100th Day of School is Monday

We will celebrate our 100th Day of School on Monday! The students will do some fun 100th day learning activities throughout the day and celebrate with ice cream sundaes!! Yay! They are so excited!

Being a Fair Judge!

The students learned how to "be a fair judge" today during writer's workshop. They looked at their collections and determined which item was their favorite or the best. Here is the criteria they used for " being a fair judge":

1. Put all items in a line

2. Compare the same things ( eyes, ears, ..)

3. Choose the best/ favorite and give reasons why.

Please enjoy the pictures. 

Telling a buddy about their favorite item from their collection and WHY- their opinion!

Great Day

The students had a great day back from the 4 day weekend! I worked in the afternoon today and we were all very excited to see each other. We had a class meeting and the students shared a few things about their holiday break. I heard many stories of playing in the snow and lost teeth! Who knew so many of them would lose their teeth over the break?? :) 

We had a fun writing activity today to get us thinking about having opinions. They  ate three different types of gummy candy and chose their favorite one out of three. They shared with a buddy about their favorite candy and gave reasons why it was their favorite. Then they wrote about which one would get a "blue ribbon" and gave reasons to support their opinion. We will use their collections this week to start the opinion writing unit. 

Please enjoy the pictures from today!

Opinion Writing - bring items by the 17th

Dear Parents,

  First grade will soon begin our next unit in writing:  Opinion Writing.  For some of the lessons, the students will be asked to use a personal collection to create an opinion.  Looking at each piece, then choosing the “best” one and telling why it is the best! --> Telling our opinion!

Please send in at least 4 but no more than 10 items from any kind of collection!  The items must fit into a large baggy with your child's name on it.  We will send the collection home at the end of the unit. 

Examples:  marbles, bouncy balls, Lego men, baseball cards, Rainbow Loom bracelets, coins, hair bows, figurines, fast food toys, seashells, rocks…  (It doesn’t have to be a particularly special collection!)

Please send the items in by next Friday, 1/17/14 !

Thank you,

Concord First Grade Teachers  

Happy New Year!!

Hello,

I hope everyone had a wonderful "extended"holiday break!  It may take a little bit to get back into the swing of things, but I am sure the students will be glad to be back. Please remember that Mrs. Nikodem will be my substitute until January 17th. The class will spend some time on the first day reviewing classroom rules, habits and expectations. They will get a homework packet that says due on Friday. Please keep the homework packet until Monday. They can work on it over the weekend if needed. There will be NO spelling words during the weeks that I am gone. The students may practice spelling any words in the back of their planner for the tic tac toe. Your child will get a new planner when they come back to school. Mrs. Nikodem will collect their old planner so I can transfer the highlighted words in their new planner. I will take care of this the week that I get back to school. After that, I will return the old planner to you for you to keep or recycle. Thank you in advance for your understanding!

Updates for January:

Daily 5- As a class we will review expectations and routines, continue to enhance reading, comprehension skills, and writing skills through the 5 rotations: read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, word work and work on writing.

Writer's Workshop- During Writer's Workshop we will review the two genres taught so far- Personal Narrative (story telling voice about a small moment) and Informational Text ( teaching voice to teach a reader about a topic using several chapters). This month the students will be introduced to Opinion Writing. They will begin this unit after the holiday on the 20th.

Math- During math we will review addition concepts and strategies. The students will learn about subtraction concepts and the strategies to solve subtraction number sentences. They will continue to learn from the Math Workshop/ Center model: whole group mini lesson and then work in math centers and small group instruction.

Social Studies (Projects)- The students will start a unit about Economics. They will work in a packet and watch short clips about Economics on brainpopjr.com. They will bring their packet home when it is completed later this month.

The Seven Habits: The students have learned the first four of the seven habits since August. We have been using these habits on a daily basis at school. Feel free to take some time to review these habits with your child and remind them to have them on their mind as we get back to school. Having these habits on their mind will help them as they get in the routine of school expectations and adjust to my absence.

Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3 : Put First Things First
Habit 4: Think Win Win 

Snack: Please remember that our classroom is a peanut free zone! No nuts or anything made in a factory with nuts (birthday treats as well)! Thanks.

PRISM: Please remember that PRISM projects are due February 14th. PRISM night is Thursday February 20th. It is not too late if your child is interested in working on a PRISM project! Parents can download a PRISM book off the Lindbergh website or request one from the office. (If your child works on a PRISM project, I will make exceptions for the homework packet- email me if you have any questions).

Dates to Remember:
Jan. 15th - Early Release
Jan. 20th- No School (Martin Luther King Jr, Day)
Jan. 31st- Family Trivia