November 20, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
It is the time of year to be thankful, and I just wanted to take a moment to
share some of my thanks with all of you. I am incredibly thankful to be
working in a school with such respectful and hard-working students, caring
and supportive parents and encouraging and helpful principal and
superintendent. Take some time over the holidays to have your child share
what he or she is thankful for as well!
Reading: This week we started Theme 4 in our reading series entitled, Family
and Friends. We read a new story this week called, Go Away, Otto. While
reading this and other stories we focused on the strategy of drawing
conclusions. The students learned that they can use clues from the stories,
pictures and knowledge from their own lives to help to draw conclusions about
what is happening in a story and how the characters are feeling.
Language/Phonics: In phonics, the students learned about the “l blends” bl,
cl, fl, gl, pl and sl. The students practiced blending and decoding words
with these letter patterns this week. In language this week the students
learned how to identify sentences that are complete. The students have
learned that every sentence must contain both a naming part and an action
part in order to be complete. We practiced this by identify and building
complete sentences.
Math: In math this week we wrapped up our fourth unit on basic fact
strategies. This week we focused on using doubles to subtract, writing fact
families for numbers through 12. While fact families can be challenging for
the students at this time, this is a skill that we will re-visit throughout
the school year. The students also read word problems and decided whether
they were addition or subtraction problems. We will take our chapter 4 test
and cumulative review on Monday and will start our fifth chapter focusing on
geometry and fractions after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Social Studies: This week we discussed the story of the first Thanksgiving.
The students learned how the Pilgrims came to America to start new lives and
how the Native Americans helped them learn to live off of the land.
Have a great weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving!
Miss Heuberger
November 13, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
It was so wonderful to see most of you at our recent parent/teacher
conferences. I know that together we can make the most out of your child’s
education in first grade!
Reading: We concluded Theme 3 of our new reading series entitled, Look
Around this week. We read a new story: At the Aquarium. While reading this
and other stories we focused on the strategy of categorizing and classifying
different things found in the stories. The students were given many
opportunities to practice this skill this week and really did a fantastic
job!
Language/Phonics: In phonics, the students learned about the “r blends” br,
cr, dr, fr, gr, pr and tr. The students practiced blending and decoding
words with these letter patterns this week. We also learned about
contractions with “s” such as in the words who’s, where’s, it’s, what’s and
let’s. The first graders learned that contractions are words that combine
two common words into one.
Math: In math this week we continued our fourth unit on basic fact
strategies. Our focus switched to subtraction strategies this week. The
students counted back 1 and 2 from a given number and used number lines to
count back as well. We will conclude this unit before the Thanksgiving
holiday. Our next unit will focus on geometry and fractions.
Science/Social Studies: We wrapped up a science unit on spiders this week.
The students continue to show a great deal of enthusiasm for this interesting
science unit. Next week we will discuss Native Americans, the Pilgrims and
the story of the first Thanksgiving just in time for the Thanksgiving
holiday.
Have a great weekend!
Miss Heuberger
November 5, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
I am looking forward to seeing everyone at our upcoming parent/teacher
conferences this evening. I am so proud of everything my students have
accomplished this year already. I look forward to seeing the rest of you on
Tuesday, November 10th. If you have not yet signed up for a conference, I
still have some openings on that date. Please sign up for a conference
through our webpage or call me to schedule a time over the phone.
Reading: This week we continued Theme 3 of our new reading series entitled,
Look Around. We read two new stories this week: Miss Jill’s Ice Cream Shop
and the social studies link, Making Ice Cream. While reading these and other
stories we focused on the strategy of making predictions. The students
learned that in order to make reasonable predictions one must use the cues in
the story, title and pictures along with their own real-life experiences. We
practiced this skill by applying it to the stories we read this week.
Language/Phonics: In phonics this week the students learned about possessive
nouns. They learned that when someone owns something you must add an ‘s to
the end of the word to show ownership. We also practiced reading and writing
verbs with the endings, -s, -ed and –ing as in jumps, jumped and jumping.
Math: We continued our fourth unit on exploring basic fact strategies this
week in math. The students used doubles to add, used near doubles to add,
made and used drawings to solve problems and explored counting back as a
subtraction strategy. We will continue to learn fact strategies next week.
