Welcome to the last month of school. June is the month that absolutely flies by. There are many fun activities and events to look forward to as we plan our summer breaks.
It is a good idea to send in a water bottle with your child each day. The water bottle can be kept here at school for your child to refill each day or the bottle can be brought home daily if you prefer.
Last week was the final week of homework. Your first grader should continue to read daily, but there aren't any written assignments coming home.
Math: This week's topics are: Working with the Quarter (trickiest coin), Showing Amounts in Different Ways, Comparing and Ordering Amounts, and Finding 1 or 10 More and Less than a Given Number.
Reading Workshop: Last week we had an author study on Laura Numeroff. This week we will be sharing our thoughts on books with each other through some book recommendation letters, favorite part activity sheet and other graphic organizers.
Writing Workshop: Taking inspiration from last week's author study we will be writing our own circle stories this week. These are stories that start and end in the same place. This should be a lot of fun. We will also practice for our upcoming showcase, Poet Palooza.
Science: Butterflies
Have a great week!
- (Miss D.) DS was a great captain.
- (TG) We had our last spelling test of the whole year!
- (EB) We are practicing for Poet Palooza.
- (CM) We had our Student of the Month Awards. (RP) It was the last one.
- (KG) We got our colors for field day. We practiced for field day.
- (TM) We are doing Topic 10 in Math.
- (CN) Everything is going to be covered in polka dots for poet palooza. People can dress in dots if they have them. (Miss D.)
- (CP) This week we had our last night of homework.
- (EB) In poet palooza people will get a program so they know when it is their child's turn.
- (DS) We are taking pictures for the last day of school slide show.
- (FH) In school there are only 15 more days.
It was great seeing so many of you at the big show this past Friday. The class had a great time being narrators.
There is no school next Monday, May 31 in honor of Memorial Day. When we return from the 3-day weekend it will be June and I told the class there is no homework in June which means that this is our final week of spelling words and our final week of homework. Very exciting!
Save the date of Friday, June 11th for our Poet Palooza show. This is a whole class celebration of original poetry. It will take place at 2:30 in our classroom.
Homework (LAST WEEK)
Monday 5/24
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Purple spelling sheet
Tuesday 5/25
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Picture Poetry Writing
Wednesday 5/26
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Math
Thursday 5/27
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Study for the last spelling test of the year!!!
Have a great week!
- Hooray! Hooray! We had a play today! (the class)
- PR was a great captain. (EB)
- My mom was the Mystery Reader. (CP)
- I had a birthday today! (EB)
- We were the narrators in the show. (DS) We put on masks and some face paints. (KG)
- We had 4 practices this week so that the show could be perfect. (MA)
- We did our spelling test. (CN) It was on plural nouns. (PR) Nouns are people, places, and things. (FH)
- Everyone got to take home 2 books from the Library Book Swap. (TG) The Book Swap is a great way to recycle your books. (Miss D.) We did this today in library. (KR)
- We had a bonus recess because we did such a great job being narrators. (CM)
- Next week is our last week of homework and our last spelling test!!!!!!! (OS and CP)
It's showtime! We are very excited for this Friday's 'Three Piggie Opera'. Mr. Allen and Ms. Lindroth have been helping us to prepare for the show. Thank you to all of the parents who helped with the scenery. If you have not sent in your $1, please send it in soon. See you in the Common Room at 9:30!
Reading Workshop: We will be reading many books about caterpillars and butterflies. Most of these books are non-fiction, but we will also read some fictional favorites such as 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.
Writing Workshop: We have been having a great time writing poems about anything and everything. The past two weeks we have experimented with different styles of poems. This week we will be writing about different topics using the styles we have learned.
Phonics/Spelling: Plural Words: butterflies, foxes, beaches, teachers, children
Math: We will start Unit 10 this week. The topics for this week are: Investigating Number Patterns, Using a Known Fact to Add and Using the "Make Ten" Strategy to Add.
Science: Our caterpillars arrived from North Carolina this past Wednesday. Our focus will be on learning all about them. We will be reading about them during Reading Workshop.
Homework
Monday 5/17
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Purple Spelling Sheet
Tuesday 5/18
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Mixed Math Sheet
Wednesday 5/19
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Butterfly Synonyms
Thursday 5/20
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Study for tomorrow's spelling test
Have a great week!
