Is it really the end of our first quarter? It is incredible how quickly time flies. My mom always tells me that it is a sign of getting old - I beg to differ and go with the old saying that "time flies when you are having fun"!!! If nothing else, it sure does make me feel better!
How incredible this Fall weather is. How incredible to look around at the beauty that surrounds us and remind ourselves and our children about all of our wonderful gifts from God. As our days get busier, we often forget to stop and take in the beauty of our world, and the beauty of all that has been given to us. It is so important for us, as adults, to remember to do that, but equally important, for our children to learn how to do that. We are their best examples!!
We have and will continue to be busy in 1B! Here is a quick look back, and a quick look at what is to come!
Reading: We have started in our third unit, called Transportation. We will learn about different kinds of transportation, different uses of those forms, how transportation has changed over the years and how common forms of transportation are different depending on where you live. We have been through our introduction unit, as well as a unit on animals, which was a hit! We learned some very cool facts! All of our short vowels have been introduced and we are using them to blend and read each day. We continue to introduce sound spellings. Please look for the Decodable books to come home almost daily. It is SO important that you take the time to read and re-read these - they will help develop fluency and confidence, as well as review sound spelling patterns that we introduce in class. In addition to our phonics, we have been working on critical reading skills, including main idea, comparing and contrasting, drawing conclusions and making inferences. Sight words are introduced in shifts. At the beginning of this unit, several are introduced. After we have had time to work with them in class, you will see the index cards come home for you to work on at home. If your child struggles with any, please continue to review those so that they are ready for sight words assessments. Thanks for your help with this!
Language Arts: Beginning in the 2nd quarter, we will focus more on writing, learning how to get our thoughts on paper and proofreading before writing a final copy. So far, we have learned alphabetical order using the first letter only, using punctuation and capitals in sentences, as well as capitizing names and the word "I" (because we are soooo important) and different types of sentences. Nouns and adjectives have been introduced, and, shortly, we will learn about verbs. Please encourage your child to write at home - we have had several authors share books they have written and illustrated at home - I will always make time to share those! It is so important for the children to feel comfortable in their creativity and ability for write creatively - don't worry about spelling or punctuation - just let them let their ideas flow!!
Math: In our text, we completed a unit on addition. This unit introduced us to many addition facts, strategies for solving those facts until they are mastered, ways to problem solve and how or why addition is used. The strategies that are learned are SO important, because the children can use those instead of fingers if they are stuck on an addition or subtraction problem. Our rule in 1B is NO FINGERS.....what a difficult habit to break!!! Please encourage your child to use strategies at home when needed! We problem solve everyday, using one of three strategies (draw a picture, write a number sentence or act it out - the favorite, by far!
) If your child needs to do problem solving for homework PLEASE HAVE THEM SHOW ALL WORK. I have stressed to them the importance of always showing work in math - even if, at this point, they can solve in their heads. It is much easier to get in the habit early of showing work than to break a bad habit of doing everything in your head. Thanks for your help with this. I was really proud of how the children learned their Doubles facts, and we are now on our +1 facts. Next will be +0. Please continue to practice these at home. Around the World has become a favorite game - what an incentive to learn those facts! (also a good lesson in friendly competition!!) Ask your child about it if they haven't told you! We are now in a unit on subtraction, covering the same things as addition covered. We will also work to master subtraction facts throughout the year. Each day, we do a quick Problem of the Day to get our brains warmed up and we do Mental Math once a week.
Religion : Our theme for the year is learning about how much God loves us, how we can see and feel that love, and how we can show that love to others. We have just created an awesome bulletin board - it is called "Fall in Love With God". It has a big tree, and each child has a leaf on which they wrote why they love God. Their respones were awesome! We continue to think and talk about making good choices, treating others with respect and love, and remembering that we can talk to God ANYTIME we need or want.
Social Studies: We have started talking about Needs vs. Wants
Science: We are slowly making our way through a unit on the states of matter and what makes solids, liquids and gases special. We took a detour and learned some really cool facts about spiders. Be sure to look at our bulletin board above the lockers the next time you are in our hallway!
I look forward to seeing most of you this week at conferences. If you have any questions or concerns,, please feel free to contact me!
Cheers and Blessings,
Jennifer Scully