This week in First grade...

Feb. 29-March 4 


Thank you to everyone who donated items for Engineering day! In my classroom we made compostable pots and got them ready for seeds to be planted!  It's a great way to start seeds then transfer them to the garden!


EARLY RELEASE DAY
Wednesday, March 2nd is Early Release day.  Dismissal is at 12:45.

 REMINDERS
Monday: Homework this week is RAZ Kids and IXL! 

Tuesday: Library 

Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. 

Wednesday: Early Release Day at 12:45pm
Thursday:
Friday: Homework check online
Saturday: Family Dinner Night@ 5:00

Next week: March 7-11

Tuesday:Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. 

Wednesday: Early Release Day. 
Thursday: No library this week.
Friday: Field Trip to the Zach Scott Theater - wear Caraway shirts
Saturday: Family Dinner Night@ 5:00

READ ACROSS AMERICA WITH DR. SEUSS
This week we will honor the life and work of Dr. Seuss.  Read Across America is a nationwide reading celebration that takes place annually for Dr. Seuss Birthday.  We will read Dr. Seuss biography and learn about his life.  We will also read some of his most beloved stories such as The Cat in the Hat, A, B, C, Green Eggs and Ham and Oh! The Places You'll Go! We will retell the stories, make connections and discuss the characters. In writing we will spiral back to writing stories.  Being motivated by Dr. Seuss writing, we will write stories about real or imagined people, events, and ideas.  

Link to The Cat in the Hat

MATH 
We will continue our unit in geometry.  Last week we learned about different shapes and their attributes such as number of sides, corners, straight sides or curved lines. This week we will sort the two dimensional figures based on these characteristics.  We will also 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). 

Check our SeeSaw accounts for new things!

SCIENCE
We will finish up our unit in social studies and move on to science.  In science we will learn about living and non-living things and the characteristics of each. Living things have needs, grow/change, and produce offspring.  Non-living things don't have these characteristics.

Have a great week!

This week (and last week) in First grade...

Feb. 22-26


 REMINDERS

Monday: Reading Folders will come home.  There will be no math homework due to lack of copies this week! I will send a problem solving activity and reading log via email that you can print out.  Sorry for the inconvenience. Tuesday:Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. 

Wednesday:Engineering Day. **We need Newspapers for our project**Please send some if you have them!**

Counselor's LessonThursday: Talent Show at Canyon Vista Middle School: 6:00 PM.
Friday: Reading folders are due.

 READING and WRITING
This week we will begin a new genre, Poetry. We will learn about the features of poetry. Poems have short lines with no punctuation most of the times. There are repeating words or phrases in poetry. Poems sometimes rhyme and sometimes they don't. Poems have rhythms, some are songs and some could be silly and funny. We will think about how poets see the world in a different, fresh and unusual way. The students will make inferences with poetry as a strategy to comprehend the poem. We will also discover sensory language in poetry and understand that sensory images help us visualize the poem and make it more interesting for readers. In writing we will “See with Poets’ Eyes” as we begin writing about ordinary objects in different ways. We will learn that poems are big thoughts in little packages. 

MATH 
This week we will start learning about geometry.  We will identify two-dimensional shapes, including circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares as special rectangles, rhombuses, and hexagons, and describe their attributes/characteristics (sides, vertices, curves).  We will also construct two-dimensional shapes with different manipulatives such as coffee stirrers, plastic drinking straws and other materials.  

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week in social studies we will continue learning about physical characteristics of places learn about bodies of water and the characteristics of each such as river, lake and ocean. We will identify natural resources in our community, state and nation and ways they are used.  We will also identify how human characteristics of places such as food, shelter, and clothing depends on geographic location of those places.

Parent Corner...

Many times, we as parents,  are confused and concerned about our child's learning at school and want to know how best to help our child at home!  Over the next month the First grade teachers be including a section on our blog to hopefully help enlighten parents on how and why we teach things the way we do!  

First off...Differentiation! 

Differentiation can mean so many things! In my eyes, as a teacher, it means I strive to meet all learners at the point where they need instruction.  For example, if I have a student who is solving 3 digit plus three digit math problems I would not have that students sit for a lesson on adding doubles (4 + 4=8).  That particular students mastered his/her single digit facts long ago.  The first step as the educator is to assess the student's knowledge so I can make sure there are no learning gaps.  Once the student has achieved a skill level he/she moves on to another skill taught in a small group or one-on-one.  Dr. Bertie Kingore is a renowned educator that wrote a book called Differentiating Instruction.  

"Differentiated instruction recognizes and acts upon the reality that children learn differently. It is not a question of good or bad classrooms; it is not a question of which teachers are working harder. It is doing what is instructionally the right thing to do--beginning where students are and trying to take them as far as they can go in their learning."

You can read more about this subject from this website: http://www.bertiekingore.com/diffinstruct.htm

The following website is also a good resource that breaks down the classroom elements of differentiated instruction.  http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-differentiated-instruction

Lastly, keeping up with new instructional practices is a goal of teachers at our school and around the district.  Edutopia on Facebook is a great way to read about new instructional practices happening around the US.  They post a variety of resources that are interesting and educational for teachers and parents!!  Enjoy!

THANK YOU!

Thank you for the lovely Valentine Treats! My family was so excited to share the goodies!  

Last week: 

Feb. 16-19

 REMINDERS
Monday:President Day/ Student Holiday.

