Hi Room 2 Families,                                                          Friday, October 18^th, 2019

Important Dates:

Scholastic Book Fair: October 21^st through October 25^th

        Our class will visit the book fair on Thursday October 24^th at 8:30 am

Happy Hollow PTO Movie Night: Friday, October 25^th at 6 pm

 

Happy Fall! 

It has been such a pleasure meeting with so many of you for our parent-teacher conferences! I look forward to meeting with those of you whom I’ve not yet met with in the coming weeks. 

Readers’ Workshop

     We’ve started our formal Reader’s Workshop in first grade. Our Room 2 friends have done a wonderful job following a new plan, working with teachers either in a small group setting, or when reading independently and having the opportunity to confer with adults. Children are making nice transitions between the computer lab and the classrooms that they are working in. We are super-proud of each and every reader! 

This Week’s Book Recommendation…

     We will be reading an amazing variety of literature this year including both fiction and nonfiction pieces. My hope is to share some of the diverse books with you in our newsletters, as well as some of the conversations that we’ve had about the books. We’ll explore the selections during Open Circle, Read Aloud, and/or as springboards for language arts activities. Books will be available in our Happy Hollow Bookstop and/or in our classroom library. Children are welcome to sign out the books that have been recommended to share at home.

     This week, we read We’re All Wonders by R.J. Palacio, author of the very popular chapter book, Wonder.  This book celebrates the beauty and strength in both our similarities and our differences. Our favorite lines include, “I know I can’t change the way I look. But maybe, just maybe…people can change the way they see. If they do, they’ll see that I’m a wonder. And they’ll see that they’re wonders too. We’re all wonders!” The author encouraged us to “Look with kindness and you will always find wonder.” Each student then wrote and illustrated a way in which he/she is a wonder. Their sticky notes were placed on a big poster that is now proudly hanging in our classroom! We hope you’ll check out this book and enjoy it at home! J

Writer’s Workshop

   We’ve continued working in our journals, recording weekend activities, important personal events (playdates, birthdays, holidays, vacations, etc.) and interests. Children are focusing on creating complete ideas in their sentences, as well as starting each sentence with an uppercase letter and ending with appropriate punctuation. Children are also working on tapping out sounds in words, using their best-guess spelling when writing. 

    We read 2 great books by Chris Van Dusen titled If I Built A House and If I Built A School. Kids then created their own masterpieces with super cool and wildly imaginative rooms and furnishings! These mini posters inspired their writing, including labels and descriptions of the buildings. Yesterday, we read a book called Fall Is Here~I Love It!  We’ll write about the season next week in Writer’s Workshop. 

Math

     Last Friday, students took a unit-end assessment for our Counting and Comparing unit. We call these assessments opportunities to “show me what you know.” We then use this data to determine math groups that will meet on Fridays for 40 minutes. These groups provide opportunities for practice, reteaching of skills, and extension opportunities in small group and large group settings. Our math groups will begin next Friday, October 25^th.

Our new math is called Decomposing Numbers to 10. In this unit of study we are focusing on the following skills:

·       Conceptual understanding of solving word problems about putting together and taking apart situations (using story boards)

·       Learning combinations of numbers up to 10 beginning at a targeted number based on the results of Kathy Richardson’s Hiding Assessment

·       Understanding the relationship between addition and subtraction and use visuals to understand this relationship (turn around facts as well)

·       Use number bonds to understand the relationship between addition and subtraction (begin to introduce fact families)

Children will take part in a variety of activities during math stations that will provide appropriate support and challenge for each learner. We encourage you to take a look at the math papers that come home; these are good models to use should you be interested in working on math activities at home with your child.

Science

     During the last 2 weeks, we have been exploring air during our science blocks.  Children have been performing experiments, working both individually and in partnerships to make sense of concepts described in the attached Science Newsletter.  On Monday, your child will take home his/her science journal. Please take a look at your child’s work and ask about the drawings and ideas that they have recorded. Next week, we will begin the next part of our unit called, Observing The Sky. Stay tuned for more science fun in the weeks to come!

Open Circle

In Open Circle with Mrs. Santomenna and Ms. Tazell, we have explored the concepts of including others, giving compliments, and positive self-talk.

     We hope you all have a wonderful weekend ahead! As always, please let us know if you have any questions about your child’s school experience.

Take care,

Lise Weig  and Margie Cohen