• they may not have a heart but you can draw one on and then they do have one (same with a brain)
• you can put them to bed
• you can make them a cage/house
• you can love them and feed them (they may not actually eat but you can give them food)
• They are born from mother nature

Regardless of the verdict, which was a hard one because both sides had great points, we came to a decision mostly swayed by the definitions listed in the dictionary. Both sides had fun and did a wonderful job showing CARE while still voicing there opinion. The presidential candidates should look to room 4 as examples of how to treat one another. 

We will be wrapping up Unit two this week in Superkids and starting the -le ending and -am, -and, -ank, -onk, -ang, -ong, -nt, etc. (glued ending sounds).

In math we are working on frames and arrows (skip counting by 2's, 5's, 10's and some of us are trying 3's and 4's and even 6's as a challenge). Next week through Thanksgiving our focus will be on doubles facts and doubles +1. For example: 6+6=12 and 6+6+1=13.

WISH LIST: Here are some things we could use in the classroom: white-out tape, foam poster tape (for hanging work), index cards, extra snack for students who may forget their snack. Thank you to everyone who has donated! I really appreciate it!

I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!

Room 4 is GOLDEN!

CONGRATS TO ROOM 4 ON EARNING THE GOLDEN SNEAKER THIS WEEK IN GYM! I'M SO PROUD!

Skip counting and then there were 15

In math we are working on counting by 2's, 5's and 10's but our goal is to have everyone counting by 5's and 10's by this point in the year. We would love to have students starting to break apart large numbers to help make adding "scary" numbers look a little friendlier. SO making groups of 10 or 5 when adding. For example, I can take the equation 62+25=? and make it simpler for me to solve, by saying: 62=60+2 and 25=20+5. I can then add 60+2+20+5=? and simplify that to 60+20=80 and 2+5=7, so 80+7=87. SO much of math is looking for patterns and decomposing numbers, which is why students knowledge of numeracy is so important. Tomorrow I will attend day 3/4 of the AVMR math training and students will get their movie day, which they have earned for filling their pom-pom jar. The other first grade classes have each had at least one movie day, so after many requests from C-4 students, they will get their movie day.

Another fun announcement is we have a new student who has joined our class. He makes 15! All of the students have been so welcoming and helpful and he is such a sweet student. So thrilled to have him join us. Please remember to fill in your reading logs and remember to check the "reading share calendar". 

In ELA we are wrapping up unit 2 next week. Students have been practicing using punctuation and reading and writing the memory words used at the beginning of many questions: who, what, where, when, why, which. These are tricky but students are doing a wonderful job! We are almost through the Handwriting without Tears workbook and will be doing some Landmark sentence structure work as well as Superkids sentence writing. Students have just started their "How To" writing and put careful thought into their topics. Each student has an idea that is very unique and special to their expertise!

I have included above some photos of the students reading with their third grade reading buddies in Ms. Joyce's class. We get to read with them every Friday afternoon before specials.

Families

I am so excited to be starting our new social studies unit o families. Teaching about cultures and diverse families is one of my favorite topics. We will be talking about what makes a family and looking at many different kinds of families. This it will be fun and open up opportunities for creativity through writing and art. If you have any photos of you and your family that your child could use for some of the projects, please send them in. You will want to send photocopies, as they will be glued to something and will not be returned in the same condition they are sent. I will be sending a reminder home. This week students view photos of different families and had a open discussion about what they noticed about the families. We discussed what makes a family and shared a little about our ow families and looked at similarities and differences across students. On Tuesday asked each student to describe their family in one word, however, students found it difficult to choose only one word. How would you describe your family How would your child describe your family? Here of a few of the many words students used: smart, athletic, kind, loving, hard working, outdoorsy, happy and weird.

Looking at families and what makes a family has made me think about the students and the friendships and bonds students develop in our classroom and a Crocker Farm, not only with teachers and peers in the classroom but other sport staff and administrators as well as reading buddies and siblings and friends of siblings in other grades.

In reading we have started the digraphs "th" and "wh" ad are on to unit 2 in "The Adventures of Superkids". We have started our "How To" writing unit and students have practiced reading steps and discussing materials in order to make a pumpkin volcano and tomorrow we will practice further with making sun butter and jelly sandwiches with a partner. We are having a lot of fun!

Have a great weekend and keep up the great reading. 

Pronouns and P-P-T's

Students have been learning about both nouns and pronouns. They are now identifying and listing pronouns and nouns on their own. We have noticed that pronouns are also our memory words. In Room 4 we read a lot. We don't only read a story once or twice, but sometimes even in three different ways to build our fluency and comprehension. We respond to texts independently and in small groups by discussing and also through our writing. I am very please with the progress. Keep reading with your kids; it is making an awesome impact on the reading I am seeing in the classroom.

