Important Update

TODAY IS A 12:40 RELEASE DUE TO WEATHER! PLEASE SEND NOTES OR CALL THE OFFICE WITH ANY DISMISSAL CHANGES. 

Have a safe and happy vacation!

Review Week & Air Rockets!

Hello Families!

Last week we wrapped up units in math and reading, so this week will be devoted to review and retention of the skills just learned. In ELA we will be working on long vowels, open syllables, complete vs. incomplete sentences. I will also be slipping in more read alouds and plan on reading all of my gingerbread books with the class. In math we have done a unit on addition and one on subtraction, but in isolation. Teachers have noticed some students have a difficult time switching back and forth between the two, so this week, we will slip in extra practice with raw numbers and story mixed problems (+/-). We will also have the opportunity to play review games.

In science we will be wrapping up our unit on air and students will be building balloon rockets. Look for students' science journals to come home with them before break as a way to ask your child what he/she has been learning about air, resistance, compression, gas, matter, etc.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMX7zgaLC0w

On Friday, our early release, students will see reading buddies and then have a surprise. If you would like to send something special for snack, feel free on this day. 

Looking ahead... we will have a field trip on 1/31 in downtown Amherst from 10-12. We will be looking for chaperones, so let me know if you are interested. Students will visit restaurants downtown and then write an opinion piece about the restaurant.

Keep up the reading over vacation! Students are making great progress! Thanks for all of your support at home!

Winter Wonderland

Hello Families! Hope you all enjoyed the first snow of the season. Here's a look at our learning for this week:

ELA: 

Students will continue to work on long and short vowel sounds. Students will continue to work on open and closed syllables. Words that end with vowels will make the long vowel sound (say their own name), which is called an open syllable. A closed syllable is when the vowel is closed in with two consonants (cvc), such as "cat". There are, of course, always exceptions to the rule. We will be learning the cvce syllable pattern with a lone vowel after the winter break.

Math: 

In math students will continue their work with subtraction and tally marks. We will take class data and practice recording and graphing the data. We will also practice counting backwards, which can be tricky going over the decade. I will be pulling students this week and next to do an AVMR check in, focused on "structuring". We will wrap up this unit this week and end the week with an assessment. 

Science: 

In science students will be looking at air pressure and resistance, working with syringes and tubes. Students will participate in several hands-on activities and will respond in their science journals. We will also be doing some read alouds that focus on air and watch a short video that teaches about air and air resistance.

Wish List: 

• classroom snacks (we are running low)
• glue sticks
• large white construction paper.

Learning About Air...

Hello Room 4 Families,

This week students have started their study on air. We have discussed that air is a gas and that air is made up of matter. We have also talked about how air can move things. Students used straws to blow objects. Students are building parachutes and discussing how air pushes against things and fills up space. We are combining our writing and science together, as students are participating in hands-on experiments and explorations and then recording, as scientists, their observations in their science journals. 

In reading students are working on the -ing and the -ed ending. Knowing that they must have 2 consonants before adding the ending to the base or root word can be tricky. Students will also be learning about the long vowel sounds and the word patterns that create this this sound. The pace of Superkids will be picking up over the next two weeks as we will be doing less review from last year and most material will be new, with review for students who need it and differentiation as seen fit.

In math students continue to work on subtraction. This week students are working on solving subtraction story problems. We want all students fluent within 10 and are challenging students who are ready, to subtract with larger numbers and across.

We continue to work on mindfulness weekly and students are starting to incorporate mindfulness into each day. Thank you for all your support at home with reading. Room 4 would love some extra snack and glue sticks, if you are able to donate.

Past and Present

Hello Families! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break! Students came back with a lot to share and seemed like they had a wonderful time with their families. It's amazing that our second holiday break will be here in just another month! We will be learning a lot before it's here. Here's a look at this week's Learning:

ELA:

Students are learning about root/base words and making them past tense by adding an -ed or making them present by adding an -ing to the ending. This is tricky because students need to remember when writing the word that they need 2 consonants before the ending. And then, of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. 

