This week in First Grade...

March 26th- March 30th

Word Work:
Green Group: Sort #21 (p,l &pl) leaf, plant, pie, plot, last, your, our, my, what, because

Blue Group: Sort #27 (-at, -ot & -it word families) mat, slot, pot, knit, splat, rat, lit, rot, spit, sat, that

Red Group: Sort #23( short i, long i vs. short o, long o) fist, cold, scold, gold, told, wild, soft, post, friend, wind, blind, ghost, mind

READING and WRITING
This week, we will learn about media literacy. We will define media as sending messages or communicating to others in a much larger group and identify different forms of media literature such as magazines, newspapers, radio programs, television and internet. We will explore the techniques used in each, such as images, graphics, sound and movement. We will learn the difference between news and commercials. A newspaper can teach people about what is happening and advertise things as well. Students should be able to identify the difference between real programs on TV or radio and the commercials.


HATCHING CHICKS
The countdown begins...Our chicks are here! So far, we have learned the parts of the incubator and discussed the expectations for behavior while we are hatching chicks. We will periodically record information about hatching chicks in our Science Notebooks. We will learn about and record the life cycle of chicken and its body parts. We are expecting 12 chicks around April 11th!

MATH
This week, we will be continuing our unit on fractions. We are learning all about equal parts, and how to divide objects into 2 equal parts, 3 equal parts and 4 equal parts. We are also learning how to separate objects into equal sets. We will use the information learned from last week to apply it to word problem solving this week in math.

SCIENCE
This week, we will be learning about different objects in the sky, such as clouds, the sun and moon and constellations.

**Reminder about our At Home Research Project** DUE Monday, APRIL 2nd!!!
Dear Parents,

It is time for our first grade, Spring Research Project, which will be done entirely at home. Your child is familiar with the research process, as we just completed our animal research in class before spring break. This project is designed to coincide with our current study in science, and is due on Monday, April 2nd. Your child will present to the rest of the class on Tuesday, April 3rd and Wednesday, April 4th.

Research Format:
*Topic
* 4 Headings (What you would like to learn about your topic)
* Glossary (important words)
* List of Resources used for research.

Topic:
This week, your child will pick a nonfiction book from the library that will be related to weather, climate, seasons, or natural objects in the sky (clouds, moon, sun, and stars). If your child’s book is about the Solar System, please feel free to pick one topic to focus on (example: instead of researching the Solar System, you might just research Jupiter). You may use additional resources to research your topic at home.

Headings:
Once you have your topic, you should think about 4 things you would like to learn while researching your topic. The 4 things you would like to learn should be your headings.

Glossary: Please include a glossary containing important words. Depending on what your actual project is, you might want to just do this on a note card.

Resources:
Your child is welcome to use books from the school library, public library, internet resource (Kathy Caraway Website has approved research links such as Pebble Go, etc.), newspaper articles, magazines... etc. Please remember to include a list of Sources used. This might be done on a note card as well. When citing a source, please include all information. (Example: title of book AND author’s name, title of article AND name of magazine, and when citing an internet resource, please include the website address).

Project:
The actual project your child will create is also very “open-ended,” and can be as creative as you want. Some examples of projects are: mobiles, dioramas, posters, diagrams, poems, drawings, models, songs, objects made out of clay, etc…. We will be displaying these in the first grade hallway to “show off” your hard work!

This project will increase higher-level thinking for your child by researching and then communicating what was learned in a creative way. Please have your child practice presenting his/her project to your family. Thank you for your support. We are looking forward to seeing the creativity and listening to your child as they teach the other children what was learned through this research.

Thank you,
First Grade Teachers


DATES AND REMINDERS
March 27th – Report Cards go home
March 27th – 28th – STAAR testing **Closed Campus, Parents will not be allowed in the building during the school day**
April 2nd – Research Paper Due

STAAR testing will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 27th, and March 28th. As much as I love for you to be here, parents are asked to not visit the school during these tests, as we are trying to maintain a quiet, calm testing environment.

Thank you!

The Countdown begins...

Our chicks are here! This morning we learned the parts of the incubator. We discussed the expectations for behavior while we are hatching chicks. Here are some pictures of our little ones!!! We're expecting 12 babies around April 11th.

This week in First grade...

