Peek at the Week of October 31- November 4

Halloween has arrived!!!!  We will celebrate by turning our classroom into the "Pumpkin Patch Theater" with popcorn and drinks and a holiday movie too.

A Halloween TREAT from me is no homework on Halloween night!  The regular Monday night word work assignment and word list will be sent home on Tuesday. 

We will be going on our first field trip this Wednesday morning.  We will be traveling by bus to the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University.  We hope to leave school by 9:10 so that we can get there and be seated for the 10:00 show.  We will return to school in time for lunch.  Thank you to ES's mom and CH's mom for chaperoning.

Reading Workshop:  We will be reading and enjoying the Henry and Mudge series of books this week.  We will learn about Cynthia Rylant, the author of this fun series.  The books in this series are a great example of the Realistic Fiction genre.

Writing Workshop:  Last week we had a great time doing some Halloween related writing activities.  This week we will begin our second unit of the year on Realistic Fiction.  Your child will be using his/her imagination to write stories where they are in charge of 'inventing' characters, setting, problem and solution.  Realistic Fiction are stories that are make-believe, but they could happen in real life. 

Math:  This week's topics are:  Working with Prices on a Graph, Solving Problems involving Money and Measuring with Cubes.  Each child will be working with their coin collection.

Second Steps:  This week's lesson is on Identifying Feelings.  Your child is learning how to pay attention to other people's faces and bodies to figure out what they are feeling.  Here are some things to try at home:
                 - Make a face and have your child guess how you might be feeling
                 - Have your child make faces for you to guess
                 - Name feelings in everyday conversation (ex:  I'm worried because I can't find my 
                    keys and I don't want to be late.)
                - Talk about TV/movie/book characters' feelings (ex:  Goldilocks must have felt so
                   scared to wake up to bears above her bed.)

Homework
Monday 10/31
Have fun trick-or-treating! 

Tuesday 11/1
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Fall Word Work

Wednesday 11/2
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Henry and Mudge Trip Review

Thursday 11/3
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Review words for tomorrow

Have a great week!

Computer Zone

Today is the last Friday of the month which means it is FREE CHOICE FRIDAY in the lab!  Here are a couple of sites that have some fun games.  American Girl and Lego are popular websites.

Highlights of the Week October 28

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Scholastic Book Orders

Just a reminder...

Our first book order is due this Friday, October 28th.  If you are planning on ordering, please follow the directions on the sheet to place your order online.

Haunted House Stories

Today in Writing Workshop we read a few spooky stories to inspire us to write our own stories.  Some eeky, creepy music played while we wrote.  Ask your child to read their story to you tonight...if you DARE!

Peek at the Week of October 24-28

One week until Halloween...everyone is getting excited!  We will get in the Halloween spirit this week with special reading and writing activities.

Reading Workshop:  We will be strengthening our comprehension by learning how to retell a story.  We will read and retell story events from some Halloween books.

Writing Workshop:  Last week we finished up our Small Moment stories and we will start a new unit next week.  This week we will do some fun Halloween writing projects such as describing our costumes, making up some fall tongue twisters, composing some poem and writing a haunted house story with sound effects.  Some creepy background music will get us in the mood!

Math:  We completed Topic 2 last week and will begin Topic 3 this week.  Topic 3 is titled "Working with Time, Length, and Money".  This week's topics are: Telling the Time; Showing On the Hour Times; Relating Pennies and Nickels; Relating Pennies, Nickels and Dimes; and Counting On to Add.

Halloween:  I know that Halloween is next week, but I thought you'd like to know our plans.  I am telling the kids to dress in Halloween colors (black & orange) for fun.  We are NOT doing costumes.  Instead of wearing costumes we will watch the K parade in the morning. 

In the afternoon we will have a movie party in the classroom.  The class will vote on which movie to watch.  We will enjoy the movie with some popcorn (Martin Family), juice boxes (Peck Family) and some fruit snacks (Chandler Family).  Thank you in advance to these three families for stocking our 'snack bar'. 

Homework
Monday 10/24
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work

Tuesday 10/25
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Math:  Pumpkin Problem

Wednesday 10/26
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Picking Pumpkins (ABC order)

Thursday 10/27
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Review for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great week!

Computer Zone

Starfall is a great site for first graders!