Math:

Students are working on subtraction and looking at taking apart numbers as well as taking away parts. We will also look at subtraction as comparing (or finding the difference) and showing subtraction on a number line (both with numbers and without numbers-an open number line. 

Writing:

Students are doing a 1-week mini unit that is focused on sentence writing and distinguishing complete vs. incomplete sentences. Students are learning about the parts of a sentence, what makes a sentence, and how to build complete sentences. This should strengthen students writing and their confidence to write more independently.

Thank you to all of our parents and families who came to share about traditions and cultures! It made the unit much more personal and students were much more engaged! 

Room 4 Wish List: Dry Erase markers, extra classroom snacks

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you enjoy your time with your family! Wishing you a happy and safe Thanksgiving break!

IMPORTANT UPDATE!

Hello Families. The first grade team is sad to inform you that we received this email from the Pioneer Valley Ballet last night regarding our upcoming field trip on December 8th. I plan on giving them a call today, however, I want you to know that although this field trip is cancelled, we will be holding onto the collected money for our next field trip in early/mid January. I am really disappointed as this has been one of my favorite field trips, but maybe you can attend their evening performance with your child or read your child the story. Thanks for understanding and let me know if you have any questions.

Hello friends, We've recently had to make the difficult decision not to hold our Educational Outreach Performance of The Nutcracker this season. We will miss hosting this special presentation, but there were a number of practical factors that convinced us to make this a hiatus year.

Thankful

Hello Room 4 families! Hope you are all looking forward to the holiday season and the family time that is approaching with some time off from school and hopefully some time off from work for you! I want to thank so many of you for attending the potluck and those of you who have visited or are planning to visit to share about your family and your traditions. I am so thankful to have such wonderful families as part of our classroom community! Here is a look at our learning for this week and the short two day week before the Thanksgiving break:

ELA and Writing:

We will be wrapping up unit 4 before the Thanksgiving break. Students have been working on character traits and retelling of stories during their differentiated guided reading time. Students have used Story Grammar Marker to retell and then completed a comprehension packet that goes along with each book they have read. Asking students to respond to their stories in writing builds both their comprehension and writing skills. We have worked on memory words and pattern words ending in -le, -ng, -er and the 3 sounds of -ed (/d/, /ed/ and /t/). 

Students are continuing their work on their "How To" story and will completing it before the break. Students are using: First, Next, Then and Last to talk about their steps and adding warnings and helpful hints. Students are also adding a section to their stories: About the Author, where they share info about themselves. Students are working on punctuation and capitalization. When we get back, students will work on sentence writing and build a stronger understanding of the parts of a sentence and what makes a complete sentence.

Math:

Students will be wrapping up  unit 4 for math before the break. Students have been learning their doubles facts (1+1=2, 2+2=4....) and their near doubles facts (doubles +1), which include 2+2+1/4+1=5. Some students have worked on breaking apart numbers into their doubles pairs and their doubles plus one pairs: 4=2+2 or 5=4+1. When we get back from the break we will dive into our unit on subtraction.

Social Studies:

Students have been learning about families, mostly first hand. We have had so many families and staff members volunteer to speak! It is neat for students to see that everyone's family is so different and how we define a family is different than they thought when we started this unit. Students are in the process of creating a beautiful multi-step family portrait. It is a fun way to infuse art into the unit! When we return from vacation we will wrap the unit up and then start a science unit on air, wind and weather.

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving for those who celebrate it! I also take a little time to think about all the things I am thankful for and how lucky I am! Hope you get to spend some time with your family and awesome Room 4 kids!

