What a fun week we have ahead of us!!  On Friday, we will have our Valentine’s Day party from 1:50 – 2:45.  Recently, your child brought home a class list that he or she compiled to help with addressing valentine cards.  Please feel free to send in your child’s valentines any time this week.  I will provide time for your first grader to pass them out before our party on Friday. 

As noted in last week’s newsletter, the February reading project is posted under the “Reading Project” section of our web page. This month the children will read a biography about a real person. Our school library has a wonderful selection of biographies.  Mrs. Whisnand has set aside a cart of biographies for the first graders to use when selecting a book.  This project is being completed by the entire grade level, so I encourage your child to check out a book soon before the selection dwindles.  The public library and local bookstores also have a supply of age appropriate biographies.  Please let me know if you have any questions about this new project.

STAR OF THE WEEK… Congratulations to our Star-of-the-Week, Grace!  Her special star poster will be up on our class bulletin board all this week.  We look forward to learning more about our special star!

 VOLUNTEER REMINDER…

This semester there are many fun first grade activities that we would love to have parent participation.  If you would like to volunteer for an event in the classroom, please take time to fill out the necessary volunteer paperwork.  This district-wide policy is required for all activities that involve students other than your own child.  This would include events such as field trips, parent readers, Ocean Day (or other thematic events), working with small groups of students, volunteering in the cafeteria, lunch recess, Watch Dog Dads, field day etc.  The application has to be completed every school year.  If you are unsure if you have completed it for this school year, please email me and I am happy to check with Becky Klaus.  It takes 72 hours for the paperwork to go through the system.  Each adult in your family has to complete the volunteer application in order to volunteer.  It is not a family application.  To find the application, please visit the Round Rock ISD website.  Click on the “Students/Parents” tab and then the “Volunteer and Mentor Application.”  Directions are provided to walk you through the process.  Thanks for filling out this application, and we look forward to seeing you in the classroom this semester!   Please email me if you have any questions about this process or how to locate the application.

 SPECIAL THANKS…       

- Thank you to Liz and Melody for helping with the Valentine's Day party!

- Thank you to the families that sent in a mitten or glove for our adjective lesson.  We had a great time using describing words to uncover the mystery mitten/glove!

- Thank you to Daivd’s family, Lauren's family, Grace's family and Taylor's family for preparing materials for our Valentine’s bags.

- Thank you parents for making reading time an important part of your evening!  We had several days last week when every student brought their planner to school, filled in the titles, and had your initials!  This nightly practice time is important for the students in so many ways!

 HOMEWORK

1. Read for 10-15 minutes. Please remember to record each night’s reading in the planner.

2. Practice Math Facts daily

3. Practice Spelling words daily

4. Read about the February book project!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Feb. 9: PTA Meeting and First Grade Program, 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 10: Early release at 12:45 p.m.
Feb. 12: Valentine's Day party (Please arrange childcare for siblings.)
Feb. 15: Student holiday; Staff Development Day for teachers

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE

Reading:  Our focus during small group instruction is on building our vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension as the stories we read increase in length and difficulty. 

Spelling:  This week's spelling patterns can be found on our class website.

Writing: This week the students will practice writing factual information about the United States Symbols.  Also this week, the students will learn how to self-edit their stories and look for capitals, punctuation, adequate spacing, and that all of their words have vowels.  Finally, we will work on handwriting and write in our First Grade journals.

 Math:  This week’s math facts test will be subtraction facts from 9.

We will continue learning strategies to help us solve addition problems with higher numbers.  This week the students will learn the make a 10 strategy.  For this strategy the students learn how to change a number sentence like 9+3 into 10+2.  We have discussed in class how easy it is to add numbers to 10.  We are also working hard to understand the relationship between different number sentences.  For example, doubles number sentences all have even answers (e.g., 6+6=12).  The students were very excited when they realized that the answers to doubles facts are going up by two.  The students also learned last week that 6+7 is just the doubles fact plus one.  Hopefully these strategies will help your child build his/her computation skills. 

Science/Social Studies:  This week we will discuss the important symbols of our country.  To record their learning, the students will make a United States symbols book.  For the symbols book this week, we will focus on the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Great Seal, and the bald eagle.