This week in First grade...

Jan 26-30 We are all excited about warm weather this week! REMINDERS Monday: Reading folders come home. Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. Wednesday: Thursday: International Festival: 6:30 pm Friday: Library Day. All library books are due by 8:00 AM. Homework is due. READING and WRITING This week we will continue our unit on research. So far we have learned how to ask questions about topics that we are interested in, and look in different places such as books, e-books, internet and etc to find the information. As we continue doing more research and asking more questions, we will learn how to record our information. We will think about the main idea and the most important information and take notes in an organized form. MATH We will continue our unit in geometry. We will explore how two-dimensional figures can be decomposed into or constructed from other two-dimensional figures (for example two triangles can make a diamond or a rhombus). Two dimensional figures with or without curved sides can also be sorted into different groups based on their characteristics or attributes. SOCIAL STUDIES This week we will learn about families wants and basic needs, and how these needs are being met through jobs. We will learn about how technology has changed our lives comparing to the past. People communicate differently, have different ways of entertainment and hold different jobs comparing to the past due to technology.

This week in First grade...

Jan 20-23 What a nice treat to have an extra day this weekend. I hope you were able to spend it with your family! My girls had their first cousins sleepover at their Nana's house. Lily, my three year old, and Ella, my 3 year old niece, got to join Lyla for the first time. They were so excited to be at Nana's house that they woke up at 6am! REMINDERS Monday: MLK Day. Student and Staff Holiday. Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. No math homework this week. Wednesday: Caraway Science Fair Thursday: 7:45am Coffee and Conversation with Mrs. Bailey Friday: Homework is due Library Day. All library books are due by 8:00 AM READING This week we will learn how to do research to find about information that we are interested in. Researches choose a topic they are interested in and they think about what specific information they want to know about their topic. Researches look at different books to find information and they record important information in an organized way. WRITING In writing, we will continue writing expository texts. We will think about topics that we are expert at and write factual information about our topics. Our main purpose is to teach others. So we will make sure to include any details that we know about our topics. MATH This week we will start Geometry. We will identify two-dimensional shapes, including circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares as special rectangles, rhombuses, and hexagons, and describe their attributes/characteristics. We will create two-dimensional shapes with different manipulatives and also compose shapes by joining two, three, or four, figures to produce a target shape in more than one way. SCIENCE In science we will continue to investigate different seasons, different weather in each season including relative temperature, such as hot or cold, clear or cloudy, calm or windy, rainy or icy. We will discuss types of weather information and ways that scientists gather and record weather data.

This week in First grade...

Jan 12-16

    I have a love/hate relationship with the first week back from winter break!  I love seeing your children again!!  I love getting some one-on-one time with each of them as I complete mid year reading assessments.  I love to see how confident they are and how fluently they read this time of year.  I hate that it's so hard to get back into a routine and we are all wiped out by 1pm everyday!  At our house we are trying to get back into a good routine after staying up late during break!  Make sure you give yourselves a break as you as are scurrying around and trying to get back in to a routine!!

 REMINDERS

Monday: Reading and Math Homework comes home.
Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. Report cards for second nine-weeks come home.  There will be a note about Report Cards and Reading progress with the report card. Please sign the report card envelope and return it on Wednesday.
Wednesday: 
Thursday: 
Friday: Library Day.  All library books are due by 8:00 AM

Homework is due.

 READING
In Reading we will work on expository/non-fiction books.  We will review the features of expository text such as headings and photographs with captions instead of illustrations (mostly) and think about the author's purpose in writing expository texts.  Authors of expository texts are experts in that area and they know so much about a topic they can teach others about the topic.  The main purpose is to inform and teach.  We will learn, as readers, we always need to figure out the main idea in a nonfiction book.  The title and the bold headings along with reading the text and finding the important information that the author is trying to teach will all give us hints about the main idea. 

WRITING
In writing, we will start writing expository texts.  We will make a list of things that we are expert at and know a lot and choose from our list to write about a topic.  Our main purpose is to teach and inform others.  

MATH.
In math, we will still be working on addition strategies including bridge to ten.  Our main goal is for students to get familiar to and practice all strategies and use as different tools in solving math problems.  While students will practice more addition facts, they will also get more fluent in problem solving. We will continue and review doubles, number line, using ten-frames, and bridge to ten.


SCIENCE
This week in science we will learn about seasons, day and night.  We will learn about the characteristics of each season and how the weather changes in each season.  We will discuss the relative temperature in each season and how the length of day and night is different in different seasons.

This week in First Grade...

Jan 6-9
Happy New Year!!  Tonight, as I tucked Lily in to bed she said, "Merry Valentines!" We are on to the next holiday in the Caballero Casa!  I hope all of you enjoyed time with your children and families!  We spent time here in Austin with my family and in New Braunfels with my husband's family.  The second week of the break we traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit friends who welcomed their third child four weeks ago then we moved on to Kansas City where the low one morning was 9 degrees with a wind chill of 2 degrees!!  We spent New Years Eve with my cousins and Aunt and Uncle!  We were busy but enjoyed our time together, all 25+ hours in the car together!! I can't wait to hear about your winter break from your children!

 REMINDERS

Monday: No school for students
Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. No reading homework since this is a short week.
Wednesday: 
Thursday: 
Friday: Library Day.  All library books are due by 8:00 AM

             Math homework is due 

             Fairy Tale Parade at 8:45

 READING
This week in reading we will focus on Fairy Tales.  We will review the features of Fairy Tales and discuss the characters, the problem and the solution, the plot of the story, and the beginning, middle and end of the story.  We will also review how to retell (tell the events from the beginning to the end in our own words) and to summarize( tell the important events in one short paragraph).  This unit really gets the students energized about reading!!

WRITING
This week, we will review procedures for writing workshop and review the writing process.  We will write small moments that happened during winter break and/or rely on our imaginations and write stories.  Do you want to build a snowman??

We will also think about resolutions.  What is a resolution and why individuals make goals.  These discussions will lead us back into our Leader in Me study of the 7 Habits!

MATH.
This week in math we will review the addition strategies including doubles, double plus one, double plus two and introduce a new strategy called "bridge to ten".  9+5 is the same as 10+4 which is 14.  We will solve problems applying the addition strategies we have been learning.  Problem solving will be a strong focus point for us as we begin to prepare for 2nd grade.  I know, already, YUP!!  

SCIENCE
We will learn about the objects in the sky such as the sun,the moon,the clouds and the stars.  We will also learn how the appearance of these objects change depending  on different kinds of weather/or different time of the day and month. Last night there was a super moon!  My girls and I saw it as we headed to school this morning for a work day!  It's really fun to observe the night sky!  Bundle up and head outside to take a look around!

THANK YOU!

Thank you for being a partner in your child's education.

Thank you for trusting me with your little people every day.

Thank you for supporting our learning at home.

Thank you for supporting me!

I appreciate each and every thing you do at home from tying shoes to making lunches so your Cowpoke is ready for our time together each day!