Tuesday, December 15, 2009

This week in First grade...

Principal's Pride:

Last week:
Emma is a hard worker and always has a positive attitude! Emma is compassionate toward her classmates and has a sweet, giving nature!

This week:
Josh has a great attitude toward learning and always tries his best! He shares his expertise on cars with his class!

Tonight is Family Story Night! There are two readings, one at 6:15pm-7:00pm and 7:00pm-7:45pm. You are welcome to come even if you didn't RSVP. We'll share stories and delicious refreshments! Hope to see you there!

Don't forget, our Holiday party is Thursday, December 16th at 1:45pm-2:45pm. All are welcome!

If your child will be participating in the Science Fair registration forms are due by January 11th.

This week in Reader's Workshop...
We will work on reading and researching winter holidays around the world. We will focus on six holidays, Christmas, Las Posadas, Ramadan, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Diwali. We will make a class graph to illustrate how many of our classmates celebrate different holidays. We will focus on comprehension strategies and making connections to our own families.
I will also be reading with individual students to complete their mid- year Developmental Reading Assessment.

In Writer's Workshop...
We will be writing short stories and reading responses to the books we share about different holidays this week. We will practice writing sentences with capitals and end punctuation.

Vocabulary words: Christmas, Las Posadas, Ramadan, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Diwali
No Spelling this week!

In math this week...
We will be comparing measurement, weight and length, and comparing temperature. This is our last week for comparing and ordering numbers.

In Science this week...
We will be complete our unit on Natural Resources. We made a chart about uses for Natural Resources and where on the earth we find different types of natural resources.

In Social Studies this week...
We will be learning about holidays around the world focusing on Social Studies TEKS that address family celebrations.

Have a great week and Happy Holidays!
Mrs. Caballero

Monday, December 7, 2009

This week in First grade...

We have a busy week planned as we count down to the winter holiday! The students enjoyed the "blizzard" on Friday. They were outside at lunch recess when it began to snow so they were able to enjoy the winter weather! We even came back in and add "snowy" to our weather calendar.
Today we will go to the Book Fair for our preview. We will have 30 minutes on Thursday morning to go and purchase books at the book fair. If your child is unable to purchase at that time please remember that they will need to be accompanied by an adult after school to purchase books. Also, Thursday morning the book fair will open early for "Breakfast with Someone you Love". Come by, purchase books and enjoy a doughnut breakfast together! We will not be checking out library books again until after the winter break.

Reminders:

Book Fair- Monday-Thursday, Dec 7th-10th
Early Release- Wednesday, December 9th
Winter party- Thursday, December 17th 1:45pm-2:45pm

In Reader's workshop...
We will continue our unit on Giving! We are learning about what it means to be unselfish and give to others without expecting anything in return. We will read, The Mitten, Claude the Dog, The Quiltmaker's Gift and Something From Nothing. Each story will have an activity in which we will make something to give to someone or something.

In Writer's Workshop...
We will continue working on organizing our writing. We will practice by writing stories with a beginning, middle and end. We will read stories by other authors to help us see how they organized their thoughts.

Word work words: day, say, may, stay, play
Sound rule: ai, ay (says the long a sound)
Challenge words: penguin, holiday
Vocabulary words: us, there , nice, come, from

In Math...
We will be comparing lengths of different objects and work on pre-measurement skills. Measurement is non-standard in first grade. For example, we will measure things using cubes or paper clips. Students begin measuring with rulers and standard measurement tools in second grade.

In Science...
We will learn about Natural Resources. How are they used? What are natural resources? We will brainstorm ways to use natural resources.

Have a great week!