On Friday it is Pajama Day. Your child is invited to wear his/her pajamas to school (or put them over his/her clothes - there will be no changing clothes) as well as slippers and a favorite stuffed animal. We will be watching The Polar Express about a boy's adventures at the North Pole.
Does anyone have a DVD copy of The Polar Express that I can borrow for Friday? My copy turned up missing and, the way my room is situated, it makes it very hard to comfortably watch our TV monitor. I would like to play the film on "the big screen".
This week, even though it is the week before our break, we are still moving forward with our curriculum. In Reading we discussed the "qu" and "wh" digraph (a digraph is two letters together that make one sound - and no you won't be tested on that definition later). We are introducing when to use I and me. In a nutshell, I comes in the naming part (called the subject when I went to school) and in 1st grade work is usually found at the beginning of a sentence and me comes in the naming part (the predicate) usually found at the end. Our focus skill for reading comprehension is sequencing, authors put the action in a story in order, for example you don't put on your shoes and then your socks. While we find sequencing easy, many first graders have difficulty with the concept. When you read to your child ask them what happened first, next and finally. See if they can retell the events of a TV show in the order they occurred.We write everyday and the students are consistently writing over 4 sentences on topic. We just finished a little "All About Me" paper which I will grade over the break. We will have at least one more writing process piece before the end of the Marking Period. Remember, we are looking for the correct use of periods and capital letters as well as proper spacing between words and phonetic spelling.
In Math, we are reviewing, money (coins) and time (hour and 1/2 hour) as well as calendar concepts. These are skills that are measured for our state standards.
In Social Studies, we are discussing different ways people celebrate around the world.
When we return from break we have an oral reading fluency test where your child will be expected to read over 20 words per minute. The state standard for the end of 1st grade is 60 words per minute on an appropriate level passage. Please practice reading over the break. You can get books from the library or read books on line on our Harcourt site and at the Tumble books site.
The 3rd MP ends in January and we will have conferences towards the end of the month. I will schedule the conferences by priority, those who are struggling first and anyone else where they can fit in.
We have done a lot of work this year and I am very proud of our students. Every student has seen some successes and I cannot wait to see more.
Have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!
Dave Ostheimer
Does anyone have a DVD copy of The Polar Express that I can borrow for Friday? My copy turned up missing and, the way my room is situated, it makes it very hard to comfortably watch our TV monitor. I would like to play the film on "the big screen".
This week, even though it is the week before our break, we are still moving forward with our curriculum. In Reading we discussed the "qu" and "wh" digraph (a digraph is two letters together that make one sound - and no you won't be tested on that definition later). We are introducing when to use I and me. In a nutshell, I comes in the naming part (called the subject when I went to school) and in 1st grade work is usually found at the beginning of a sentence and me comes in the naming part (the predicate) usually found at the end. Our focus skill for reading comprehension is sequencing, authors put the action in a story in order, for example you don't put on your shoes and then your socks. While we find sequencing easy, many first graders have difficulty with the concept. When you read to your child ask them what happened first, next and finally. See if they can retell the events of a TV show in the order they occurred.We write everyday and the students are consistently writing over 4 sentences on topic. We just finished a little "All About Me" paper which I will grade over the break. We will have at least one more writing process piece before the end of the Marking Period. Remember, we are looking for the correct use of periods and capital letters as well as proper spacing between words and phonetic spelling.
In Math, we are reviewing, money (coins) and time (hour and 1/2 hour) as well as calendar concepts. These are skills that are measured for our state standards.
In Social Studies, we are discussing different ways people celebrate around the world.
When we return from break we have an oral reading fluency test where your child will be expected to read over 20 words per minute. The state standard for the end of 1st grade is 60 words per minute on an appropriate level passage. Please practice reading over the break. You can get books from the library or read books on line on our Harcourt site and at the Tumble books site.
The 3rd MP ends in January and we will have conferences towards the end of the month. I will schedule the conferences by priority, those who are struggling first and anyone else where they can fit in.
We have done a lot of work this year and I am very proud of our students. Every student has seen some successes and I cannot wait to see more.
Have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!
Dave Ostheimer