In math we have started learning about P-P-T (or part-part-total) and the missing addend. Students are counting on and using the number line to help them find this. Some students are even starting to count on with numbers larger than 10. We are practicing counting by 5's and some of us by 2's. Students are starting to notice patterns and connecting to even and odd numbers. I have mentioned to parents the new math we are incorporating based on a developing a deep understanding of numbers and building numeracy skills. Here is a link to the program and the training I am in the midst of: https://www.mathrecovery.org/how-it-works/addvantage
Currently Kindergarten and First grade teachers in the district are being trained, as well as some middle and high school teachers.

Every Friday we read with our third grade reading buddies in Ms. Joyce's class. Students seem to be really enjoying it and forming wonderful friendships with these older students. Be sure to ask your child about their buddy and what books they have read with him/her.

I have enjoyed the conferences I have had with families thus far and look forward to meeting with the rest of you. Thank you all so much for your support and involvement in your child's learning. You have all been so generous with supplies. The only thing we could use is a small donation of extra snack (non-parishable) for a backup snack for days when students might forget their snack.I am hoping to make a BJ's run this weekend, but if anyone can donate, it would be so wonderful! 

On the Road to Success

I am already seeing so much growth from students! Today we finished Unit 2 of math and all students (every single one) aced it! This is no surprise though because with the new 2-block structured math we are doing, each student is engaged, math is hands-on and differentiated. There are more opportunities for teacher check-in's and students are doing more learning through exploration and numbers talks, where they have more opportunity to share their thinking. Less teacher-talk and more student involvement. The next unit in math we will focus on part-part-total and looking at addends.


In reading students are now fully emersed in the new Superkids curriculum, working on digraphs: sh, ch, and tch. Students have shown us how strong their segmentation of phonemes are through all of the data that we have collected and now to build fluency we are working on recognizing word patterns and onset and rime (beginning sound and clumping the second sound together). We are also encouraging students to take the larger words and break them apart, Students worked on this during our first guided reading from our Superkids Readers. Students took a copy of these home today and I encourage you to read them again and again with your child to build fluency. The story's title is, Patch in a Pinch. Students also practiced thinking through the story and isolating the problem/solution.

Students are wrapping up their Small Moments stories and putting final touches, such as labeling, adding think and speech bubbles, illustrating and adding a cover, before publishing. It was nice to sit down with each student and edit his/her story. Our next units will be How To and All About stories.

We have also been working on our Second Step curriculum, where students have been discussing anger, frustration, looking and body language and talking about emotions. We have been discussing self-help/management skills but also, how to help and comfort a friend. Students have some wonderful strategies and ideas, such as taking deep breaths and finding a quiet space to calm down.

As a reminder, next week we start conferences, so keep your eyes peeled for a conference date/time reminder in your child's folder. I look forward to meeting with each of you! Enjoy your weekend!

Local Library Book Sale!

Hi Room 4 Families! Just wanted to let you know that Belchertown's Public Library has a used book sale October 10th-October 15th! I think it is open to the public October 11th. When I first started teaching I traveled around to all of the Library Book Sales, collecting books for my classroom library and I remember Bechertown's as being the best. It has over 50,000 discarded library books and TONS of children's books. They are $.25-$1.00 each and in good condition. If you have time, it might be fun and worth checking out. I may pop over there one day after school this week. 

http://www.friendsofclapplibrary.org/fall-book-sale.html

Community Field Day Fun!

Students had so much fun at Community Field Day today! Students worked together at 12 different stations and showed tremendous amounts of CARE.Some of the activities included: cup stacking, relays, leaf blowing, parachute, pass the ball, and many more. I hope you have a chance to ask your child about it! Have a great 3-day weekend!

          

       

Bowling for 10 & "Spare" time math

Hello Families,

Thank you to those of you who were able to attend math night! I am thrilled your child had the opportunity to show you some of the things were are doing in class and share with you about his/her day! It was so nice to chat, even just for a moment with each and everyone that attended. I look forward to talking with you more at conferences later this month.

Students had a blast today on our (disco) bowling field trip to Spare Time Bowling in Northampton. Not only did they show off their bowling and dance moves, but they wowed us with their math, putting what we have focused on with combinations of 10 and adding and subtracting within 10 with the pins. Students were very engaged and independent and excited that they could add, subtract and explain their numeracy skills up to 10 with a lot of fluency. Bowling will also be a great experience to use as a shared writing activity topic for our next writing unit launch. A big thank you to all of the extra donations we got from families and to all of our wonderful chaperons!