March 19-23

Welcome back!! Only 10 weeks left!!

Words Their Way:
Green Group: (p,l and pl beginning blends) lock, pail, plum, pig, lamp, pin, plus, log, line, plug

Blue Group: (-at, -ot, and –it word family) not, fit, hat, bat, cot, dot, got, fat, bit, hat

Red Group: Short I vs. long I (VCC) w/ short o vs. long o (VCC) find, most, film, lost, child, moth, cost, both, kind, roll


Language Arts:
Reading Workshop: We will continue our unit on Nonfiction Texts. This week we will focus on informational texts about Culture.
Writing Workshop: The children worked very hard to complete their research folders. They will be hanging in the hallway by the end of the week.
This week we will be writing procudural texts with a focus on giving instructions.


Math: In math we will begin our unit on fractions. The students will learn how to identify equal and unequal parts, describe equal parts of whole objects, make parts of a set and learn how to describe them. This will be our first week of a two week unit.


Science: This week we will learn about different types of weather and climate. We will investigate wind and make wind socks to determine the direction the wind is blowing. We will discuss the three main types of precipitation: rain, sleet and snow. Finally we will discuss extreme weather such as flooding, tornadoes, and hurricanes. We will end the unit with a fun creative lesson around the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.


Reminders:
*We will not have homework until the week of April 2nd – 6th due to the Spring Research Project that will be completed at home. More information will follow in the Tuesday folder.
*Every Tuesday is our library day. Please remind your child to turn in their library books.
· March 22 Talent Show for K-3
· March 23 Talent Show for 4-5
· April 6 No School (Holiday)
· April 12 6-8pm PTA hosts Science Night for Families
· April 19 6-8pm Family Skate Night, Playland Skate Center

Thank You:
Mr. Score-Computer Lab Dad
The Score Family: Tuesday folders

Have a great week!
Mrs. Caballero

This week in First Grade....

Due to my absence last Friday the students did not take their spelling test. I will do an informal assessment tomorrow to check for mastery of last weeks words.

Today Mrs.Barnes stepped in to subsistute teach for me. Instead of having a fun weekend with my family I was ill. I am still battling a "virus" complete with cough, congestion and low grade fever. On that note, please remember that the Caraway policy for sickness is fever (anything above 98.6) and symptom (vomiting, diarrhea, etc.) free for 24 hours before your child can return to school. Abiding by this policy will help all of us stay well!
 
Words Their Way:  
Your child will take a spelling test every Friday.  Please ask your child what color group he or she is on so you can work on the spelling words at home during the week.
 
Green Group: (sc, sn, sw)

snow, scoop, swap, sneeze, swipe, did, for, just, like, may

Blue Group:  (wh, qu, tw, k)

white, quick, twelve, kite, quit, did, for, just, like, may

Red Group:  Short i vs. Long i; (CVC, CVCe, CV, VCC) Sort

quit, fight, fly, flight, sight, fine, try, live, write, sigh, shy, right
 
Reading Workshop:
This week we will be continuing with the non-fiction genre for reading workshop. Our focus will be to learn about the research process: researchers don’t just collect their data, they also think about it, think about the new information, then form new questions, they make connections to things they already know and make theories about new information.  Each child will have the opportunity to check out another non-fiction book from the library that will be used for our reading workshop time to research their topic for our Writing Workshop.  

Writer’s Workshop:
We will begin writing our in-class research folder  We will focus on becoming an "expert" on the subject we choose to research. We will take notes using stickies and research our subject on PebbleGo, an online search engine for kids.
 
Math:
This week we will start a new unit on measurement.  The students will explore different ways to measure objects using nonstandard units such as paper clips, unifix cubes, etc.  We will also compare and order the area of two or more two-dimensional surfaces.  We will compare and order objects according to capacity, weight/mass, and temperature.
 
Science:
This week we will start our unit on Earth and Space.  Our focus this week will be on the four seasons.  We will talk about the climate and weather for each season.
 
Reminders:
 
*Every Wednesday is our library day. Please remember to turn in your library books.  
 
March 3 Family Dinner Night in the Caraway Cafeteria
March 9 Due date for Box Tops Contest
March 12-16 Spring Break
March 22 Talent Show for K-3
March 23 Talent Show for 4-5

Have a healthy week!

Mrs. Caballero