Highlights of the Week October 21

• We read our Small Moments stories to Mrs. McGettigan's class.  (CH)
• In art we made pictures with red, white and blue for Veterans' Day.  (MK)
• We had a drum assembly.  It was really cool.  We got to keep a drum in the music room.  (AP)
• West Africa drummers and dancers came to the school.  (CC) 
• After the drum assembly was over a drummer gave a drum to Mr. Rechi.  Mr. Rechi passed it on to Mr. Allen.  (MF)
• We had a card party after we did our math test.  (EC)
• Today we have our 3rd Mystery Reader.  (BS)
•  We have a new Mr. Buttons.  He is the little computer dude who shows us cool games.  (KD)
• We had a fire drill yesterday.  (KN)
• We played xylophones in music.  (EC)
• We had a new captain.  ED was a good captain. (AM)
• Next week MF will be the captain.  (SS)
• We played bowling in gym.  (KN)
• In gym we threw balls.  (ES)
• In gym we played a game.  There were green, orange and yellow pins.  We tried to knock other people's pins down.  (MF)
• In gym we played pass with a football.  (BS)

Computer Zone

Here are a TON of Halloween games, printouts, and stories.  I hope they are not too scary!

Darien Historical Society Trip

Your child will be bringing home a permission trip letter today for our November 9th trip to the Darien Historical Society.  Please sign and return as soon as possible...thank you!

Peek at the Week of October 17-21

This Tuesday we will attend a musical program about drums.

Reading Workshop:  This week we will focus on fluency.  I am defining this as reading like a "storyteller" vs.  sounding like a robot.  We will pay attention to punctuation and how that affects your reading voice. 

Math:  This week's topics are Developing Models for Subtraction, Consolidating Subtraction Concepts, Relating Addition and Subtraction and taking our Unit 2 assessment.

Writing Workshop:  We are (hopefully) finishing up our Small Moment stories and will spend the week focusing on basic sentence writing.  This is a good time to make sure all sentences are complete thoughts and that they begin with a capital letter.  Tuesday night's homework will be a chance to practice answering a question in a complete sentence.

Second Steps Social Skills: This week's topic is called 'Being Assertive'.  The lesson concepts are that "Being assertive involves using as assertive posture (face the person you are talking to, keep your head up and shoulders back) and assertive tone of voice (use a calm, firm voice; use respectful words)."  We will talk about different situations where you might need to be assertive, like when you need an adult's help at home or school. 


Homework
Monday 10/17
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work

Tuesday 10/18
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Fall Sentence Writing

Wednesday 10/19
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Math:  A Corny Riddle

Thursday 10/20
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Review words for tomorrow's test 

Have a great week!

Computer Zone

Here are some Autumn games for us to try!

Highlights of the Week October 14

• KD was the captain this week.  ED will be the captain next week.  (RH)
• We learned about Christopher Columbus.  (MK) 
• We watched a movie about Christopher Columbus.  (KD)
• We got a Columbus poem for our binders. (AP)
• We learned that Columbus sailed with 3 ships.  (ES)
• Here is a Columbus joke:  What kind of car can go over the ocean?  A colum-BUS!  (BS)
• Columbus sailed for 71 days.  (RM)
• In Reading Workshop we practiced getting our mouths ready, going back to reread, and skipping the word and trying to figure it out.  (LC)
• Every 3 days, everyone gets to pick out new books.  (JN & AP)
• We finished our Small Moment stories and made covers.  (AM)
• We went to Mrs. McGettigan's room to see the other kids' small moment stories.  (EC)
• In Writing Workshop we used blue pens to revise our story.  Revising is when you reread your story and add on to it.  (CC)
• We used red pens to edit our stories.  (KB)
• In art we made a leaf pile and us jumping into it.  We used sponges and paintbrushes to make the leaves.  We stamped the sponges on the paper.  (MF)
• In gym we played dodgeball and messy yard.  (KN)
• In music we sang a pizza song.  (TP)

Small Moment Housekeeping

Today in Writing Workshop we did a little bit of "housekeeping".  

We took out all of Small Moment story drafts and planning sheets and stapled them into a big packet to take home today. These stories can be kept at home.  

You will see that some of the stories are complete while others are not finished, and that is OK.  

This past Tuesday each person picked 1 of their BEST stories to keep here at school to revise and edit.  That special story draft is the one that we will keep at school until the end of the school year.

Columbus Video

Today we read a Scholastic News magazine about Christopher Columbus.  We also watched a short video about this explorer.  Here is the link for the Christopher Columber video. 

Peek at the Week of October 10-14

There is no school for students on Monday, October 10th in honor of Columbus Day.

We had our first parent Mystery Reader last week.  It was  a lot of fun. 

Last week we also had our first Game Day of the year.  It was nice to have some time to play games in small groups with our parent volunteers.  There will be 3 more game days during the rest of the school year. 

The cafeteria snack program has begun.  There are two drink choices:  water or capri sun.  The snack choices are:  pretzels, crackers, string cheese or apples.  Please let your child your family's "policy" on purchasing snacks (ex:  just once a week or 1 drink & 1 snack food item or no drinks & just a snack, etc.).  The cost of whichever items your child selects will be deducted from his/her lunch account.  These snacks are dropped off to our classroom for afternoon snack time.  This is a completely optional program and you may choose to continue sending in snack from home...it's up to you!