Tomorrow is Community Field Day in the morning and then reading buddies in the afternoon, followed by gym. Not a bad way to end our week, right? I hope you all enjoy a long weekend with your child! I hope everyone has some time to enjoy the beautiful weather and sunshine as the leaves are slowly starting to change. I know it is one of my favorite times of the year (not too cold but we are starting to get the awesome fall colors).

Keep up with the reading! I am already noticing a lot of growth in both math and reading. Here are some ideas for some quick math practice that you can do with your child practically anywhere:

• Counting forwards from a given number (not 1, but start at 32, 68, 119, or 127?)
• Counting backwards across decades ( 92, 91, 90, 89, 88...)
• Skip counting: 2's, 5's, 10's (for a challenge try 3's)
• "Flash me _________ (# 1-10) on your hands/fingers; Now show me ___ (same #) a different way".
• Counting on: Give student a big number and a number under 10. Students should stick big number in their heads and count of from that number with the smaller one, using their fingers.
• Start looking at coins and money (we will learn about this later in the year)
• start looking at time (we will look at later in the year).
• Play board games
• Measure and counting in the kitchen.
• addition and subtraction story problems verbally (could do these in the car).

Thanks so much for your support! So many donations still coming in. Only things we could use on our wish list are: multicultural crayons and markers and colored cardstock paper.

   

The buzzzz... we are very bee-zy!

Hi Families,

Students are adjusting so well to the pace of first grade! I am amazed with what these kiddos are doing and the growth I have seen in just over one month! It is incredible! I am proud of them and admire their willingness to take risks and make mistakes as well as how their rise to a challenge. I love that I am getting to know students better and that we are working hard but can also have some fun too. 

Before I mention what we have been working on this past week, there are a few upcoming things on our calendar and some reminders I want to mention.

Weekly Reading Logs:

Please help your child get into the routine of turning in their rain logs every Monday, demonstrating that they have read with you or independently each night. We check folders for these logs each Monday and students earn a star for each one that is turned in. Once they have 25 stars, the students earns a book as a prize. I would love for every student to earn at east one book over the course of the year!

Mark your calendars:

October 5th-Open house. Hope you can all make it with your child for visit to Crocker Farm, including a welcome greet with Derek and Sharri in the cafeteria, followed by a half hour exploration focused on curriculum in room 4 and then time to visit your child's Specials Teachers. Higher grades will welcoe their families in the later portion of the evening.I will have out a class its to share your contact info with other families in the classroom, free give-aways, and also have sign up sheets for conferences that night (see below).

October 6th-Field Trip to Spare Time Bowling in Northampton. Please return permission slips by October 4th. We still are in need of chaperons, so please if you or another family member are interested, contact me! We would love to have you join us!

October 19th, 21st and 24th- Sign up at back to school night to secure a date and time that works best with your schedule. These dates are October 19th (1:20 dismissal), October 21st and 24th (Noon dismissal).   

Room 4 Wish List- color or white card stock paper, multi-cutural crayons, multi-cultural markers, binder clips and rings, white-out tape. We have had such generous families this year and appreciate your kindness and the support of all of the students in our classroom. 

Okay, now on with the latest learning and classroom discoveries...

Literacy:

We have completed the first part of the Superkids program (The Welcome Back Review Units). Students completed a 2-day assessment. This combined with a BAS assessment (reading level), aimsweb data, letter name and ID assessment and classroom observation will help me  and the support staff provide differentiated instruction and work that is ore specified to your chid's needs. Next week, we will start   the new curriculum, with The Adventures of the Superkids. This will focus on word blends, syllable patterns, and new memory words. As we get moving I plan on keeping close watch over your child's reading progress to ensure that they are reading books that challenge them and are appropriate for their comprehension. Please let me know if the books they are bringing home are or are not a good match. Enhancement pull-out groups will start shortly for those students whom teachers feel could use an extra boost in reading  Any concerns, please email me: prattle@arps.org.

Writing & Handwriting:

We have continued to read small moment stories and share our personal small moment stories in groups and partners. Students are now in the early stages of writing their own small moment narrative stories. Students are learning about adding details to their stories and stretching their stories out, making a small moment seem like a big moment. Even though it may be just a small breath, it can hold great importance. In handwriting students continue to practice reviewing their capital and lowercase letters and writing sentences. They are doing great. I am watching for letter and number reversals and consulting with OT for more strategies to support those students.

Mathematics:

Tomorrow (9/30) and Monday (10/3), Ms. Bartolini and I will be attending a AVMR math training, which is an awesome math recovery program, focused on numeracy and supporting students' early numeracy skills. I have heard wonderful things about this curricuculm and we are already starting to use some of the activities in small group during our math centers. Students are becoming experts in using their rekenreks and number revers-

als and partners of 10. Students are also counting backwards ore fluently and counting on with addition. 


