Permission Slips

Thanks to those of you who already sent in permission slips for Friday's trip to the Union Square Farmers Market. Please get the slips to us by Wednesday! Thanks.

Practice spelling at home!

Here are some sentences from our current word study unit.  This unit, we are studying syllables and vowel teams.  Dictate these sentences to your child and have them write independently. Go through the sentence together and correct any mistakes. Remind your child about punctuation and uppercase letters!

The kids dug in the soft sand.

Did the ball swish in the net?

Gram did say, "I will get lunch."

Jill will get the doll in her crib.

Do not dump that stuff on my bed!

Tom sets up drums for the band.

Did she bump her leg?

You can put on this mask.

Math Fluency Practice

Important Dates

Here are some important dates coming up in the next two weeks!

Monday, March 31st: Town Meeting first thing in the morning in the auditorium

Friday, April 4th: Class trip to the Union Square Farmers Market, 9:30-11:30

Friday, April 11th: Farmers Market: Drama Share 8:30 am in our classroom

Math Fluency Practice

Set those timers once again...

New Class Schedule

This week, our prep schedule changes. Instead of having Sing-a-long with Bradley, we will have Dance on Fridays.

Strategies for Subtraction

Here are three different subtraction strategies that the first graders learned this week. Most of the first graders are either using 5 group drawing or counting on.  The last strategy - pull out 10 - is the most abstract and challenging, and it's the strategy we'd like to see most first graders using by the end of our math unit (still a few more weeks to go).

When solving subtraction problems, you can prompt your child to use the most efficient strategy - the strategy that makes most sense. Show your child these charts to help them remember what they learned in school!

Tomorrow's Writing Workshop

Tomorrow during writing workshop, the first graders will perform an "on-demand assessment" - they will write for 20-25 minutes with no teacher help.

We usually do something like this at the beginning of a writing unit so that we can see what our students know, and where they need to grow. (We usually call this kind of work a "show what you know" with the kids.) Then, at the end of a writing unit, the first graders perform another on-demand assessment - this time, we will be able to see how much our students learned.

Anyway, we wanted to give our first graders a heads up about the assignment tomorrow. If you get a moment, you can tell your child something like this:

"Tomorrow you are going to write all by yourself in writing workshop, so that you can show what you know about writing information books - writing nonfiction. Think of a topic that you've studied or that you know a lot about. You are going to write a book that teaches others interesting and important information and ideas about that topic."

You can help your child brainstorm topics by thinking about: places they go, things they know a lot about, things they do often, etc...

Thanks for your help!

Town Meeting

Join us tomorrow in the auditorium at drop-off for Town Meeting.

We will sing This Land is Your Land, This Little Light of Mine, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, This Pretty Planet, and Peace Like a River.

See you in the morning!

Reading & Writing Non-Fiction

Last week we launched our non-fiction reading and writing units, and boy, were the kids excited! After having a brief discussion about what nonfiction texts are and why readers read them (to learn about the world around us and teach others about what we've read!) the kids were able to explore our nonfiction library in an engaging way. Ask them if they read about creepy insects or learned more about farm animals. We are about to learn so many fascinating things! Stay tuned for those nonfiction reading strategies your kids will soon learn and practice...


In writing workshop, we will write information books. The first graders will learn how to write different kinds of facts, how to organize information, and how to elaborate in their writing. Some first graders will also use research to add details to their books. First graders are experts on so many topics - from soccer to Star Wars to play dates - we are looking forward to learning lots of information from them :)

Gail Gibbons

Our students have developed a love for non-fiction - and they especially love non-fiction author Gail Gibbons! Look out for Gail Gibbons' books in the library or bookstores!

Some titles include...
Bats
Pigs
The Milk Makers
Apples
Horses

Math Fluency Practice

As usual, set the timer for 60 seconds...

Current Class Schedule

More math fluency practice!

Set the kitchen oven timer for 60 seconds and have your child try to solve as many of these problems as possible!

Word Study Practice

We are starting a new unit in word study this week that focuses on consonant blends and digraph blends.

A consonant blend contains two ore more consonants and can come before a vowel (f l i p) or after a vowel (p a s t).

A digraph blend is a digraph blended with another consonant such as n and ch in the word lunch or sh and r in the word shred.

Here are some sentences you can dictate to your child so that she or he can practice spelling.  Say the sentence aloud twice. Then, have your child write the sentence using her or his best spelling - remind your child to remember capitalization and punctuation.  Then, go through the sentence together and fix any mistakes.

My belt is on the shelf.
Did Beth step on that frog?
This clock is the best gift!
Bill fell in the sand.
Stan must dump in the sand.
Come to the pond and swim.
Could mom mend the rip in this dress?
I wish that Kim would not brag.
Could Tim get the cloth on the shelf?

Happy Spelling :)