Wish List:

-Dry Erase Markers
-Extra Snack
-Tissues

A Room 4 Story

This week for my weekly post I want to share a story that we wrote as a class. We read a story about the Superkids call, "Fiddlesticks", where they pass a stick and each add on to a story, So, we gave it a try in our class and here is our story:

Once upon a time there live a boy named Jack and a girl named Emma and they lived in an enchanted forest. They got bitten by a spider and then they found a lost horse. The horse showed them a magic potion. Emma drank the magic potion but Jack did not. The potion allowed Emma to breath fire like a dragon. Jack was a little nervous about Emma breathing fire so he ran deeper into the forest and soon found himself lost. Suddenly Jack saw two big blue eyes watching him from a bush. The bush moved and out came a baby tiger. Thank goodness it was just a cute baby! Meanwhile, Emma was thinking of a plan to save Jack. She started breathing fire to burn down trees in order to get to Jack. But there was no Jack in sight. Emma continued to burn through the woods, while Jack was in his own pickle. The mom Tiger was nearby and she had seen Jack. She was chasing Jack trying to protect her baby. The baby tiger pounced on his mom, protecting Jack because Jack and the baby were friends. Then the mom tiger ran away with her baby. Emma was breathing fire and then she finally saw Jack. They were both really happy! Emma said, “Let’s follow the burnt trail to find our way back home.” They followed the trail and were finally home. When finally home, they fell quickly asleep. 

ING, ANG, ONG, UNG!

Hello families! This week was a busy one with Halloween (those who celebrate),the rain and the shift in weather to more "normal" fall temps. Here's a (quick) look into our learning:

ELA/Superkids: Students began unit 3 of Superkids. We are starting to learn word patterns and looked at word endings: -le and -ng. So we learned words like cattle, puddle, simple and learned that we need two consonants before the -le so sometimes we need to double to consonant. This is not such an easy rule to remember so we will keep practicing. We also learned the -ng ending such as -ing, ang, ung, and ong. Memory words for this unit are: do, have, show, how, me, and a.  Please keep reading nightly with your child at home! It really makes a difference!

Writing: In writing we started out "How To" unit and we read some  "How To" stories as well as did a demonstration and shared writing for "How to Make a Sun Butter and Jelly Sandwich." You should ask your child about it. It was a lot of fun. Students started to think of ideas for their How To story and things that they know how to do very well. Our first step was then thinking of the materials we would need.

Math:In math this week, we wrapped up our unit on skip counting and part/part/total. We will continue to look at these skills throughout the year and go back into part-part-total when we do more with number lines, addition and subtraction and fact-families, where were learn that addition and subtraction are related.

Family Unit: We started our family unit this week and defined family as a "kick-off". This definition should change as we learn and get deeper into discussion. I suspect by the end of the unit, when we revisit this, it should be quite different. We also looked at some photos of diverse families and had some open discussions. This would be a great topic for you to discuss at home with your child. Students have also started to share who is in their family and started the process of creating a family portrait. We have also had some staff visit and share about their families. Next week I look forward t having some room 4 parents visit and to our family potluck!

Reminders: 

• Family Potluck is on October 8th from 5:30-6:30 in the cafeteria. Don't forget to rsvp.
• Please remember to turn in your child's permission slip for the Nutcracker Field Trip on December 8th. I know it's early but we need to pay in advance to reserve a spot.
• Keep reading nightly with your child at home!

Wish List:

• Snack
• Kleenex
• glue sticks

School in Holland

This week we have a teacher, Sissi, from Holland come visit and help in our classroom. She taught us about Holland and share with us a video about her school and students.She talked to us about life in Holland and brought us a book about Holland and shared a treat with us. It was fun sharing ideas and I hope one day that Crocker Farm teachers can visit her school to gain ideas and knowledge to bring back.

Here's a quick look at our learning this week:

ELA-Students have become more independent and comfortable with our ELA centers. We are doing daily guided reading and written response that is differentiated. Students are working in pairs, groups and independently. We are finishing up the Superkids unit next week and will move from digraphs (wh, th, sh, ch, tch) into endings -ng and -le. Students are practicing tricky memory words: what, where, when, why, who, which. Students also wrapped up their small moment writing and will be starting "How To" writing next week.

Math-Students have been working on using the part/part/total model to solve for the total and missing part. We have been using the number line as a tool to count and practicing counting on from a larger number, when adding larger numbers. Students can also skip count by 2's, 5's and 10's and are able to show the jumps on a number line. We will look at frames and arrows next week and students will look at "rules".

