Week of September 28-October 2

It's the last week of September already! We can't believe have fast the star on our number line is moving! We will soon have two bundles of ten in our counting cups.
This week we will conclude our author/illustrator study of Kevin Henkes. We have enjoyed reading his stories and meeting his characters. We will be reading books about families this week. Our challenge assignment is to make a family tree!
In Writing Workshop, we will move on to how to write a how to paragraph. We will write one together as a shared writing activity on Tuesday and then the students will work on their own. We will conference as we go.
In math, we will make our own little abacus to help us add and subtract numbers through ten. We are also working on telling time.
Enjoy the week!

Week of September 21-25, 2009

This week we will explore apples! On Wednesday, students should bring in an apple. We will measure the circumference of each apple and compare weights using a balance scale. Then we will do the fun part, which is tasting the apples. We will dip the apple slices in peanut butter, cinnamon, and caramel. Then we will make a graph to show our favorites. We will also learn about how apples grow and make a comparison picture of apple trees.
Our Character Education theme for this month is Courage. We will read the book Courage by Bernard Waber, and then make our own class book about courage. Look for it on the bulletin board by the office.
We will go to the Book Fair on Monday. Please send money in an envelope with your child if they will be buying books.
Have a great week!

Week of September 14-18, 2009

We are well on our way into first grade! This week we will be starting Guided Reading! I will be meeting with four reading groups. Look for the book in a bag to come home, along with a letter explaining what you need to do with it. On Thursday, we will celebrate Constitution Day. I look forward to meeting all of you at Back to School Night on Tuesday, the 15th.

Week of September 8, 2009

Welcome to my blog! This week in first grade we will be starting our Scott Foresman reading series. We will also be launching Writing Workshop. We will be practicing our handwriting and reviewing Project READ. In math, we will compare numbers and use terms like more or less. Look for a parent letter to come home explaining our first unit in math. Homework will start this week too. Please remember to check the homework folder each night and return it each day. I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!