Second Step:

We are working through our second step social/emotional curriculum during unit study right now. I have enjoyed our circle time and sharing about our CARE values and building the foundation of a strong community and/or family.

I hope to see you all in the next few weeks but should you have any questions or concerns, pleas email me: prattle@arps.org. I appreciate your support and make sure you congratulate your child on  their work ethic and all the progress they have made thus far!

Rockin' in First!

We are R-O-C-K-I-N-G it in First Grade!

As someone who is also transitioning from Kindergarten to first grade with these kiddos, and who has seen the shift, I am so impressed with the way students are adjusting to the pace of the day! I am already seeing a lot a growth after only 3 weeks of curriculum. Students are also doing a stellar job showing CARE, and as of the end of day today (Thursday), students have filled their pom-pom jar. In case your child has not mentioned this reward system to you, C-4 students earn pom-poms for positive school behavior: listening, working hard, treating each other with respect, transitioning quickly and quietly, following directions, working together, etc. Our class has also been earning many Crocker Farm CARE tickets and has also started to write each other “student CARE tickets,” taking notice of each other and all the great things their peers are doing.

Learning Targets

Sometimes (for me, always) it is helpful to see the big picture and the “why” or direction of learning and where we are headed. When I sit down to plan, I may be planning a week out or putting final touches on the lessons for the following day but I always like to know what I our ultimate goal and where are we headed next. When there becomes a purpose and ultimate goal, it helps create meaning and motivation behind the learning.

This year, across the school, teachers are invested in making learning targets part of our daily routines to better our instruction and allow students to become more involved in their own learning.  In room 4 and in first grade, we have been posting learning targets on a daily basis and involving students in a more purposeful learning experience. Each morning and throughout the day we look at our goals (one for math, writing and reading for now) or the skills we are working on and we reflect on the process and the learning. Students are learning to self-assess and gage their own learning and comfort level. This, in turn, helps me as a teacher to further support students who may be feeing less confident or who may need to revisit a lesson or work further on that skill.

Here are some of the skills and targets that students have been working on over this past week:

Reading/ELA:

Students have been working on glued syllable ending such as –an and –am and also forming word families or creating word ladders, where students find as many words as they can with the same ending (rhyming words). This means changing the initial sound (letter or blend). We have been reviewing some of the many memory words that students were introduced to last year, including: a, the, see, the, like, for, of, was, put, to, said, and others too. I have finished assessing each student in reading to determine your child’s current independent and instructional reading level. Your student’s book bags with nightly leveled reading will now reflect those results. Please read with your child each night and fill out those reading logs. Fee free to read other books from home with your child, and do not feel limited to only the book your child brings home. Students have been working on reviewing punctuation and adding an "s" to words to make the plural. We have also been doing guided and shared reading through Superkids, where your child has been involved in classroom discussions and think alouds.

Writing:

Sentence structure and sequencing through our small moments writing unit have been two major focuses thus far. While we review letter formation in our Hand Writing without Tears writing books, I am seeing some letter and number reversals, however, I am impressed with students’ ability to remember to capitalize, add punctuation and use finger spaces in sentences. Students will be wrapping up their first Small moment stories, which was written together as a class and put together by each student. On Tuesday, students will begin to brainstorm ideas for their next story, which will be an individualized small moment story, which students will be writing from their own unique experiences. I a looking forward to reading these and hearing all the fun things students think of for their topics.

Math:

Students have completed their first math assessment for unit one and I am amazed with the success of each and every student. The math coaches and first grade team have been working hard to differentiate instruction and make sure that students are seen daily by the teacher(s) and have scaffolding throughout the math blocks, but also have time to talk to each other and are given the opportunity to learn from one another. Students have been working on combinations of 10 and many of them have picked up on the pattern and strategies to check and organize their work: 10+0=10, 9+1=10, 8+2=10, 7+3=10, 6+4=10, 5+5=10.... Students have also been practicing counting on and counting backwards. We are starting to use number lines and grids to solve story problems and identify patterns. We use the language: start, hop and land, when using them to count and students learn to “sweep” down to the next row on the number line. This fall, first grade teachers will have the opportunity to participate in 4 days of AVMR training for math, which should help teachers really individualize instruction for students and target the specific skills needed for each child.

Such an Awesome Crew!

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of students this year and feel like we have been a community far longer than just over 3 weeks. I hope your child is starting to feel at home in Room 4 and like a valued and special part of our classroom community!   Thanks for your support at home and please keep turning in those reading logs. Your child receives a star every Monday when he/she returns his/her filled out log. Any questions please email me: prattl@arps.org.