Can you believe it's November already? The time has flown,and we have just
completed our fall conferences. Before long I will begin to think about
students'report cards for the first trimester. They will be going home on
December 18th, the last day of school before the holiday break.
We continue to work within our literature circle groups, and will hopefully
complete, or nearly complete, our books before the end of the trimester.
Students are enjoying the books and are doing well with the related
assignments. Students look forward to participating in these group discussions.
In math, we are currently learning about geometry, specifically covering
two-dimensional and three-dimensional figures. Polygons, quadrilaterals,
angles, rectangular arrays of tiles, rectangular prisms, mirror symmetry,
lines of symmetry, and developing fluency with the doubles combinations to 10
+ 10 are all things that we will be investigating. Please continue to play
the games that we learned earlier, as they are a great help as students learn
their math facts.
We have been working on some measurement activities recently. Linear
measurement activities in inches and in centimeters have been done, and we are
practicing weighing objects in grams, ounces, and pounds.
We had fun learning about Columbus! At the end of the study students
pretended that they wee sailors on Columbus's ship and wrote letters to
friends or family expressing how they were feeling during this experience.
They "sent" it in a bottle, and lo and behold, they arrived in the first grade
classrooms! Some of my students remembered this experience from last year and
enjoyed being the senders this year.
We have been talking about Veterans' Day, and have written and sent letters
and cards of appreciation to local veterans who are currently at the VA
Hospital in White River.
The Pilgrims are next on our agenda. We are learning about their reasons for
leaving their country and the trying experiences they had before, during, and
after their voyage.
Thank you for helping your child to complete reading logs. Keep up the good
work! The more they read, the stronger their developing skills become!
Please encourage your child to be a good messenger between home and school. I
do send notices home from time to time, as well as an occasional homework
assignment, so getting into the habit of checking backpacks would help to
ensure that these are received.
Thank you for your continued support. It was great to see so many parents at
Open House. It means a great deal to your children when you express an
interest and appreciation for their hard work at school.
With the upcoming holiday season and report card work soon to begin, I will be
busy preparing and organizing our annual pinata-making project for our holiday
party in December. I will make every effort to update this in December, but
forgive me in advance if I'm late. Stay tuned to information that will be
sent home soon regarding the pinatas!
