This week in First grade...

October 27-31

It was great to see a few of you at the Harvest festival ! Our PTA works so hard on this fantastic event!  It's one of the biggest fundraisers for the year!  I hope you enjoyed some fun family time as you experienced the festival!  Of course my girls' favorite thing was the petting zoo!  

Red Ribbon Week

This week is Red Ribbon Week.  We will talk about a healthy life style, eating healthy, exercising, and staying away from all the harmful things that could hurt our body. As a whole school, we will do different activity each day to show our support for a healthy and happy life. 

Monday:  Red Ribbon Day- we will start to wear our red ribbon today for the rest of the week.
Tuesday: Pair up and make good choices (find a friend and dress up as twins)

Wednesday: Sock It To Drugs Day (we will wear silly/crazy socks to school)

Thursday: Good character is our super power (we will wear superhero clothing)

Friday: Rally In Red Day (We will wear as many red items as we can). 

IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Monday: Mrs. Caballero was out with a sick child. Homework will be sent home Tuesday!  We will have "online" homework this week!  RAZ-Kids for reading and iXL for math!
Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. 
Wednesday:  Early Release Day-dismissal is at 12:45
Friday: Library Day! All library books are due by Friday morning at 8:00.

Reading Homework is due.

Saturday: Time change!  Fall back @ 2am!  Remember to change your clocks!

 Here is what we will be doing this week:

READING
We will continue our study of expository/non-fiction text. As a class we discussed the features of nonfiction such as real photos, table of contents, glossary, caption, labels, index, diagram, and maps. We concluded that the purpose of reading nonfiction text is to learn! We also learned the differences between fiction and nonfiction. One difference is we read a fiction text from beginning to end. However, we do not have to do the same thing when we read a non-fiction text.  We can read the parts of a nonfiction text which holds the information we want to know, or the information that is important to us. This week we will be reading texts about bats! 

In our guided reading groups we will be diving into Bat books to help us learn all week!  We will become experts on Bats as we confirm our learning and investigate the things we still wonder about Bats!

To follow up on our study of spiders from last week:
This is a beautiful story for your child to listen to.  This is a fiction story read by CCH Pounder.  Have your child compare the features of this story to a non-fiction that we read at school about spiders.  

http://www.storylineonline.net/sophies-masterpiece/

WRITING
We will continue writing non-fiction.  Our focus this week will be writing facts about bats.  We are learning how to draw careful diagrams like scientist and label the parts. Our goal is to write these facts so we can teach others about what we have learned.

MATH
This week we will learn to tell time.  We will learn to tell time to the hour using a digital and an analog clock.  We will learn about the hands, the hour hand (the short hand), and the minute hand(the long hand) and how they move: The minute hand makes one full turn while the hour hand moves slowly from one numeral to another.

SOCIAL STUDIES
Maps and globes are the focus this week in Social Studies. As a class we will compare the two and learn how each is important. We will also be learning about where we are located in the big scheme of the world, starting with our street address and moving outwardly to the entire world.

Lastly, please be safe this weekend as you Trick-or-Treat with your children!  They are so excited about Friday and their fun costumes!!  Enjoy your special time with the little people!  Send pictures of your children all dressed up!  They would love to share their pictures with their friends!

This week in First grade...

October 20th - 24th

This weekend was a recovery weekend at our house!  When I got home Friday I felt tired.  The allergens in the air were high so I always assume my tender throat issues are allergy based.  Well, I was wrong.  Strep strikes again!  So, please let me know, when your child is out, if they have a contagious illness.  I will begin disinfecting the classroom daily to get all of these yucky germs out!  We are diligent about washing our hands but it may take a little bit more effort.  I got a great (strong) antibiotic and am no longer contagious!

Reminders:
Saturday, October 25: Harvest Festival 12-3
Wednesday, October 29: Early Release
Field Trip to the Zach Scott Theater coming soon!

Math:  This week we will be learning about length and measurement.  We will talk about longest and shortest and longer and shorter.  We will not use rulers to measure in First Grade.  We will use non-standard units of measurement.  We will use pencils, cubes, paper clips, and other non-standard objects to measure.  We will even have a small history lesson to learn about an ancient form of measurement called a cubit.  You can help your child with this skill at home by letting them measure different objects around the house.  How many steps is it from the front door to the couch?  How many pennies long is a fork?  Have fun!

Reading Workshop:  We have been learning about Nonfiction and this week, we will actually begin doing teacher guided research!  In the spirit of the month of October and Halloween, we will be researching Spiders.  The kids love this unit!  We will become experts on Spiders by the end of the week, and your child should be able to tell you some very interesting facts about Spiders.

Writing Workshop:   We are continuing our Nonfiction unit from Reading.   We will begin by learning the difference between fact and opinion since Expository writing is only facts.  We will talk about how authors who write Expository texts are experts on the topics they write about.  We will pick topics that we are interested in and that we already know a lot about to practice writing facts.  At the end of the week, we will write facts that we have learned during our Spider research.

Word Study:  We've reviewed the concepts of syllables, consonants and  vowels.  Last week we learned what sorting means and we even learned the expectations for cutting our sorts out.  

This week we will begin working with small group sorts in Words Their Way as we become familiar with the procedures.  These sorts will be how we supplement our spelling instruction, and this work will be done in the Word Study Notebooks. Each student will bring a copy of their sort home in their homework folder.  They can cut it apart and practice sorting multiple times and different ways as well as attempting to spell the words.  They do not need to turn in their sort.

