This week in First grade...

October 9th -12th

READING WORKSHOP:

Last week we used some of our Reading and Writing workshop time to learn about Bats.  We read nonfiction books about bats in every reading group and we shared facts we learned from our reading.  As a class we read Bats by Gail Gibbons, Mrs. Caballero's favorite nonfiction author, to learn even more about bats.  We made a class fact chart so we could review what we learned all week.  On Friday we put two new bat poems in our poetry folder.  We also made a bat fact book, a diagram of a bat and it's body parts and I poem book about a bat's nightly journey.  It was a great week!  This week we will extend our nonfiction reading and begin learning about spiders! This will be part of our unit on expository text.  We will model how to think aloud the main idea and details.  During reading groups the students will practice talking about the main idea, details, and retelling the information in the book.  We will introduce important features of expository text such as table of contents, index, glossary, labels, photographs and diagrams.

WRITING WORKSHOP

This week in Writing Workshop we will be moving away from story writing and begin factual writing.  As a class, we will study spiders and learn and write facts about them.  Individually, your child will make a list of their interests.  Then they will use books to learn more and write facts in their own words.

 MATH

This week we will be working with patterns, relationships, and algebraic thinking.  The students will recognize patterns in numbers and operations using a number line and hundreds chart.  Next we will learn how numbers can be broken apart and put together in a variety of ways (decomposing and composing).  We will continue problem solving that incorporates the processes of understanding the problem, making a plan, carrying out the plan, and evaluating the solution for reasonableness.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:

We have been learning about different types of communities, along with rules and laws, and being good citizens.  Now we will begin focusing on the leaders in our communities.  We will read and learn about the roles and responsibilities of leaders in various communities starting with our school principal, and then moving on to the mayor, governor, and finally the president.

 REMINDERS:

*No school on Monday, October 8^th.  Please remember to attend your parent/teacher conference.  You will get a reminder email from Signupgenius.com before your conference.

*PLEASE CHECK THE SCHOOL WEBSITE FOR SCHOOL WIDE EVENTS AND REMINDERS!