December Update

Happy Holidays!

What a busy month our first graders have had!  Here is a snapshot into what we have been up to:

*We have been greeting each other in other languages with phrases such as kale mera, aloha, howdy, shalom, bonjour, and hola.  Students also learned how to greet someone with a hug and they have been practicing greeting in alphabetical order and by using an adjective to describe the person they are greeting. 
*In word study, we have been learning about the short vowels a, o, and e and students can now spell words in the short vowel a, o, and e word families (cvc words like bat, dog, bed, etc.).  At home, you can expect your student to spell any of these types of words correctly.
*We began a new spelling program this week and the students are off to a great start.  You will begin to see worksheets come home that will show you what students have been learning about spelling in the classroom and you can begin to reinforce these spelling strategies at home.  The words and, of, the are now "no excuse words" and should be spelled correctly ALL the time. We also learned that words are not always spelled the way they sound and about the th sound.
*During reading, we have been working on making predictions before, during, and after a story and providing evidence to support their predictions.  We also learned about the difference between realistic fiction and fantasy genres. 
*In math we have been learning about measurement and the students have loved measuring things around the classroom with their body parts, rulers, and tape measures.  We have also done quite a bit of work with time (to the hour and half-hour), money (pennies, nickels, and dimes), skip counting, adding and subtracting on a number grid, using a calculator, temperature, and adding and subtracting number stories. 
*We have covered all lowercase letters in handwriting except p, r, n, m, h, b, f, q, x, and z.  You should see your student using more lowercase letters in their writing (students are working towards using all lowercase letters, except when expected to use an uppercase letter).  Their handwriting in their handwriting books has been beautiful!
*Our authors have been working on writing for a reader and trying to give enough information for a reader to picture their story in their mind and also making the story exciting and interesting for their readers.  They have been adding "pizzazz" words or "fancy" words to make their story more exciting and they are learning about using their five senses to add description to their story.  We have also been working on putting punctuation at the end of each sentence. 
*The readers in our classroom are really starting to take off!  I hope that you have been enjoying listening to them read at home each day.  I want to remind parents that the books students bring home should be easy for your student to read and that they should be reading the book fluently and with a voice that reflects punctuation and meaning.  Once your reader is reading a level independently with me in reading group (95-100% accuracy consistently) they will begin to bring that level home to read with you.
*We have been having such a great time in science.  The classroom is filled with so much enthusiasm and energy and the students have truly become scientists.  We started an investigation on motion this week and the students have been exploring tops and learning about how to make a top that spins the fastest and a top that is the most stable.  It is really impressive what they are able to conclude independently after their hands-on explorations!  They are learning to draw and write about their findings in a way that others could learn from them.  It is definitely a highlight of each day!  I sent home a couple of optional activities you could explore with your families to share in this excitement with your student.  Also feel free to make tops at home with your student (they could teach you the materials they need to make a top).