Unit Study-We continued our work in mindfulness and our social/emotional curriculum with 2nd Step. Next week we will start to talk about families. We have 1-2 families interested in sharing their traditions with the class. If you are interested, please let me know!

Reminders:

Our class potluck in on 11/8 from 5:30-6:30. Please rsvp and let me know what you plan on sharing! The more the merrier!

On 12/8 we will go to Academy of Music for a performance of the Nutcracker Ballet. Please return your child's permission slip as soon as possible. Space is limited and we need to get them in early in order to go!

Wish List-classroom snacks!

Families

As I am in the midst of family conferences, I am writing this, and I just wanted to let you know how nice it has been, between both Open House and conferences, to start to get to know the families. All students have things they are working on, but they also have so many strengths, both academically and socially. It is clear that they are well cared for and supported by their families! Thank you! I can't wait for our Family Potluck on November 8th. Please rsvp if you haven't already.

Here's a quick look at our first grade learning: 

In reading we have started centers, where students do partner/group reading, guided teacher reading, independent reading, games and folder work. These centers are all differentiated and Ms. Bartolini, who does intervention also pushes in during this time to work with a small group. Students are working on digraphs: th, wh, sh, tch, and ch. Students are also practicing memory words like she, he, me, her, his, I and the question "w" words: who, what, where, when, why. These can be tricky. Watch for the pattern and memory word lists to come home as we start new units and you can practice with your child if you wish. Keep reading at home and let me know if the books your child is bringing home don't feel right (too easy or too hard).

In math we are working on decomposing numbers. Students are practicing structuring numbers and looking at the part/part/total model, where students are solving for the total and fr the missing part (or addend). Students are solving story problems and working with raw numbers. We have been playing Treasure Hunt at teacher time, to work on skip counting, both forward and backward.

Students have started their 3rd small moment story. This story will be done with less scaffolding than the two previous ones. The first one we wrote as a shared writing project about our farm field trip, the second was individual but all students followed a very specific writing process and it was paced. For this story, students are working more freely at their own pace. At the end of the unit we will share our stories and look for growth from start to finish through this writing unit. We will be wrapping this up next week. We will also be starting our family unit the week of the 30th. 

Your child may mention to you tomorrow when they come home from school that we will be having a teacher visit from the Netherlands. Yes, this is correct. A teacher from the Netherlands is visiting to learn more about schools in the United States. She will teach us about what her day looks like, observe and help in the room. I am sure we will learn a lot from her as well!

Open House Tonight!

Hello Families!

Just a quick entry this week because I am sure I will be chatting with you all in person both this week and next...

Hope you can make it to Open House tonight! It is from 6-6:25 and then the whole school will meet in the cafeteria at 6:30. Following that, the older kids will have their open house at 7:00. First grade open house is very casual. I may say a few (very brief) words and then will have a slide show playing with info about the year and there will be packets with info for families. Students will be the ones to tell you about what they do in first grade and show you their rekenreks and how they use them, as well as their letter to you. If you cannot make it, now worries! Packets will be sent home.

Another quick update is that tomorrow is Field Day! Students will participate in games in the morning and will have a surprise in the afternoon for getting more points than the teacher for behavior last week! Next week are conferences and I look forward to meeting with you all.

In two weeks we will be starting our family unit. Please let me know if you think this might be a difficult subject for your child. I want to be sensitive to all families and situations. Thanks!

Fun in our "Spare" Time

In first grade it doesn't seem like we have a lot spare time in our schedule (thank goodness for our weekly mindfulness), however, this week students took a break and went disco bowling at Spare Time Bowling in Northampton. Okay, so maybe not a total break, as students practiced their combinations of 10, but when learning is all fun, it's not so bad. Thank you to all of our chaperones across the 2 classes! 

As mentioned students continued their math work with combinations of 10 and practiced using the number line to solve story problems with the idea of "start, hop and land". We wrapped up this unit and students showed great progress on their assessments. Next week, we will start part-part-total with unit 3.