Science: This week we started a new science unit on spiders. The students
are intrigued with learning how spiders trick other insects to get their
meals. We will continue to discuss spiders next week.
Have a great weekend!
Miss Heuberger
October 30, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
It is hard to believe that it is already Halloween! Our class had a great
time celebrating Halloween today. A big thanks to our parent volunteers for
coming in and helping us with our Halloween party!
Reading: This week we started Theme 3 of our new reading series entitled,
Look Around. We read two new stories this week: Seasons and a joke link,
Ha!, Ha!, Ha!. While reading we focused on the strategy of finding the
topic, main idea and supporting details of non-fiction stories. The students
discovered that non-fiction stories do not have characters, settings,
problems and solutions like fiction stories do. We read non-fiction stories
to gather information on a specific topic. The students practiced this skill
by finding the topic, main idea and supporting details of different stories
we read this week.
Language/Phonics: In language this week the students learned about complete
sentences. The students discovered that a sentence is a complete thought.
The students know that in order to tell if a sentence is complete they must
read it in isolation and think if it makes sense. We practiced this skill by
reading, writing and identifying complete sentences. In phonics, the
students learned about double final consonants as in the words mess and
pack. The students learned that final double consonants sound the same as
single final consonants. Our class practiced writing and identifying these
words this week. We also learned about plurals with –s as in cats.
Math: This week in math we started a new chapter on using basic fact
strategies. The students were introduced to some strategies to help them
with addition facts this week. The students explored counting on as an
addition strategy, counted on one, two or three to add and used number lines
to count on one, two or three. We will continue to learn more addition and
subtraction strategies next week.
Science/ Social Studies: This week the students used their bat knowledge to
write fantastic bat free verse poetry. We will start collecting our poetry
in poetry folders this school year. The students did a fantastic job with
this activity and we will be writing more free verse poetry during literacy
center time. Next week we will start a new unit on spiders!
Have a great weekend! Happy Halloween!
Miss Heuberger
October 23, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
It was so wonderful to see everyone last night at the Hynes Music Festival.
I am so proud of my first graders; their performance was a huge success!
Reading: : This week we completed Theme 2 of our new reading series
entitled, Surprise. We read two new stories this week: A Surprise for Zig
Bug and the science link, Insects. While we read these and other stories we
focused on the skill of story structure. The students learned about
different elements of a story including characters, setting, problem and
solution. We will start Theme 3 entitled, Look Around next week. The
students are very excited to move on to our second reading books!
Language/Phonics: In language this week the students learned about verbs
or “action words”. The students discovered that verbs name something we can
do. We practiced this skill by sorting words into two categories: “naming
words” or nouns and “action words” or verbs. They learned that verbs are
things that we can do and nouns are words that we can touch. In phonics,
the students learned to blend words with the “short u” sound as
in “umbrella”. The class reviewed the letters J, Q and Z this week as
well.
Math: We completed our third unit on exploring subtraction this week. The
students explored different ways to solve subtraction problems, solved
subtraction problems with zero, decided whether to use addition or
subtraction to solve problems and took their chapter 3 test and cumulative
review this week. We will start our fourth unit on basic fact strategies on
Monday.
Science: The students continued to be immersed in all things bats in
science. They are really interested in learning as much as they can about
these interesting creatures of the night. We will continue to learn about
bats next week.
Volunteer Training: Mrs. Westley will be holding a volunteer training session
at Hynes on Monday, November 4th at 4:30 pm. Parents must attend one of
these sessions to accompany us on class field trips. If you have not already
attended a volunteer training session and would like to be trained, please
contact the office to confirm your attendance. Thanks!
Have a fantastic weekend!
Miss Heuberger
October 16, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
All about this week in our classroom:
Reading: : We continued Theme 2 of our new reading series entitled
Surprise. We read two new stories this week: The Bunnies and the Fox and the
science link, Woodland Animals. While we read these and other stories we
focused on the skill of distinguishing if a story is reality story or a
fantasy. The students learned that it only takes one thing that could not
happen in real life to make a story a fantasy. When reading stories this
week, the students had to decide whether the story was a fantasy story or a
reality story and give reasons for their choice.