Writing Workshop:  We have spent the last 3 weeks writing our small moment stories.  This week is our "Publishing" week which means we will be selecting 1 of our favorite stories to take through the writing process of revising (Writers can add on to their story draft to make it even better), editing (Writers fix up their stories to make it easier for readers to read and enjoy it.) and then publishing (Writers make a cover and illustrate their stories.).  During this publishing process I use the term 'sloppy copy' to mean our initial draft and 'fancy schmancy' to mean the final product.

Reading Workshop:  We will start meeting with our reading groups this week!  We have really increased our independent reading stamina and are ready to take on some group work.  Our whole class mini-lessons will be related to strategies strong readers use.  This week we will review/learn how strong readers use the following strategies:  Get your Mouth Ready, Backtrack adn Reread, Skip it and Read On, and Think About What Makes Sense.

Second Steps:  We are in the 4th week of the Second Steps program.  The topics so far have been:  Listening to Learn, Focusing Attention, and Following Directions.  This week we will learn about "Self-Talk for Learning" which is the concept of talking to yourself as a way of focusing attention.

Math:  This week's topics are:  Exploring Addition Patterns, Reviewing Subtraction as "take away", Enriching Subtraction Language, and Writing Subtraction Number Stories.


Homework
Tuesday 10/11
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work

Wednesday 10/12
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Math Problem Solving:  Columbus' Ships

Thursday 10/13
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Review for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great week!

Highlights of the Week October 7

• EC was a great captain.  (Miss D.)
•  In Reading Workshop we started a new unit called Tackling Trouble.  (SS)
• We worked on looking at the pictures when we are reading.  It helps you when you can't figure out a word.  (RM)
• We pointed with witch fingers in reading workshop.  The witch fingers are creepy green fingers with red nail polish.  They help us to point to the words when we are reading.  (KD)
• We used post-it notes to write tricky words on.  (KB)
• Miss Dineen put out new Halloween books on the monthly rack.  (AM)

• In math we worked on the strategy called "counting on" or "adding on".  (BS)
• When you "count on" you put the highest number in your brain and then you count on from that number.  (LC)
• In Writing Workshop we wrote stories about our friends.  (RH)
• This is our last week drafting small moments.  Next week we will pick our favorite story and make it way better.  (ES)
• We made a new picture in art.  It was a fall picture.  We used pencil and crayons.  (KN & AP)
• In gym we played a game called Mat Ball.  (MF)
• In music we sang our names.  (CC)
• In music we played instruments.  We learned 2 new instruments.  They were cow bells and cymbals.  (MF & AP)
• This afternoon we will have Game Day with some parents.  (EC)
• Today we will have our first parent Mystery Reader.  (JN)

Computer Zone

This week we learned about Fire Safety.  Here's a fun site about Sparky, a firedog who teaches kids about staying safe.

September Pep Rally

Congratulations to RM and BS, our September Citizens of the Month! 

The rest of the class showed their sportsmenship by clapping and celebrating their friends' success.

Peek at the Week of October 3-7

Thank you for sending in the field trip money.  We are all set for the November trip. 

The first week of homework seemed to go well.  The children added another step to their morning routine by making sure their name is on their homework and then turning it in.  In these small ways they are becoming more responsible and independent.  Thank you for supporting them with this at home.

Academic Update
Reading Workshop:  Last week we talked about previewing books by gaining information from the title, cover artwork and the "blurb" on the back cover.  We also practiced "bookwalking" as a prereading strategy.  Bookwalking is a way for your child to work on their comprehension by using the pictures in the book as clues for what might happen in the story.  This week we will start a new unit called "Tackling Trouble".  This means we will learn strategies for what to do when you get stuck on a "tricky" word.  This is a lifelong skill all readers need!

Writing Workshop:  We will continue to write our "small moment" stories.  We spent a week writing family stories and a week on neighborhood stories.  This week we will focus on friendship stories.  So far in Writing Workshop we have learned about brainstorming, planning and drafting a story.  Next week we will focus on editing and revising a story.

Word Study:  Our rainbow word groups have really taken off!  Last Friday was the first test and most of us were very excited to take a "real" test like our older brothers and sisters.  The tests  will usually be stapled to the top of the Friday packet that comes home.

Math:  This week's topics are:  Using 10 as a benchmark, Recording & Interpreting Data, and Counting On to Add.  We have used the decks of playing cards that were sent in for playing games and ordering cards from least to greatest.  They are a great resource.


Homework
Monday 10/3
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work (pick 1 activity to do...keep the list of words at home)

Tuesday 10/4
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Apple Sentence Writing

Wednesday 10/5
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Math:   Counting around your house (tally marks)

Thursday 10/6
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Review your list for tomorrow's test

Have a great week!