In ELA, students started "Adventures of Superkids", with secret decoders and an initial focus on digraphs: /sh/, /ch/, /tch/ and /th/ + /wh/ will be coming up next. Students continued to work on tapping and decoding. We also continue our daily work in Handwriting without Tears and students focus on one letter per day. We are working on using upper and lowercase letters, punctuation and finger spaces in our writing. Students continued their work on their personal small moment stories. Students brainstormed ideas, sketched their ideas, worked on a story lead, started their writing of the body of their story, including: first, next, then and last, and added details to make their stories stronger. We will continue to work on these stories into next week.

Students filled up their 2nd jar of pom-poms and won the teacher-class tally challenge. I have noticed a lot of growth with behavior and listening skills already! Students will celebrate this coming week-TBD!

Hope you all have a great 3-day weekend! 

Here are some reminders: 

• Please return your conference sign-up sheet if you have yet to do so! Would love to meet with all of you.
• Keep reading at home each night-reading logs are not required but keep up all the great reading!
• Back to School Night is on the 12th at 6:00. Hope to see you there!

Wish List:

• Extra snack
• dry erase markers
• chlorox table wipes
• gallon size ziplockbags
• hand sanitizer
• tissue boxes

Harvest Time

Students kicked off the week in Crocker Farm's community garden. Joined with Farmer Leila and Jenn Reese, who organizes science curriculum for the district, we harvested green beans and Nasturtiums, which are an edible orange spicy flower. Students did a great job despite the heat. Other grades were assigned to other veggies and all the vegetables from the garden will be combined for a meal and all students will be able to enjoy the veggies as part of a school lunch.

Room 4 first graders are very strong math students and have a good sense of their numbers within 10. As we focused on 10 friends and decomposing numbers within 10, I am so impressed with how much knowledge and how fluent they already are with these facts. Students worked on an apples problem and we able to find all partners of 10 ( 10+0=10, 9+1=10, 8+2=10, 7+3=10... 0+10=10) and look for a pattern and way to arrange their combinations in a logical way to ensure that they had found all of them, including reversals. I am looking forward to the bowling field trip on Monday which will directly tie into this work. We also played tricky teen number bingo, which looks at number reversals like 16 vs. 61. I have started pulling students to assess them on their individual understanding of number words/numerals, forward and backward number sequencing and structuring. This is part of the AVMR (add-vantage math  recovery) training and work that the K and 1 teachers did last year with Mary Lambert, our math coach. It has been very helpful and has really helped us to rethink our math curriculum and increase student understanding of basic number sense and skills needed for a higher order thinking math.


Students did an excellent job, wrapping up the review portion of Superkids (Welcome Back). We reviewed letters and their sounds, sounding out cvc words, vowels and consonants, manipulation of initial, medial and final sounds, blends and memory words. Next week we will start "The Adventures of Superkids" and start by reviewing digraphs: sh, ch and tch, and focus on new memory words. Please keep reading at home and when any Superkids reading packets come home in folders, it would be great if you could have your child read the story to you. These are decodable so great for most students. 

Handwriting has been moved to first thing in the morning to ensure students get their full 2 recesses. Practicing handwriting at home by writing letters or notes to family or friends is a great way to practice. Students are doing a great job as we work on using upper and lower case, finger spaces and being able to work independently. Some students are needing teacher assistance to remain focused during handwriting. We typically do 2 half pages per day (or 1 letter). In writing students are starting their 2nd small moments stories, which are personalized and individualized for each student. We will be working on these over the next 2+ weeks and then students will have the opportunity to share these out as authors. 

Just as a reminder, please make sure your child wears socks to school on Monday for bowling. We would love to have the following supplies donated to our classroom:  extra snack, table wipes, plastic gallon ziplock bags and chlorox wipes if you are able to donate. A huge thank you to families who have donated. I really appreciate it. You have been so generous!

** Please fill out the conference form and return it asap. I am signing families up for slots as they as returned. Thanks!

Happy Fall!