Language/Phonics: In language this week the students learned about nouns
or “naming words”. The students discovered that nouns are words that name a
person, animal, place or thing. We practiced this skill by deciding if
certain words were nouns and sorting them into the different noun
categories. In phonics, the students learned to blend words with the “short
e” sound as in “elephant”. The class reviewed the letters “k”, “v” and “y”
this week as well.
Math: We continued to practice our subtraction skills this week in math.
The students used pictures to explore the meaning of subtraction, used to
symbols to write and solve subtraction sentences, wrote number sentences to
solve problems and wrote subtraction sentences using horizontal and vertical
forms. We will conclude this unit next week with our Chapter 3 tests. Our
next chapter will focus on using basic fact strategies.
Science: This week we started a new science unit on bats. The students have
been exposed to many fiction and non-fiction books about bats to gain
information on these fascinating animals. We have been learning some pretty
impressive bat vocabulary such as: hibernation, migration, echolocation,
mammal, and nocturnal. We will continue this unit next week!
Have a great weekend!
Miss Heuberger
October 9, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
It has been another exciting week in Room 8. The students have been involved
in many different learning activities over the course of this school week.
Reading: We started Theme 2 of our new reading series entitled Surprise. We
read three stories about parties; A Lot!, A Lot!, A Party for Bob, and a math
link, Shapes are Everywhere! While reading these stories we focused on the
skill of noting details. The students learned that many times the pictures
can tell more details about a story than the words. We practiced this skill
while recording story details and discussing the details of our stories as we
read.
Language/Phonics: In language this week we discussed the proper way to write
names. The students understand that every special name of a person should
start with a capital letter. We played a name game to reinforce this skill.
In phonics, the students learned how to blend words with the “short o” sound
as in octopus and hot. The students practiced blending these words by making
words with this sound and reading our story selections for the week. The
class also reviewed the letters “w”, “x”, “d” and “l”.
Math: This week the students completed their unit on addition with their
chapter 2 test and cumulative review. They also explored the order property
of addition and used data from pictures to solve problems. We dove right
into our next unit on subtraction as well. The students used counters to
explore the meaning of subtraction. We will continue subtracting next week!
Science: Our class completed our unit on the four seasons this week with our
four seasons test. We also were able to go on a nature walk outside of the
school to observe the changes of the fall season. Our next unit will focus
on bats, just in time for Halloween!
Have a nice long weekend!
Miss Heuberger
October 2, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
It was great to see some of you at the Hynes Family Literacy Night last
night. Thank you for taking the time to learn about helping your child with
reading at home!
Reading: : We completed Theme 1 of our new reading series entitled All
Together Now. We read three stories from our first readers in the series; A
Big Hit!, a social studies link Let’s Go to the Fair! and the main story,
Pigs in a Rig. While reading these stories we focused on the skill of cause
and effect. The class had great discussions about cause (what makes
something happen) and effect (what happens as a result) relationships in
everyday life. The students also talked about cause and effect relationships
in the stories we read this week. Next week, we will start Theme 2 entitled,
Surprise!
Language/Phonics: In language this week we learned about different
punctuation marks used to end a sentence. The students discovered that a
period ends most sentences, but sentences with excitement end with an
exclamation mark and “asking sentences” end with a question mark. We
practiced identifying and reading these different types of sentences this
week. Our class is also focusing on writing sentences that begin with a
capital letter and end with a punctuation mark. In phonics we practiced
reading, writing, blending and identifying words with the “short i” sound as
in the word pig.
Math: This week in math we continued our second chapter on exploring
addition. The students wrote addition sentences using horizontal and
vertical forms, explored different ways to solve addition sentences, used
the “act it out” strategy to solve problems and solved addition problems with
the addend of zero. We will conclude this unit next week with our chapter 2
tests. Our next unit will focus on exploring subtraction.
Science: This week we continued our science unit on the four seasons. We
learned that there are four seasons in this year and are currently exploring
the characteristics of each season. We will complete this unit next week.
