2018: New Year, New Learning

Happy 2018! I hope you had a fantastic winter break and had the opportunity to spend some time with your first grader and family and friends! Here's a look at what the start of the new year looks like in room 4, this week:

Reading:

This is the part of the year when the pace picks up a good deal and students start to learn trickier word patterns. We are working on Super E and the cvce word pattern (consonant-vowel-consonant-e), which makes the vowel long and say its own name. Students will use this rule when they are reading and writing. By adding an e to the end of a word, it completely changes the word and the way it sounds (examples: rat vs. rate, hop vs. hope). Students continue to work in their small differentiated reading groups as well. Later this month we will be using the BAS assessment to check on their current reading level. Some students have already or are very close to reaching the cap for first grade. Everyone is working hard and making great progress! Keep up all that great reading you are doing at home!

Math:

In math students have started a unit that is more challenging than the material we have covered up to this point. We first explored the equal sign in depth and balancing equations. Students will begin to understand how addition and subtraction are related and fact families or fact triangles, where will will use the familiar part-part-total model but with addition and subtract. How are these three numbers related?

Writing & Science:

We continue our air, weather and wind unit which is tied into our writing unit. Students learn to write as scientists through their observations in their science journals. This week students discussed weather and started to look at wind. We will be using wind flags to measure the wind. Students will be looking at clouds next. Toward the end of this month, we will start learning about opinion writing, which will tie into our field trip to downtown Amherst to write some YELP reviews of restaurants. Please return your permission slip asap!

Reminders & Wish List:

• Please return your permission slip for our field trip to downtown Amherst asap. We are looking for chaperones if you're interested. The cost has already been covered from your last permission slip (Nutcracker), which was cancelled my the ballet.
• Report cards come out at the end of the month.
• We would love more snack, dry erase markers (black) for student use, and tissues.