Happy (almost)Fall! Students are already becoming more independent and rising the higher academic demands of first grade. I am, however, so grateful that we have the ability to have two recess breaks in our schedule. It is clear that students benefit from mental and physical breaks throughout their day. Speaking of which, this week, Ms. Baver (school psychologist) and Tobby Bobbit (guidance) visited our room to launch mindfulness for the year. Ms. Baver will be coming in throughout the fall to hell with lessons and students will respond in the Mindful School Journal. Ask your child to teach you what they are practicing in school and what a mindful body looks like. It is a great way to refocus, be “in the moment” and calm your body and mind. I look forward to learning more next week. We have also continued to work on our Second Step learning, which is our social and emotional learning. This ties into our mindfulness as students learn how to listen and follow directions.

In math this week students wrapped up their unit on counting and sequencing numbers. Students looked at “least to greatest” ordering and comparing numbers as well as counting on and skip counting on a number line. We practiced counting forward and backward. On Wednesday we took our unit 1 assessment and students did an excellent job, showing that they have a strong knowledge of basic numeracy and counting. We have started our new unit on numbers within 10, where students will learn about “10 friends” and be able to decompose numbers fluently. Students will also work on subitizing and continue to build on their addition and subtraction skills. I look forward to our bowling field trip on the 2nd of October. If you haven’t gotten your permission slip in, please do ASAP.

In ELA, reading and writing, students continue to review their Kindergarten skills, including letters and letter sounds, CVC words, memory words, writing sentences with a capital letter, finger spaces, and ending with punctuation. We looked at when we use a period, question mark and exclamation point at the end of a sentence and practiced with a movement activity. Students reviewed adding a “s” to make a word plural and an “apostrophe +s” to make it possessive. In writing students have done the majority of their writing for their first small moment story about the farm. Their next story will be one that they pull from their individual experiences rather than a shared one. They are doing a great job!

Reminders:

Permission slips must be in no later than Monday (25^th). PLEASE turn them in.

Remember to send a note if you child’s dismissal plans change.

Please send a snack with your child daily unless you have donated to the classroom.

Picture Day is on September 28^th.

Wish List:

Gallon size ziplock bags

Sandwich size ziplock bags

Chlorox table wipes

UPDATE! Reading Logs!

Hello Room 4 Families,

At our district meeting teachers met to discuss homework and research studies suggest that reading each night has a positive impact on student learning. There is also research suggesting that reading logs make reading more of a chore and less enjoyable. I like the idea of making reading nightly and having students learn about accountability, however, I think removing the reading log, may remove some of the stress and make it easier on families and more enjoyable. The other first grade room has also decided to “do away” with logs. Please continue to read each night with your child for 10-15 minutes. HAPPY READING! 

Room 4 Pajama Day and Ice Cream Party!

Congrats to Room 4 Students for filling your pom-pom jar! You are all SUPER kids! Keep up the great work! On Friday September 22^nd students may wear their pajamas to school if they choose. We will have a special ice cream treat at snack time. If you have any questions, please email me:

prattl@arps.org 

Thanks, Ms. Pratt

Farm Fun

This week in first was a lot of fun! We saw first hand that students learn best when it is hands-on and through authentic real-world experiences! Our trip to the farm was a lot of fun! Thank you to Jai's mom and Sejal and Iris's mom, who were both wonderful chaperons! Students arrived at McCray's farm and fed the geese and ducks at the pond as they ate their snacks. Then Room 4 students fed animals and went on a hayride. Students all got to choose a pumpkin from a giant patch and had to problem solve to find a way to get their pumpkins off of the prickly vines; we found the twisting method to be a good one. Students then ate lunch and had some one.


In Superkids we continue to review our letters and letter sounds. Students are reviewing initial, medial and final sounds and word families. We have looked at vowels and consonants and identified them. Students should know short vowel sounds but we have not covered long vowel sounds yet. I am pulling students (2-3 per day) to read with them to determine their current reading level. If your child has not yet been read with, I will get to him/her in the next week. Please keep reading with your child at home and if you think a book your child brings home in his/her book bag is too easy or challenging, please send a note. Your feedback is very helpful! After BAS assessments are done, I will be putting students into differentiated reading groups and guided reading will happen daily as well as group, partner and independent reading.