Science:   This week we will be continuing our discussion on physical changes to materials.  We learned this past week that adding heat and removing heat cause materials to change.  We will be doing more experiments this week to observe those changes first hand!

 On Friday we learned about Habit #4! We will practice "thinking win-win" all week!

Habit #4 Think Win-Win:  I balance the courage of getting what I want with consideration of what others want.

Have a great week!!

Mrs. Caballero

This week in First Grade...

October 14-17

I'm sure your Cowpoke is looking forward to a day off tomorrow and a 4 day week!  They are ready for a break!  

SCIENCE NIGHT
Thursday, Oct 16 @ 6:00 PM-We have hot air balloons, computers to take apart, engines to explore, lava lamps to make, and much, much more....  And in order to do all this, we need volunteers on Thursday, October 16th.  Come have fun with the Caraway community.  No training or science know-how required.  Just go to http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e45aaaf292-science1 and sign up to volunteer. Thank you!

HARVEST FESTIVAL
Saturday, October 25th: Harvest Festival -There are many volunteer positions to be filled. Please consider taking just one hour of time to volunteer in different stations in order to insure the kids can have the best experience.

Harvest Fest. is one of the three biggest PTA fundraisers of the year.  We also need you to bring your children for an afternoon of fun.  Please keep in mind that adults are not required to purchase a wristband.

Hope to see you all there!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Monday: Student Holiday
Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. 

Wednesday: Book Order due for OctoberThursday: Science Night at 6:00 PM

Friday: Library Day! All library books are due by Friday morning at 8:00.

Math and Reading Homework are due.

 Here is what we will be doing this week:

READING
This week we will read expository/non-fiction books.  Writers of expository books are expert in an area and therefore they write the expository texts to teach us about that subject. We will learn that the purpose of reading expository books is to get information. We might have questions before reading a non-fiction book, or questions during reading the non-fiction book, or even after reading it. These questions will help us to read more and find out more. We will learn about the features of non-fiction such as: table of contents, index, glossary, real photos, labels, and captions.  

WRITING
We will continue revising our stories for one more week.  Ask your child what revising is and what is the purpose of revising.  They are truly becoming an expert on this.  We are learning to reread our stories carefully a couple of times to make sure that our stories make sense.  In the process, we are learning to add some more words or take off a few that are not needed.  We are checking for sight words misspelling, neat writing and correct punctuation.  Some of us are even adding dialogues in quotation marks to make our stories more interesting. I am so proud of my young writers!  

MATH
This week we will use a hundred chart and use a count on strategies to explore the numbers.  Number chart is a bigger version of number line/number track.  Numbers are increasing by a certain pattern and once we see the pattern, we could quickly recognize 2 more, 5 more, 10 more than any chosen number.  Counting on is the same as adding on to a number.  We will also take this further and explain addition as "part-part whole".  Two parts come together to make a whole.  If I have 5 pennies and you give me 3 more, 5 is a part and 3 is another part and altogether, the whole/sum or total is 8. 

SCIENCE
This week is science we will continue to explore/observe the properties of objects by their color, shape, texture, size and mass. We will also observe what changes happen to objects when we heat, cool or freeze them. We are being real scientists and record our observation in our science journals.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders, and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom. Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!

This week in First grade...

October 6th -10th

I hope everyone had a relaxing, fall weekend!  The weather was lovely and I'm sure everyone enjoyed various sporting events and family time!

This week in...

Writer's Workshop:
We will be progressing through the writing process.  We will continue to focus on small moments and writing more about a short amount of time.  We had Author's chair on Friday and many of our friends were able to share their pieces.  I write "love notes" for each student as they share.  I also write "love notes" to friends that didn't get a chance to share their stories.  The students will bring home the pieces they share with the class to show them off at home.  I'm so proud of their progress and hard work so far this year!

Reading Workshop:
We will begin discussing making connections as we read.  Strong Readers think about what they are reading and connect it to themselves (text to self), other books they have read (text to text) or the world around them (text to world).  As your child reads at home ask them, "Does this book/story make you think of anything?"

Word Study:
We are practicing our word wall words and making sure to use them correctly in our writing.  We are reviewing concepts such as vowels, consonants and syllables.  We will begin our in depth word study next week!

Science:
This week in Science we will be exploring properties of materials.   We will use our five senses to explore items and discuss their properties.  The students will use their science notebook to record information they learn about their observations just like real scientists.

Math:
We are continuing our unit on Addition, Equality and Counting on.  We have practiced specific  skills that help us become experts at our math facts.  We will practice math facts that count on 2 (3+2, 4+2, 5+2, etc).  We will practice problem solving and use the strategies we know to expand our mathematical minds!

Thank You's!!

To Mr. Cone for coming on Tuesdays to help us during Reading Workshop!
To Mrs. Cone for coming to help with Tuesday folders!
To Mrs. Castellani for coming to read with our friends on Friday as we checked our homework in!

Reminders:

Wednesday, October 8

 Bike and Walk to School Day

 Spirit Night at Catfish Parlour

Monday, October 13

 Columbus Day, No School/Staff Development

Thursday, October 16

 Caraway Science Night

7:45am

 Coffee and Conversation with Mrs. Bailey

Saturday, October 25

 Caraway Harvest Festival

Have a great week!
Mrs. C