Reminders

Reading logs are due this week.

Spring photos will be taken tomorrow.

Math test tomorrow.

Thank you to the parents who accompanied us on our field study trip.

Field Study

The Parent Center has arranged for 1st grade to have their spring pictures taken on February 28th.

Per district policy, our field study will be as academic as possible. Students will be looking for the elements of art as well as comparing past and present in the things we see at the museum. It would be very helpful if students were to bring their lunches from home on Wednesday. Lunches should include a soft-pack juice or water (not soda). It would also be helpful if the lunches were packed in a paper bag with your child's name and room number on it.

Unit 4 Week 2

For our current week of instruction we are discussing how families are the most important team we will be a part of. Our oral vocabulary words are concerned, fortunate, member, share, trust. Our sight words are about, give, pretty, were, write. We are spelling with the long-vowel patterns 'ee', and 'ea'. Our comprehension strategy is asking questions; our comprehension skill is characters and setting. Recalling what characters do in particular settings helps us to recall events in a story and improves our ability to retell. For grammar we are continuing our work with subject verb agreement with the verb to have.

We have recently worked on adjectives with their corresponding comparatives and superlatives.

In Social Science we discuss voting.

A Link for Those Interested

From Prevention on diet and food safety (you may be surprised by what's on their list):

http://www.rodale.com/food-ingredients-avoid

One Hundred-Third Day of School

Today we had a group retell competition as part of a learning center project rotation. We also tried our hand at sorting particulate solids using graded screens in Science. We did not get to the math lesson so we took home the topic overview for the weekend.

You should find a list of names sent home for next Thursday's Valentine's exchange.

Reminder: citizenship speeches are due on the 15th.

One Hundredth Day of School

The students were very excited about the 100th day of school. They seemed to enjoy themselves. It was cut shorter than usual because it fell on a shortened day but we still managed to get some good learning and fun in. A special thank you goes to the parents who volunteered their time and treats to help make the day extra memorable.

Home Project

The 1st grade will be hosting the Citizen of the Month Assembly at the end of February. One child from the 1st grade classes will be chosen to read an essay they have written on the subject of sportsmanship. All students wishing to read a speech to the student body need to submit their essay by the 15th of February. One essay will be chosen from those submitted. This is good public speaking experience and an excellent opportunity for video memories.

You will be notified if your child is selected to read their speech at the assembly so you can make plans to attend if you choose.

Ninety-Ninth Day of School

Our new theme for this unit is teamwork. We will begin the unit discussing the advantages of using teamwork and what team members do. This week we will use the spelling rules: 'ai_', and '_ay' to spell the long vowel-a. For comprehension we will learn how to generate questions during reading in order to make predictions. We will discuss comparatives and superlatives and use them to make a small fold out book. Our vocabulary words will be encourage, friendship, relationship, rely, and suggest. Our sight words will be across, carry, eight, once, upon, walked. In grammar we will work on subject verb agreement and the verb: to be.