Writing Celebration

During our 'Reading Mini Lesson' we are working on reading with partners! Here are the reading habits that we use and the expectations for working with partners. 

We had our writing celebration today!

The students worked so hard on their 'small moment' writing and bringing their stories to LIFE! They really enjoyed reading each other's books today! Way to go, first graders! 

Your child will bring home their 'small moment' writing later in October.  I use their writing pieces for the first quarter report card. 

Picture Day is tomorrow. Please be sure to send  picture money and the order form to school tomorrow. 

Help our school reach our 

School Wide Reading Goal!

September Reading Logs are due Friday! 

Parents need to total the monthly minutes and sign the log for Friday. Please make sure your child has read 10 minutes Monday- Friday. They can always read more and on the weekends!!

Maddie was in the spotlight last week. We really enjoyed her show and tell items!!

Max's mom was a Mystery Reader yesterday. We really enjoyed her visit!Thank you for reading to us!

If you are interested in being a Mystery Reader:

Email me if you are interested and give me one or two dates and times that work for you to come in and read to the class. I will get back to about which date and time will work best. After we have the date and time scheduled, please do not tell your child that you are coming! You just need to bring a favorite picture book to read to the class. It only takes about 15 minutes or so. The kids will guess the reader about 5 minutes before you get here. Please check in at the office and they will call down saying that our reader is here. Your child and a friend will come get you from the office.

 Math Centers: 

Number Sense/ Patterns

Addition Practice

Have a good long weekend!

Reading instruction started this week during Daily 5. The students are divided into groups based on their reading levels. Your child will be in my reading group or in Mrs. Norman's reading group. Mrs. Norman and I switch reading groups every few weeks throughout the school year. During guided reading lessons with the teacher, the students will complete word work activities, make predictions about a new story, whisper read several times, give a retell and answer comprehension questions. As you can see that by time your child brings home the book in their envelope, it is now a very familiar read and therefore a 'just right' book. 

Please continue to read to your child at home for enjoyment and save the reading instruction for school. When parents try to 'teach' reading at home, the strategies can be different then what they are doing in the classroom and can cause confusion for the student. 

We started Chapter 1 in math this week. This chapter is all about addition and solving addition stories. During Math Workshop the students will learn about addition strategies and work in centers. They love the hands on activities during centers. 

Have you ever asked your child- How was your day? Or What did you do today?  The common response is "I don't know" or "nothing". Well, here are some great ideas to get your child to say more: 

What book did you read today? 

What did you write about today? 

Did you do something nice for someone else today?

Who did you sit by at lunch today? 

What did you do at recess? 

Which block did you have? 

Which of the 7 habits did you focus on today? 

Don't forget about Movie Night tomorrow! 6:30pm Zootopia

Early Release Reminder: Please make sure your child knows how they are going home tomorrow. Send a note if your child is going home different then what is on file in the office. Thank you! 

Maddie is in the Spotlight this week. She chose the color blue for Wednesday. She would like her classmates to try and wear some shade of blue tomorrow. 

Two New Things This Week

Reading envelopes will start coming home this week and next week. Your child will bring home the envelope as they finish reading the book during their guided reading lesson. There is no set schedule for when the envelope comes home, so please do not worry about how frequent or less frequent your child brings it home. When it does come home, please be sure to follow the procedure laminated on the front of the envelope as seen below. Be sure to return the book in the envelope the very next school day. 

Weekly spelling words are coming home in your child's binder tonight! Each student took a 'snap word' assessment the 2nd week of school. Your child's Snap Word Graph was created from their results of the written test. As of now, each child has 2 graphs in their binder behind the Goal Setting tab. There will be more graphs as they learn how to spell the words correctly on the test and in their everyday writing. 

Please do not highlight / color or have your child highlight or color on this graph. They will take care of the ' data tracking' at school with myself and Ms. Calcaterra. 

Their weekly words are on the white paper in their binder pocket. This paper can stay home all week as they practice writing their words. Please refer to the bottom of the white paper for spelling practice ideas. The work is not required, it is optional! They do not need to turn in spelling practice activities. The test will be Friday. 

Daily 5

We had such a cozy morning of read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, word work and work on writing!

Student Spotlight will officially start next week! One student a week ( 5 day week only) will be in the Spotlight. Your child will bring home a flyer about student spotlight the Friday before it is their week. Here is a picture of the flyer. 

Mark Your Calendar:

9/14 Early Release 1:40 Dismissal

9/16 Concord Movie Night 6:30pm

9/23 No School - PD day

9/28 Picture Day

10/7 Family Trivia Night 6:30pm

10/14 First Quarter Ends- 1/2 day of school

Great Friday

We met with our 4th grade buddies today! We plan to meet with Mrs. Gastreich's class throughout the school year to read to each other, share writer's workshop stories and take brain breaks together.

Beautiful day for Writer's Workshop outside! 

Some kiddos were revising their story by adding more words on each page while others were adding more details in their pictures. 

Have a great 3 day weekend! 

Reading logs will come home next week. 

Spelling words will start the week of the 12th.