October 26-30 Updates

October 26-30 Weekly Updates

I can't believe it's the last week of October! This Friday marks the end of our first quarter. Notes will be coming home today with your portfolio conference times. I can't wait the share all the gains your child has made so far this year as a first grader. 

Please return permission slips and money for our Building for Kids field trip scheduled for November 6th if you haven't already. Thank you!

Red Ribbon Week:

Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States.

Tues. Oct. 27th....no sweat being drug free...wear sweats
Wed. Oct. 28th....Red Day
Thurs. Oct. 29th...drug free is double the fun....twinning
Fri. Oct. 30th...we're the ghosts. ..say BOO to drugs....wear orange and black!

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week we will be focusing on reading with smooth, fluent voices. One strategy to smooth out our reading is to scan the page to notice how much we will need to read and notice the punctuation first, before reading. We will also be focusing on retelling by using our fingers and words such as first, next, then, after that, and finally. Towards the end of the week we will be thinking about the lesson the author was trying to teach the character, or even us sometimes!

Writers' Workshop: First graders have so much to teach and have been writing lots of How-Tos! This week we will be looking at published how-to texts to notice things such as warnings, tips, introductions and conclusions we can add to our own writing. We will also be adding more details to our steps, making sure our pictures teach, and edit our writing for punctuation. 

Math Workshop: We will be focusing on subtraction and noticing that there are addition and subtraction relationships (i.e. I know that  7 + 3= 10, so 10 - 3=7). These relationships can help us become fluent with our facts. Each day in math workshop we have also been working on solving problems and trying to use at least two strategies. Here's an example of a first grade problem: 

Students are working on choosing numbers that are just right for them, with teacher assistance! We will also be studying equations and story problems carefully to decide if we need to add or subtract.

Science/Social Studies:  We have finished our organisms study. First graders were sad to say good-bye to our critters, but they learned so much about what living things need to live and grow. This week we will be learning about fire safety, and be conducting a mini research unit on bats, spiders and pumpkins. We will even be using the ipads to research online using Pebblego. If you'd like to access this site at home the usename is electa and the password is electa. The information is easily accessible for first graders. We will be visiting this website throughout the year.

Word Study: We introduced 5 new word wall words today. The words are: for, come, in, am, us. We will be assessing these words on Friday. These are words we want students to be able to read and write automatically without having to think to sound them out. Students also continue to work on phonics skills and word sorts at their developmental level.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Kathy Zobel

First Grade

New Directions Learning Community

Help spread the word!

New Directions Learning Community will be offering a free event

for senior citizens in the Fox Valley.

On Thursday November 5^th  from 8:30 – 9:15 am

seniors are welcome to visit our school.

Coffee and pastries will be served while they

learn about how school is different today than it was when they were young.