What's Happening in the Classroom

Hi!
I can't believe we are almost to the month of December. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and break with your families. Here's what we are learning in the classroom:

Language Arts- We are discussing nouns, verbs and adjectives. We are discussing author's purpose. (PIE- Persuade, Inform, or Entertain) We are discussing different books and having discussions about what we think the author's purpose is etc. We are continuing with Informational writing to the end of the quarter. We are working on making sure we have a topic or beginning sentence, facts (minimum of 3) and a closure/conclusion. We are also working on How to writing as well.

Math- We are finishing up Missing Addends with addition and subtraction. We will be going into balanced equations and making equations True or False as well. We will continue to work on strategies to solve the problems and word problems. Some of our strategies include counting on, pictures, number line, etc.

Social Studies/Science- We finished up our learning and discussion of Benjamin Franklin. We will be discussing Thomas Jefferson. In the area of Science, we will be discussing sound and light and during Science Lab.

Important Notes/Calendar Dates:

• Please be sure to continue to practice/read sight word lists with homework. I will test them throughout the quarter. We work on sight words during guided reading/small groups during Daily 5.
• Please read for 20 minutes each night.
• Thanks to everyone for helping your child to complete the weekly homework packet and projects. I greatly appreciate your time and support.

We had fun with our Benjamin Franklin Projects!

Science Lab Fun Learning About Light

November News and What's Happening in the Classroom?

·       If you have not been receiving my emails, please let me know with a note in your child’s agenda and the email address you would like me to send information to and/or any additional email addresses you would like me to add to my group for the class.

·       Ben Franklin project due Thursday November 15^th. If you are in need of the information sheet, let me know in your child’s agenda.

·       Our special Thanksgiving lunch is Thursday November 15 at 12:10. Please come a little early if you are planning to eat with your child to purchase tickets.

·       Thanksgiving Break is Monday November 19-23.

·       Homework and Extension Ideas:

·       Please have your child practice high frequency words as often as possible.

·       -Spelling of high frequency/sight words (this will help with writing too.)

·       -Practice Informational writing (Topic/Hook, at least 3 facts and a Closing Sentence.) -Don’t forget about capitalization and punctuation too!

·       -Good activities on abcya.com under first and second grade if needed.

·       -RAZ kids to work on reading skills and comprehension at his/her independent level.

·       -Please continue to work on word work/spelling work with your child each week. Our spelling test is every Friday.

·       Please practice music for the musical on Thursday November 29^th in the evening.

·       Concepts working on in the classroom:

·       Math- missing addends (addition and subtraction) and doubles

·       Language Arts- syllables, nouns, verbs, non- fiction text features and informational writing

·       Please note that your child needs a healthy snack each day.

Early November

I hope everyone is enjoying this cool Fall weather! Here is what we are learning in the classroom:

Language Arts- We are discussing nouns, verbs, and adjectives. We are also working on informational writing this quarter. We wrote about bats and spiders during this time. We are working on having a topic sentence, facts and a closing sentence. We are also discussing capitalization and punctuation being in each sentence. We are also working in partner groups to focus on these concepts.
We are working on ending digraph-ck this week. We are working on writing narratives during Daily 5 for review and to keep working on this type of writing. The children are working hard on Daily 5 and in reading groups with me.

Math- We are working on fact families. We will be discussing doubles and missing addends (addition) during this time. We are working hard on problem solving skills with word problems (both addition and subtraction) in our math journals.

Science/Social Studies- We are discussing Ben Franklin during this time. We are discussing the important things he did and the importance to our country. We will be discussing sound this quarter along with signs of Fall during this time and during Science Lab.

Important Information to Know:

Patti Agatston will be here again to share information on cyber bullying, phone and internet safety and tips for parents when it comes to staying vigilant with your kids and phones and the internet. She will be at Addison on two different dates and times so that more of our parents and staff can come. First, she will be here on Monday, November 12th at 8:15 AM, and then again on November 27th at 6:00 PM. These informational meetings are meant for adults only. She was here last year and our parents raved about it and the information they received was invaluable. Add this to your BLOG please and consider coming if you have children who already have cell phones or will in the near future!

Homework Ideas:

• Practice writing narrative stories (topic sentence, using transition words, ending or closure, capitalization and punctuation)
• Practice writing informational writing pieces
• Spelling high frequency or sight words and including them in writing pieces
• Practice fact families
• Word Problems to 20 (addition and subtraction)

Thanksgiving Luncheon

Hi!
We are excited to be having Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria. We hope you can make it out to this special occasion. We will be having a special Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria on this day:

Thursday November 15 at 12:10 (First Grade day to eat with families in the cafeteria)

Please note that we will be eating sack lunches in our classroom the other days this week.


We hope everyone can make it out to this special time and be with your children!

End of October

Hi!
It was so nice meeting with all of you last week. Thanks for your time and support. Please know it is greatly appreciated. I could not do it without you. Here is what is happening in the classroom this week:
Language Arts- We will be discussing Long Ii during Phonics time. We will continue to work on Daily 5 and expectations during this time. I will continue to work with reading groups and work on strategies along with characters, setting, problem/solution, retelling stories, beginning, middle and ending of stories. We will continue to work on narrative writing along with introduction to informational writing. We will continue to work on completing Story Maps during this time to fill out information regarding the books read during Read to Self and Read to Someone.

Math- We will continue to work on numbers to 120 and higher. We will work on graphing skills along with tally marks and charts. We will review the different types of graphs such as bar graphs, pictographs etc.

Science- We will be discussing sound and light this quarter.

Social Studies- We will be discussing Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson this quarter.

We will be working on different activities and a book study on the book: Room on the Broom. We will be having a special author visit this week.

• Don't forget about our Trunk and Treat this Friday October 26 that begins at 6:00. We will also be playing Hotel Transylvania 3 afterwards.
• Our FBI Breakfast is this Friday October 26 at 7:00. We hope you can make it.
• We have Science Lab this Friday. 
• We are working on collecting items for Hurricane victims. Please be sure to check out the Addison website if you would like to donate or able to do help in anyway.
• Habit for the Month: Begin with the End in Mind