In math we will be wrapping up our first unit on counting and number sense. Students have been working with number lines, addition and subtraction, skip counting, sequencing and solving story problems using a rekenrek, drawing and number line. We are starting to share our ideas and understand that people can find the correct answer by using different strategies. Next week we will take the assessment mid week and then start our unit on numbers within 10 (10 friends), number reversals and build fluency. 

Following our daily math centers and writing, students have also started their social emotional curriculum work, with Second Step. Students have been learning about how to be the best learner in the classroom. Students will start mindfulness next week and our counselors and psychologists will help support our class with this. The curriculum will teach students how to regulate their bodies and increase self awareness. Students will keep a journal and may have some at-home activities they can do for extra practice, as we dive further into the curriculum. I hope to share more ways to bring mindfulness into the home as we move through the year!

Getting the Hang of First...

This week students got their feet wet not only from the rainy weather, but we kicked off Superkids ("Welcome Back" portion) and started math, which is focused on counting strategies, sequencing and showing numbers in various ways. Students have had the opportunity to write about themselves and get to know one another during our writing and unit study block at the end of the day.

With the support of our reading specialists, we are working on checking letter ID and sounds and students current reading levels using the BAS assessment. This will be done with your child throughout the month so we can provide differentiated support. We are reviewing Superkids and the letter sounds,  in addition to tapping out CVC (consonant-vowel-consent) words for both decoding and encoding practice. Students are also reviewing memory/sight words they learned in Kindergarten. We hope to have at-home access to Superkids reading soon if you are interested. We can talk more about Superkids and the curriculum at Open House on October 12th or we can meet too. 

In math students have been playing number games and showing me their ability to sequence numbers, add, subtract, compare numbers and even skip count. I am very impressed and know they must have worked very hard with their kindergarten teachers. Students practiced subitizing as well with quick looks and "chunking" or "clumping" dot patterns to do quick counting. Students also practiced showing numbers on rekkenreks and fingers.Students have been taking beginning of the year assessments, administered by our math specialist and they have been great sports and have done a fantastic job!

In writing students have been working on writing about themselves through numerous projects, such as their, "Hopes and Dreams" writing, "I like, I don't like", self portraits, and their "All About Me" posters. They have worked hard and done a great job focusing thus far. Next week we will go on our field trip to McCray's Farm to provide a shared experience we can all write about for our Small Moments writing unit. 

Reminders:

Please remember to send permission slips in with your child by this Friday. We need a lunch count for the cafeteria by end of day Friday. Please send $7.00 to cover the cost of the trip.A HUGE thank you to families who have donated extra and the chaperone volunteers we have coming with us.

Remember to read each night with your child and fill our reading logs. I will check them each Monday in folders. Keep sending in folders and any dismissal changes, just let me know with a note in your child's folder.

Thank you all so much for your kind donations to our classroom! Room 4 really appreciates it, especially me! We are in good shape right now but could use some Chlorox table wipes, *dry erase markers and cardstock paper-white or color.

Thanks, families!

Building a community that CARES

Hello families! This post will be short and sweet as it has been a short week, devoted to setting the routines and expectations for the year in room 4. This work will remain a large part of our focus in the following couple of weeks too. Students learned about our schedule, morning meeting routines, how math centers work, transitions, hallway and cafeteria rules. Students also learned about our classroom positive reinforcement system (pom-pom jar) and the CARE tickets. We have some returning students, but also new ones, so we reviewed a lot of the CF rules as well as CARE values. I hope your child is adjusting. It does take time, but I am here to help however I can. Feel free to email me with questions or concerns.

Please remember to read each night, fill out the reading log and send in each Monday, send a snack with your child, and if dismissal plans change, send a note. We had a lot of math, reading and counselors helping students in Room 4 and throughout the school this week. We are so lucky to have many caring teachers. I hope your child feels valued and safe. Next week we will start the math curriculum, continue with handwriting and start Superkids. The biggest change your child will see if the pace and volume of the work load. Please remind your child the importance of listening and being respectful to the teacher and peers in the room. I know we have some creative thinkers who bring a lot to our room 4 community. I can't wait to see more of what they know and watch them grow.