Our next science unit will focus on bats, just in time for Halloween!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Heuberger
September 25, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
We have had a busy and exciting week in first grade. The students continue
to work hard. They have a lot to be proud of!
Reading: We continued Theme 1 of our new reading series entitled All
Together Now. We read three stories from our first readers in the series;
Cam and Pat, School Poems and the main story, A Day at School. While reading
these stories we focused on the skill of comparing and contrasting. We
utilized this important skill while comparing different ideas with the use of
Venn Diagrams.
Math: This week in math we completed our first chapter on exploring numbers
and patterns. We also started our second chapter focusing on exploring
addition. The students used counters and pictures to explore the meaning of
addition and wrote and solved addition sentences. We will continue to
explore addition next week.
Language/Phonics: In language this week we continued to discuss capital
letters. The students are learning how to write sentences that begin with
capital letters and use capital letters for the names of people and animals.
We learned a song to help us remember that sentences and names of people
start with capital letters. The students also continued to learn how to read
and write words with the short a sound as in the word apple. The students
practiced blending these words by sorting word families with this sound and
reading our story selections for the week. The class also reviewed the
letters N, F and P.
Science: We started a new unit on the four seasons this week in science.
The students have been discussing different characteristics of each season.
Many students have brought in special items or projects to share relating to
the four seasons. I encourage students to continue this practice if they
wish! We will continue this unit next week.
Have a great fall weekend!
Miss Heuberger
September 18, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
It was a fun and busy week here in first grade. We started reading out of
our reading series books and continued to participate in Writer’s Workshop
and our spelling program. The first graders continue to work hard and are
excited about all the new activities that first grade brings!
Reading: This week we started Theme 1 of our new reading series entitled All
Together Now. We read three stories from our first readers in the series; On
the Go, Big Cats and Little Cats and the main story, Mac the Cat. While
reading these stories we focused on the skill on sequencing. The class had
discussions about how every story and everyday event has a specific
sequence. The students sequenced the stories using the words first, next and
last.
Language/Phonics: In language this week, we discussed capital letters. The
students learned that every sentence starts with a capital letter. We also
started discussing the fact that special names of people begin with capital
letters as well. In phonics, the students learned how to blend words with
the short a sound as in the word cat. The students practiced blending these
words by making words with this sound and reading our story selections for
the week. The class also reviewed the letters “m”, “s”, “c” and “t”.
Math: This week in math we continued our first unit on exploring numbers and
patterns. The students identified numbers as greater than or less than a
given number, put the numbers 1-12 in order, identified and continued
patterns, identified ordinal numbers to the tenth and explored bar graphs.
We will conclude this unit early next week with our chapter 1 test and
cumulative review test. Our next unit focuses on exploring addition. We
will begin to explore addition next week.
Science: This week in science we wrapped up our first unit on apples. The
students were able to participate in a special apple tasting activity. Each
student sampled red, green and yellow apples and then the class graphed their
favorites. The students really enjoyed this fun and delicious activity!
Next week, we will begin a new science unit focusing on the four seasons and
seasonal changes!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Heuberger
September 11, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
It was a fun and busy week here in first grade. We had our first spelling
test and the students did a terrific job! Thanks to everyone for studying at
home with your children. Just a reminder, inappropriate capital letters and
backwards letters will not count as correct. Please reinforce this with your
child when practicing at home.
Reading: The students continued to listen to stories to enhance their
listening comprehension skills. We also completed our review of the alphabet
sounds this week in phonics. We will start Theme 1, entitled All Together
Now, of our reading series on Monday. The class will begin guided and shared
reading activities as we read stories as a class, in small groups or as
partners. The students will still be working on the important skills of
predicting, inferencing, summarizing, making connections, sequencing and
asking questions while reading these stories.
Math: This week in math we continued to work on our first chapter, exploring
numbers and patterns. This week the students learned how to identify groups
of 10-12, read and write numbers 10-12, use words, numbers and objects to
write numbers 1-12 and identify numbers as greater than or less than a given
number. We will continue this unit next week.
