I can hardly believe it is already October! I hope you all have been outside enjoying this beautiful fall weather! I always enjoy this time of year when the students are settled into their routines and we are hard at work in our classroom. I am so proud of how well the students are doing with math workstations and The Daily 5. They are becomming independent first graders!
THIS MONTH
Reading-We have been discussing schema, using what we already know about a topic to help us better understand what we read. We have also been working on making meaningful connections to books. We make text-to-self connections to help us better understand a story and understand how the characters are feeling. We will also focus on text-to-text connections, text-to-world connections, comparing and contrasting stories, and visualizing. When reading with your child encourage them to make meaningful connections!
Language Arts- We will review nouns and verbs and spend some time talking about adjectives and how to use them in our writing. We will also learn about antonyms, words with opposite meanings.
Phonics-We are starting off the month with r blends including fr, br, dr, tr, and cr. We will then focus on l blends including bl, cl, fl, and sl. Then we will focus on long a and long e spelling patterns. (ai, ay, ea, ee)
Writing-We will wrap up our unit on personal narratives and begin to focus on writing narrative stories. The students will write stories with a beginning, middle, and end as well as include characters, a setting, and a plot.
We will also be writing friendly thank you letters to soldiers overseas. We had a special visitor this morning from the army come visit us to talk about what we can include in our letters. The whole first grade is teaming with Sergeant McGreevy to have thank you letters delivered to members of her troop. We hope to receive a few letters back as well!
Math-I have been so proud of how the students are using our addition strategies to help them add more fluently. We will be focusing on subtraction strategies over the next couple of weeks and use number lines to help us add and subtract. We will also learn about place value to the hundreds place.
The students have started using a website during math workstations, www.ixl.com. There are games to match each of our first grade math standards. You can browse this website at home to see what we are using in class! You can also check out http://www.funbrain.com/math/ for some practice with addition facts.
Social Studies- We will be studying Benjamin Franklin. Today, we explored a package full of clues about Benjamin Frakinlin's life. There was a candle, a feather pen, an almanac, bifocals, a copy of the Declaration of Independence, a fire hat, and a candle. As we study Benjamin Franklin over the next couple of weeks we will talk about how each clue relates to his life.
Science- Towards the end of October we will start a unit on sound.
IMPORTANT DATES
October 5,6,and 7-COGAT testing for first and third. We will be testing in the morning so please be sure your child eats a good breakfast each day and arrives to school on time.
October 24-28-Conference week and book fair. The students will be dismissed two hours early each day of conference week beginning at 12:20.
HOMEWORK
A copy of the October homework came home with your child today. I am also attaching a copy of the October homework as well in case you need it!
Thank you so much for all of your support of our school and classroom! You all have been amazing about sending in all of your Boosterthon money. I am so fortunate to work with such wonderful parents and students!
Mrs. Sheffield :)
