Dear First Grade Families, 

I can't believe it is already February and that we've been in school for 100 days!  Yes, last week we celebrated our 100th day of school!  As always, we've been very busy first graders!  I would like to update you on all we've been doing.  Let me begin by telling you about some important upcoming dates:

Important Upcoming Dates:

This week we will be participating in The Great Kindness Challenge.  
This event is a time when students can focus on being kind to everyone they see - just because it's the right thing to do. To help celebrate being kind, we are also having a spirit week.  Here are the themes for each day:

Monday, February 9th: "Kindness is the Gold Rush Way" - Wear your school spirit gear!

Tuesday, February 10th: "Team Kindness" - Wear sports gear!

Wednesday, February 11th: "Happy Hats" - Wear a hat to school!

Thursday, February 12th: "Dream of Kindness" - PJ day!  

**Friday - no school! 

Thursday, February 12th:  Valentine's Day Party!

Please join us in our classroom from 1:45-2:45.  

The kids will be making a craft, opening valentines, 

and enjoying an ice cream sundae.

*Everyone should bring in a decorated box to hold valentines, and addressed valentines for everyone in our class on Thursday. This has been their homework for the last two weeks.

No school Friday, February 13th - Professional Development Day
No school Monday, February 16th - President's Day

Parent-Teacher Conferences:
Please sign up for our conferences that are scheduled for
Wednesday, February 18th and Thursday, February 26th
You can click here to sign up.  Or, if the link doesn't work, there is a link on the Gold Rush Website.
The password is: digger

Here are some highlights from the work we are doing in class:

Reading:

Before our winter break we enjoyed reading and discussing a Jr. Great Books story, The Elves and the Shoemaker.  Jr. Great Books provides an opportunity to read wonderful literature while developing comprehension, critical thinking, and oral and written language skills.  I really enjoyed our class discussions and was so impressed by the deep thinking and insights from your children!  We will be reading and discussing more Jr. Great Books stories soon.

We have been connecting our Information Writing Unit with some work in reading by focusing on nonfiction books.  We've talked about the difference between fiction and nonfiction books and looked at nonfiction text features. These include things like photographs and illustrations, captions, headings, labels, diagrams, and charts.  We made a book about ourselves, showing examples of each type of text feature.  This came home last week. We've talked about how authors use these features to teach their readers.  As readers we need to pay attention to all of these features, look at them carefully, and learn from them when reading nonfiction.  We've also tried using these features when writing our own "teaching books" during writing to help teach our readers. As you read books at home, point out these features and discuss their purpose... Why did the author choose to include that feature?  What does it help teach?

We've continued our focus that "Reading is Thinking" - that readers don't just read the words, they must pay attention and think as they read.  We leave tracks of our thinking on sticky notes or on think sheets, which we share with the class. Earlier this year we've talked about Making Connections... Monitoring our Comprehension by paying attention to our thinking and asking, "Does this make sense?" We also pay attention to what we've learned and how our thinking might change. We've also practiced Asking Questions. Recently we've learned that sometimes readers have to Make Inferences. We have to think about the clues in the text and infer meaning, such as how a character might feel, or what is happening.  We practiced this when reading poetry. We then wrote our own poems with a winter theme where our readers have to infer what the poem is about.  These will be hanging in our hall soon!

*Please continue to read nightly with your child!  Many kids have been forgetting to return their Book Bag each day.  These should travel home and back to school daily.  Remember, your child can also read from the Raz-Kids program online.  There are great books on their level.. and the kids take quizzes to test them on their comprehension.  This is wonderful practice! Please take advantage of this program!

Writing:

We have been working hard on our Information Writing Unit.  This unit focuses on writing text to teach our readers about a subject we are "experts" on... and writing nonfiction "teaching" books.  Some of our topics include animals they know a lot about, holidays, super heroes, seasons, or how to take care of a pet. We began by writing books on various topics, and have moved on to writing chapter books!  Yes... chapter books!  The kids are so excited and motivated! They love writing time!