Science: This week in science we continued our unit on apples. We have
discussed the life cycle of an apple tree and what apple trees look like
during the different seasons of the year. The students have also learned how
apples grow. We have been learning some new vocabulary words, so make sure
to ask your child what the words ripe, core, orchard, apple blossom and cider
mean. We will continue to learn about apples next week. If any student
would like to bring in related materials or projects for this or any science
or social studies unit to share with the class, they are encouraged to do so!
Have a great weekend!
Miss Heuberger
September 6, 2008
Dear Room 8 Parents,
Thanks to everyone who attended the Hynes Open House last night. It was
great to see everyone and I hope it was informative for you all.
Reading: This week we learned some new sight words to add to our classroom
word wall. The students also continue to be exposed to many different types
of literature. They have been strengthening their listening skills by
listening to story “read alouds”. We continue to work on the important
skills of predicting, inferencing, summarizing and asking questions as we
read these fun stories.
Language/Phonics: This week, we continued to review our letter sounds. The
letters we reviewed this week included h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s and
t. We learned how to recognize words that begin with each of these letters,
and continued using our “sound arm” to help us sound out words. We read a
special poem for each one of these letters. We have also started phonemic
awareness this week. The students have been working with words and their
sounds.
Math: This week in math we continued our first chapter on exploring numbers
and patterns. The students learned how to identify groups of zero, create
and use a pictograph, identify and illustrate sets of 6-9 and write numbers 6-
9. We will continue this unit next week.
Science: We started a new science unit focusing on apples this week. The
students have been exposed to both fiction and non-fiction text to gain an
understanding of apples, how they grow and the products that are made from
this delicious fruit. We will continue to learn more about apples next week!
Have a wonderful long weekend!
Miss Heuberger
August 28, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
We have had a truly great first week of first grade. I am really looking
forward to another great year at Hynes and I look forward to getting to know
you and your children this year. This is what has been keeping us busy this
week:
Reading: This week in reading we have been working on our listening
comprehension skills. I have been reading many stories out loud to the class
and asking the students to answer questions and make predictions when
listening to these stories. We have also started learning some sight words
this week. These are words that every student should be able to read
automatically by sight as they occur frequently in our reading and writing
and are not easy to decode. We practiced reading and writing sentences with
our new sight words. Each Friday, I will attach sight word cards to the back
of my newsletter. It would be beneficial to use these cards or make your own
to practice these sight words with your child.
Language/Phonics: We started our quick review of the alphabet this week,
reviewing the letters a, b, c, d, e, f, and g. We talked about the sounds
each letter makes and practiced identifying and brainstorming words starting
with these letters. The students also learned special first grade “sign
language” for the short vowel sounds “a” and “e”. We will continue to review
the alphabet next week.
Math: This week in math we started our first chapter on exploring numbers
and patterns. The students learned how to identify groups with the same,
more and fewer items than other groups, identify and show sets of 1-5, write
numbers 1-5, identify number patterns and identify and show zero. We will
continue this unit next week.
Social Studies: In Social Studies we are learning about ourselves and each
other. The students are working hard on “All About Me” books that we will
share with each other. We also shared our “All About Me” bags on Friday. We
have also spent some time discussing and reading books about friendship. We
will continue to discuss these topics next week.
We have had a great first week! Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Heuberger
August 25, 2009
Dear Room 8 Parents,
Welcome to first grade! I just wanted to take a quick moment to introduce
myself. This is my sixth year teaching first grade at Hynes, and I can’t
wait for another great school year to begin. I love teaching first grade and
can’t wait to see all of the achievements your children are sure to
accomplish this year. I am not only a certified teacher, but a certified
Reading Specialist as well. I completed my Master’s degree in Reading at
National-Louis University. Teaching beginning readers is a passion of mine,
and together I am sure we will witness a great deal of growth in all areas of
your child’s reading development over the course of the school year!
Communication between home and school is very important to me. Please
feel free to contact me at any time. You can e-mail me at
lheuberger@golf67.net or call my room at (847)-965-4500, extension # 114. I
also send home newsletters every Friday to inform parents of the week’s
events, upcoming units and dates to remember. I am very much looking
forward to another wonderful year in first grade!
Sincerely,
Miss Heuberger
