Field Day

Field Day is scheduled for this Friday! The weather forecast is calling for some very hot weather.

• Please dress your child accordingly. 
• Send in a refillable water bottle to keep them hydrated. 
• They may also want a hat. 
• Apply any sunscreen/ bug spray before sending them to school. I cannot apply it here. 
• Also, the lunch will be provided and is a hot dog, watermelon, chips, and a drink. If your child does not like this food... please pack them a bagged lunch!

Writing Assessments

We will be having a writing prompt on Tuesday about the long weekend. Please talk to your child about the things you are doing over the weekend to help them gather "story ideas". The more they are aware of what they do... the better the details!

Library Visit

Reminder- We will be going on a "field trip" to the Somers Public Library next Tuesday to learn about the summer reading program and all that the library has to offer to keep your child at their best over the break!

Math Chapter 11

 

We are now moving on to Chapter 11- Addition and Subtraction

This chapter is in many ways a culmination of all that the children have learned about numbers in 1st grade. Over the next few days we will focus intensely on reviewing related facts, ex:

5+3=8

3+5=8

and fact families (which is the complete set including the subtraction), ex:

5+3=8

3+5=8

8-5=3

8-3=5

We will review:

doubles

doubles plus/ minus 1

adding 10

making 10 to add

addition strategies

adding three numbers

related facts

fact families

using addition to subtract

using 10 to subtract

applying subtraction fact strategies

solving multi-step word problems

problem solving applications (word problems)

We will also continue to use IXL and xtramath daily. The children have made so much progress with these programs this year! I hope to see most students approach completion (100) on addition using xtramath before the end of 1st grade. Many are already half way there or beyond. I am currently working on sharing the xtramath program with parents and hope to be able to do that soon so that you may get a better idea of your child's progress and needs.

Readers Workshop

We are beginning to shift from Unit 7: Fluency to Unit 8: Deeper Comprehension. As we move away from the focus on fluency, please keep working with your child to make their reading smooth (not too fast, not too slow), accurate, and expressive.

Unit 8 will cover a range of reading skills and strategies that they will need for the rest of their life as a reader. These will be taught more in depth in 2nd grade and beyond. Here is our scope and sequence- some lessons may be taught over a continuum of days.

Good Readers:
    •    retell using story elements
    •    retell and have a partner check
    •    retell (summarize)
    •    relate (connect)
    •    predict
    •    ask questions
    •    answer questions (w's)
    •    support answers with evidence from the text
    •    think about what the character does AND says to learn more about them
    •    think about character traits
    •    think about characters to predict and understand beyond the text (infer)
    •    picture the story (visualize)
    •    make deeper connections (T to T, T to S, T to W)
    •    use background knowledge (schema)

Blogging at Home

 

http://kidblog.org/StephanieToneysClass/wp-login.php?loggedout=true

Please keep blogging from home (sign in as a parent guest, password room222- don't forget to leave a signature so we know who you are). The kids love to see parents' comments (thanks Mrs. T.) when we get on there at school! The most recent posts are all about the kids favorite animals. Some children had time to post images from google images. But if you want to add a picture of your own pet to go along with their post just put it in the comment. You can do that by right clicking on a picture (it must be saved somewhere online like snapfish) and selecting "copy image location". Then when you are on the blog you can select "img" and paste the code in the first box. It will ask you to title your picture but the title doesn't appear. I have commented myself on a few to give examples of how pictures can appear in comments.

Also, I LOVE that so many kids are posting from home. It gives them a great opportunity to extend their learning and to share a personal side of them (check out the trains and trips that have been blogged about). It also gives them time to read through other students' blogs and comment. We always seem to run out of time to do EVERYTHING so thank you for giving them the opportunity at home!

Reading Reward for April

Friday 5/3 is bring a stuffed animal to school day for 1st graders who have completed their at home reading logs!!!

 

* On a side (yet related) note. This past month I have had to send home multiple copies of the log for students who misplace them. I completely don't mind doing so, but it seems that more and more the logs are being lost or forgotten. Please work with your child to be responsible for the log as it should be an accurate collection of days they read. Also, this should be an ongoing nightly assignment so if the log is misplaced, please email me early so that the student is seeing their own progress as they work to earn the reward. I worry with so many logs being signed all at once, that the children are no longer equating their own work with the reward.
* If you have not seen/ signed a complete log for your child, this is a good time to discuss with them their responsibility to read nightly and to keep the log in their folder. Please also discuss with them that they may not bring a stuffed animal and help them to see the connection between the work/ reward. This is the part of the incentive that breaks my heart, but I'm sure you'd agree that it is not fair to the kids who are working so hard to see their classmates get the reward without doing the work.