We've studied various nonfiction texts, looking at these "mentor authors" and discussing what they do and use to teach their writers, then trying this in our own writing to create meaning strategically. We've made a list of things we can do to teach our readers. 

As writers we can...

...write in "twin sentences" (add details by writing 2 sentences, such as "Dogs like to eat biscuits.  Biscuits are little treats, like cookies."

...think of questions our readers might have that we should try and answer.

...include pictures that teach by using labels, captions, or other features we've noticed in mentor texts, like "fast facts" next to our picture.

...think about adding details about color, shape, or size.

...try using a comparison, like "A shark's teeth are as sharp as a knife."

...try including examples, like "When you go hiking you should bring a healthy snack. Good examples are fruit, a granola bar, or a sandwich."

We've also talked about having a beginning that captures the reader's attention, and an ending that wraps up our book, all while focusing on being sure to go through all of the stages of the writing process:  Think of an idea, make a plan, write, revise (we say, "When you're done, you've just begun!" - kids add to or change their writing to make it better), edit (the hardest part for first graders... edit spelling - some, not all - and check for punctuation), and publish!  

WOW!  Aren't your kids amazing?!!  As I mentioned, the kids are so engaged during writing and really love to write their books.  It is a favorite part of our day!

Math:

We finished our unit on addition and subtraction a while ago.  We will focus on this again in a month or so.  We worked through a unit on data collection and analysis.  The kids were interpreting data, reading charts and graphs, collecting data, and creating representations of their data. We are beginning a unit on measurement. During this unit we will also learn about time and practice reading a clock to the hour and half hour. Practice telling time at home!

Another math focus includes learning how to count to 120 (and beyond) by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s.  Most of the kids could use some practice with counting by 2s at home.  Also, we've been trying to memorize our doubles facts, and facts with a sum of 10.  It is wonderful to practice all basic math facts.  When we know these facts we can "use what we know" - a math strategy - when adding and subtracting.  We can compose and decompose numbers - take them apart and put them back together - when computing.  For example, if we know 6+6=12, then 6+7=13.  Or, when adding 16+14 we know that 16 is 10+6 and 14 is 10+4.  We know 10+10 is 20 and 6+4 is another 10, so this equals 30. Our goal is for kids to see these relationships and patterns quickly when looking at a problem and be able to do this math mentally.  This may not happen in first grade (it already has for some kids), but working with basic number facts and memorizing them will help them get there!  There are a lot of math fact games and apps you can download to various devices you may have at home.  I encourage the kids to practice their math facts daily.  

Most of the kids have been completing the Sunshine Math sheets that have been coming home for homework.  I encourage everyone to try these problems!  You may need to help them read the problem... we talk about how important it is to read the problem more than once.  If they are not sure how to solve the problem you can offer some ideas, or even show them how you would figure it out.  But encourage them to do the thinking by asking questions, like, "What can we try?" or "What if we did this __.  Can you do the rest?"  Have fun with this!

Science and Social Studies:

We finished our unit on rocks by taking about things that are made from rock. We even made items out of clay, the smallest rock particle we observed. We will begin a science unit on Solids and Liquids soon.  

We've been focusing on social studies.  Before our winter break we talked about customs around the world.  Recently we've talked about Martin Luther Kind Jr. and the changes he made with the help of people like Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks.  We will also discuss other historical figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as President's day approaches.  Our Book Clubs are working on Reader's Theaters plays about these historical figures, and others who have had an impact on our country. 

As you can see, we've been very busy first graders!  I've enjoyed sharing some of our learning with you!  I hope you enjoy talking with your child about all of their hard work!  I will look forward to sharing more with you during our upcoming conferences!

I have such a wonderful class!  They make me smile everyday!  I can't thank you enough for all of your help and support!  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Sincerely,

Stacie Martino