This week in First Grade...

December 17-20

Reminders:

Monday, December 17^th  Cultural Unit Fair

Wednesday, December 19^th  Winter Parties

Thursday, December 20^th Polar Express Day – PJ Day

Winter Break: December 21^st- January 7^th (Students return on the 7^th)

Reading Workshop:

In Reading Workshop we will continue exploring holiday traditions from around the world.  We will celebrate cultures and countries on Monday during our Cultural Unit Fair!  Thank you to all of our volunteers! 

Writer’s Workshop:

During Writer’s Workshop we will continue writing facts about the holidays and countries that we research.  We will finish our Elf Around the World book.  We will reflect on what we’ve learned and our favorite parts of the unit.

Math:

In math we will work on problem solving this week.  We have may holiday situations that need good problems solvers to fix the issues!    

Social Studies:

We will finish our unit on cultural celebrations this week with The Elf on the Shelf: Holidays around the World.  We’ve enjoyed learning about countries and their holiday traditions.  Our room will be embellished with all of our holiday projects!

**Polar Express Day: Thursday, December 20th**

Every year in First grade we celebrate the end of the semester with Polar Express Day.  We focus all of our learning on The Polar Express.  Please send your child in their pajamas (appropriate for school).  They may bring a blanket, stuffed animal and slippers in their backpack for our movie viewing.  We will read the story of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg and admire the beautiful illustrations.  Then we will have our own tickets to hop on The Polar Express.  We will watch the movie as we make Hot Chocolate in our classroom.  After the movie we will compare the book and the movie and talk about the differences between them.  We will also write a “How to make Hot Chocolate”.  This is such a fun day for our students!

This week in First grade...

December 10-14 Reminders: Thursday, December 13th Family Art Night Wednesday, December 19th Winter Parties December 21st- January 7th (Students return on the 7th) Last week you received an invitation to view our Caraway Cares Adopt a Family Sign Up on signupgenius.com. We are excited to share with you that 4 out of the 6 items listed are already being purchased by first grade families. Thank you so much for your generosity during this holiday season! Don't forget, if your family would like to donate you can send $1-$2 with your child. There will be an envelope in each first grade classroom for donations. The link to the actual sign up is http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4EAEA72AA64-caraway Calling all parents!! We are learning and discovering new holiday traditions from around the world each day in our classrooms! We would like to have parents present (see last week's email) your family's holiday traditions in the form of a booth on Monday, December 17th or Tuesday, December 18th. Please email Mrs. Caballero at erin_caballero@roundrockisd.org or your child's teacher to sign up and help! Reading Workshop: In Reading Workshop we will be exploring holiday traditions from around the world. This unit will correlate with our Social Studies unit on Culture. We will learn about holidays in other countries as we travel around the world with our elf. Writer’s Workshop: During Writer’s Workshop we will be writing facts about the holidays that we research. We will record our learning in our Elf Around the World book. We hope to gain an understanding of different traditions and cultural celebrations. Math: In math we will continue our unit on Patterns. The students will create and extend patterns with pictures, numbers and concrete objects. The students will learn about even and odd numbers and how they are a pattern. They will also identify rules of patterns. For example a shape pattern that is square, circle, square, circle is an ABAB pattern. Social Studies: We will continue our unit on cultural celebrations this week with The Elf on the Shelf: Holidays around the World. Our very own Elf has been busy traveling to different countries and reporting back to us what he learns about their holiday traditions. We have been keeping track of his travels on the map and in our Elf file book. Where will he go next?

Look who came to our classroom today...

Our Elf, Frisbee!!

This week in First Grade...

December 3-7

Reminders:

Wednesday, December 5^th  Early Release at 12:45pm

Thursday, December 13^th  Family Art Night

Wednesday, December 19^th  Winter Parties

December 21^st- January 7^th (Students return on the 7^th)

Reading Workshop:

This week we are focusing on making predictions.  As students make predictions they are using their background knowledge to help them comprehend what they are about to read.  We will talk about how good readers make preconditions by envisioning the story, they use the text to make predictions and they make connections with the story.

Writer’s Workshop:

During Writer’s Workshop we  will be focusing on our Giving Unit.  We will begin by discussing the meaning of giving and philanthropy.  We will talk about what it means to give and how we can help others in our community and beyond.  We will read stories about Giving and discuss their meanings.  We will begin with The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.  We will discuss how the tree gave to the boy as he grew.

Math:

In math we will being a unit on Patterns.  We will build on student’s prior knowledge of patterns by creating patterns with concrete objects such as cubes and ask students to label their patterns.  We will design pattern blanket and have students elaborate on how they began with a pattern and continued it.    We will use numbers to make patterns.

Social Studies:

We will begin our unit on cultural celebrations this week with The Elf on the Shelf: Holidays around the World.  Our very own Elf will come to our classrooms each day and teach us about holidays that are celebrated in countries all around the world.  We will learn about traditions and read stories that give us information about various holidays.