- KR was an excellent captain. (TM)
- We started practicing for the Three Piggie Opera with the other classes. (MA)
- JMN's dad came in to be the Mystery Reader. (JMN)
- We had Game Day this week.(EB)
- In Writing Workshop we wrote shape poems and 2-2 and 3-3-3- poems. (KG)
- We had our spelling test on compound words. Compound words are 2 real words smooshed together to make 1 BIG word. (EB)
- We have 2 more weeks of spelling tests and homework. No homework in June!!!!!(FH)
- We hit off of a tee in gym to play baseball. If you hit the wall with the fielders not stopping the ball then the fielders had to do 5 jumping jacks. (TB)
- Our class got caterpillars in the mail this week. (JS) We put the caterpillars in little cups with a tissue on top. JS took pictures for us. (CM)
- We did a butterfly observation so that we can keep track of how they are growing. (CP)
- Miss Dineen is getting annoyed with the Zany Band bracelets. She is threatening to ban them. (RP & class)
- Librarians from the Darien Library came to our school to tell us about the Summer Reading Program. (OS)
- We took home our grass heads. (MA)
The first graders are so excited to perform this fun story on Friday, May 21st at 9:30 in the Common Room. All are invited!
Hootie is lucky to be spending time with PR's family. This will be Hootie's final visit of the 2009-10 school year.
Congratulations to OS and FH, our April citizens of the month. They have much to be proud of!
Not only was it DS's birthday, but his parents surprised him by being Mystery Readers too. It was a great start to his birthday weekend.
We had a great visit by FH's dad. FH was really surprised!
Thank you for all of the gorgeous flowers for teacher appreciation day. All the flowers together formed an amazing bouquet. I appreciate your appreciation! Thank you!
We had a great visit with Miss Michelle from the Bruce Museum. We learned about the stages of the butterfly life cycle. We put together a HUGE puzzle which showed the body parts. We are looking forward to getting our catepillars very soon!
This program was sponsored by the PTO Enrichment Fund.
As a part of our seeds and plants unit we planted grass seed. We have been watering and tracking the growth. Now that the grass has gotten very high, we thought today would be the perfect day for a little trim.
We made predicitons about whether or not the grass would grow tall again or stay short. Many of the students decorated their cups of soil to look like faces. It was fun to pretend to be barbers.
A belated Happy Mother's Day to all of our class moms. I hope your first graders gave you the cards they made here at school.
Also, thank you for the beautiful flowers for last week's Teacher Appreciation Day. They really brightened up our classroom (and my day)!
We are busy preparing for the "Three Piggie Opera" which will be next Friday, May 21st at 9:30 in the Common Room. Remind your child to practice his/her line(s) for the show. We were lucky to be assigned the role of narrators for this first grade show. I'm sure it will be a great success.
Some librarians from the Darien Public Library will come and talk to our class about their Summer Reading program.
Reading Workshop: Our poetry unit continues this week. Last week our focus was on how to read a poem. This week we will be working on comprehending a poem by visualizing the words. In kid words I am describing this as "Strong readers use the poems words to help make a picture in their brain."
Writing Workshop: Last week we wrote many different kinds of list poems. This week we will write poems that follow a pattern. We will experiment with 2-2 poems, 3-3 poems, shape and acrostics.
Phonics/Spelling: Compound Words: sunshine, homework, baseball, into, mailbox
Math: Unit 9 continues with the following topics: Visualizing Symmetrical Shapes, Measuring with Inches, Measuring with a Single Unit and Measuring with a Ruler. There are lots of hands-on, real life math activities in this unit.
Science: Our caterpillars should be arriving this week from North Carolina. We are getting very excited to see the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.
Homework
Monday 5/10
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Purple spelling sheet
Tuesday 5/11
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Fluttery Math
Wednesday 5/12
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Poetry: Read 'butterfly Wings' poem and write about your life as a butterfly (at least 4 sentences)
Thursday 5/13
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Study for tomorrow's spelling test
Have a great week!
We have been busy, busy, busy in our classroom and this week is no exception. The month of May brings many new projects and units of study.
Reading Workshop: We will begin a unit on poetry. This week the focus will be an introcuctory week in which we notice what makes a poem a poem; the similarities between poetry and other types of writing; and how strong readers read a poem (rereading the same poem several times).
Writing Workshop: We will be starting our poetry unit. This is a great change from the nonfiction and story writing we have been doing the past few months. This week we will be writing list poems. Some of the types of list poems are: mystery, repeated line and first/last.
Phonics/Spelling: ed endings: wanted, hopped, framed, watched, played
Math: Unit 9 begins this week. We will be working ith 2D shapes and the concept of symmetry.
Science: We will be finishing up our Plant unit and will begin to start learning about butterflies! This Thursday morning we will be having an in-class visitor from the Bruce Museum who will bring some scientific tools and samples to help us get excited about this new unit.
Homework
Monday 5/3
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Purple spelling sheet
Tuesday 5/4
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Math Mixed Practice
Wednesday 5/5
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Starlight Poem (read and write at least 3 sentences)
Thursday 5/6
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Study for tomorrow's spelling test
Have a great week!
