Mrs. Boudreau's First Grade : October 2017

Free vector graphic: Autumn, Colours, Fall, Leaf, Leaves - Free ...

First Grade News

October 23, 2017

Good Afternoon,

Wow, have we been lucky. The weather has been in our favor this fall. The foliage is outstanding and looks to be promising most of the week. We hope you’ve had a chance to play in the leaves or get outdoors to enjoy the beautiful weather.

We thank you for attending Open House this year. We always look forward to seeing everyone and love to see the children show you their classroom, hard work, and daily routines. Before long we will be seeing you at conferences. More information will come your way soon.

Here’s what’s been happening in first grade…

~Writing:

We are continuing on with our small moment (narrative) writing. We’ve learned to tell our story across our pages or fingers. It’s important to include a beginning, middle, and end to our stories. Illustrations can help spark ideas, so sketches are encouraged! Sometimes children like to draw and spend quite a bit of time doing this. While we encourage this, it’s still important to get writing in as well. This week we will focus on zooming in on a particular part of their story and stretch the sounds we hear in words. We encourage first graders to write and spell on their own (saying and stretching out the sounds they hear). We also will discuss words we know in a snap. These are high frequency words (and, at, is, it, etc…).

~Reading:

Readers continue to read “just right” books independently. We’ve learned how to organize and stack our books to read as many as we can. We also learned many strategies to solve tricky words. When we come across a tricky word we don’t give up… here are a few strategies we’ve learned: look at the picture, think about what makes sense, look through the word (breaking it apart), get a running start, do a double check, and get your mouth ready for the first sound. We’ve also learned how to be good reading partners as well.

~Math:

We have continued to learn strategies to add numbers.

Here are a few we have talked about recently: count on 1, 2, or, 3 to a number, ten facts (7+3, 5+5, 2+8, etc.), fast 10’s (10+5, 10+7, 10+3, etc.), and adding zero to any number. We will continue to teach these strategies and introduce more as we move through the year. This week we will discuss fact families, how numbers are related (2+3=5, 3+2=5, 5-2=3, 5-3=2).

Growth Mindset: We read a great book called Bubble Gum Brain by Julia Cook. We discussed how we can change our words and change our mindset from a fixed one to a growth mindset.

The hive was filled! Last week Mrs. Boudreau’s class topped off the hive and another celebration was awarded. Grade levels got to choose their rewards. Last time first graders got popsicles and extra recess. This time the first graders watched a movie! We can’t wait till the hive is filled again!

Coming home today is a letter explaining how to access our classroom blogs, passwords for Splashmath and Xtramath. Splashmath is familiar to the first graders. Xtramath was just recently introduced so will be fairly new to them.

If you go to the Chamberlin website and look under the student tab you will see Splashmath, Xtramath, and Bookflix.

Here is the Bookflix username and password.

UN: chamberlines

PW: bookflix

Food Drive: Donations of nonperishable food is appreciated. Send along in with your child or drop off in the main lobby!

Upcoming Dates to Remember:

* October 24th - 8:10-8:30 AM, Morning Meeting Assembly presented by 3rd Grade

* November 2nd – Picture Retake Day

* November 3rd – Popcorn Friday

* November 7th - Chamberlin Harvest Meal (12:05-12:40)

* November 10th – Early Release, 12:30 (lunch will be in the classroom)

* November 10th – PTO Movie Night