Tuesday:Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning.  Library books are due

Wednesday:
Thursday: 
Friday: TFK/Reading folders are due.

 READING and WRITING
This week we will be using our research skills and learn about two important presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  We will ask open-ended questions and develop a plan for answering these questions.  Our plan includes exploring a variety of sources such as books, digital books, Pebble Go, and Brain pop Jr, recording the information we gather, and organizing our ideas and information in our writings.   

MATH 

This week in math we will continue working on solving word problems with objects and pictorial models that involve joining, separating, and comparing sets within 20 and represent those problems with number sentences. Think addition” is a powerful way to think of subtraction facts. But we also want students to think of subtraction when they are to find a missing part or unknown addend.  We will also review patterns and determine a number that is 10 more or 10 less than a number through 99.

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week in social studies we will learn about physical characteristics of places and different landforms such as plains, valleys, mountains and hills.  We will also learn about different bodies of water and the characteristics of each such as river, lake and ocean.

This week in First Grade...

Feb. 8-12

Please join me in welcoming the newest addition to our first grade team, Mrs. Tricia Knight.  Mrs. Knight is joining us from San Antonio with 27 years of experience in teaching first grade.  Since her arrival, Mrs. Knight has been working with whole group, small groups or individual students in different first grade classrooms.  Welcome to Caraway, Mrs. Knight! We are thrilled to have you with us!   


Chocolate Fever is spreading...

This Thursday, February 11th, we will be celebrating "Chocolate Fever Day".  On this day we ask the students to wear their pajamas as we all pretend we have chocolate fever.  We will read the first few chapters of the book, Chocolate Fever.  We will begin reading Chapter 1 on Wednesday afternoon! We will also put "chocolate spots" on our faces or hands! This is a fun day for First graders.  We have fun activities planned that involve chocolate.  We will bring our items home so you can monitor the consumption of chocolate! 

VALENTINES PARTY
The Valentines party will be on Friday, February 12th (1:30-2:20).  If your child has made his/her valentines, please feel free to send them in starting Monday, Feb. 8th. The children have done a great job decorating their Valentine's bags, so we are ready to go! Hope you can all join us on the 12th for the party!


 REMINDERS

Tuesday: Happy 101 day of school!
Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. 

Wednesday:Counseling Lesson
Thursday: Chocolate Fever Day
Friday: Valentine's Party in our classroom (1:30-2:30)
Reading folders are due.

 READING and WRITING
This week we will wrap up our guided research unit.  As a class, we have been researching about the objects in the sky such as the sun, the moon,  and the planets. This week we will continue our research and learn more information about the stars and the clouds.  We now know the research process.  We start with questions in mind, go to the right sources to find out the answers to our questions, and records the new information in our own words and in an organized form so others can learn from our research too.

MATH 
We will continue working on part, part, whole.  Part, part, whole is the foundation for algebra and algebraic thinking.  How can we find a missing part by knowing the whole and another part? What are the relationships between the parts? Some children may still think addition.  For example, if Ms. Amiri wants to buy a book that is 12 dollars and she only has 7 dollars, how much more does she need to buy the book? Some might add on 7 and say 7+5=12, therefore she needs 5 more dollars.  But we also want children to see the whole amount, and one part and think subtraction to find the missing part: 12-7=5

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week we will start our geography unit.  We will learn about four cardinal directions and learn to locate places on the map using cardinal directions.  We will create and use simple maps to describe the location of objects relative to other objects in the classroom and school.  We will also locate RoundRock, Austin, Texas and United States on the map.

This week in First Grade...

Feb. 1-5

FIRST GRADE P.E. PROGRAM

First Grade P.E. Program start time has been changed.  Please join us Tuesday February 2^nd at 6:20 pm in the cafeteria.  This is a chance for our first graders to shine and show some of the skills that they have been practicing this year. Please meet in the cafeteria.    

VALENTINES PARTY
The Valentines party will be on Friday, February 12th (1:30-2:20).  I will email a list of the students names for your child to use when making Valentine cards.  We will make bags for the Valentine cards here at school.  Donations of valentine stickers/craft items that could be used on the lunch sacks are greatly appreciated! The students can start bringing their valentines to school starting the week of Feb 8th.


 REMINDERS

Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning. 

               Library 

Wednesday: Early Release Day (dismissal at 12:45).

                      Catfish Parlor PTA FundraiserThursday: 
Friday: Homework is due.

 READING and WRITING
We will continue our guided research unit.  This week we will review the research process, pick a topic that we are interested in, think about what we want to know about our topics, look at different resources, and non-fiction texts to find new information, take notes in our own words, and then present our findings in an organized form so others can use our information and learn from our research too.

MATH 
This week we will connect addition and subtraction by introducing the fact families, part-part- whole, and missing addend.  The parts join together to make a whole (addition).  If we know the whole and a part, we can find out the missing part using both addition and subtraction.  We will use our knowledge of part-part-whole to solve a variety of math problems.

We've been adding a lot of things to our Seesaw Account! Go see our technology products!

SCIENCE
We will continue learning about our natural resources such as water, rocks, soil, trees, sun, air and more.  We will brainstorm and discuss why it is important to conserve these natural resources, keep them clean and to pollute them.  We will start the week by exploring water, its properties, its movement, and uses.  Why is it important to conserve fresh water? why is it important not to pollute water? What are the different natural sources of water.