Enjoy your 3-day weekend! 

Welcome to First Grade 2017-2018

Welcome Families to the 2017-2018 school year and to First Grade! I am thrilled to get to know your child and your family. Throughout the year I will use this blog as a place to update you on our classroom learning, ways to support learning at home and for reminders. I look forward to a great year!

Congrats and Happy Summer!

Hooray! You've an awesome job in first grade and you are all officially 2nd graders! Enjoy your summer! I will miss you! Love, Ms. Pratt

A day early, but thank you to all of the wonderful fathers who

are part of our Room 4, 1st grade community! Your kids love you!

Final Days in First!

In less than a week, students will graduate first grade and step out into their summer break. They are ready for 2nd grade and they have, without a doubt, earned a vacation. This week students celebrated the end of the year and all their hard work at Look Park. Thank you to all of you who joined us and/or those who sent food. It was a lot of fun! 

This last week of school, we will be reviewing some academics, and doing some fun end of the year projects. Students will be bringing home work and projects. Please let me know if your child will not be with us through the last day of school so I can make sure they bring home their portfolio and end of year materials. Students will also be saying  goodbye to their reading buddies.

Please keep practicing the baseball and Crocker Farm song at home. We will perform this at our end of the year assembly on Wednesday. If you have a hat please be sure to send it with your child prior to Wednesday. As a reminder, Thursday, June 22nd is our last day and dismissal is at 1:20. 

I look forward to a fun last week! Congratulations to you and your child. Thanks for a wonderful year and have a wonderful Father's Day. Here we go...

Goodbye Chicks!

Hi Room 4 Families! Summer is on the way and the sun is coming out. As we approach the end of the year and wrap up our academics with assessments and progress monitoring, I hope to balance this with some more outside time for students. We say goodbye to our chicks this week, as they head back to the farm. They are growing fast and will need more space. These little feathered friends have loved being part of our classroom community. Here's a quick look at some of the learning we took part in this week:

Monday's Fun Centers:

On Monday, due to rescheduling our field trip, the three first grade teachers ran centers. Ms. Bartolini did a face painting center, Ms. Donoghue did a STEM building center, and we did a slime science project in my classroom. It was fun for students to get to work with each of the teachers in all three classrooms.

Reading:

R controlled vowels is a new focus in Superkids for unit 5. Students continue to read each day in guided reading groups and also work on pattern words with -or, -ur, -ir, -ar, -er words, where the /r/ sound controls the syllable.

Math:

Students worked on measurement this week and used other objects as a standard unit of measurement. We used cubes, paperclips, tiles, and other objects in the room. Students looked at our feet as a way to measure and they noticed that because we all have different size feet, we cannot use this as a reliable way to measure something. For the remainder of the year, students will be reviewing math we have learned throughout the year.

Unit Study and Writing:

Students had a flexible week in writing and unit study. We did some read alouds and discussions and also had the opportunity to do some open-ended writing prompts and take out the chicks,a couple last few times. Tara Luce continued to work on Mindfulness in our class and students are doing a wonderful job!

Reminders and Wish List:

• Our Field Trip to Look Park is on Thursday, June 15th. We hope to see you there!
• We would love some table wipes to get us through the end of the year!
• Please practice singing, "Take me out to the ballgame," with your child at home and the "CF version" too, at home with your child. We will sing this at the June 21st assembly. If you have one, please send a baseball cap in with your child prior to this date to wear for the song. We will return it with your child on the 21st. If your child wants to wear his/her Crocker Farm shirt on this day or a baseball Jersey, that's great too. A baseball mitt, is great too!
• If your child will not be there through the last day of school, please email me or send a note, so I can send all work and end of year things home with your child in advance. 

Wish List

Hi Families! We are on our last tub of Chlorox table wipes. If you would be willing to donate a tub to get us through the remainder of the school year, we would really appreciate it!

Field Day Fun!