The Week of January 23, 2023

 

Upcoming Events

Winter Sports Day: Wednesday, Feb. 1

• Warm clothes: snow pants, boots, hats, mittens and neck warmers or a balaclava.
• Temps look cold- hand warmers may be a great addition.
• Have your child dressed in comfortable clothes: sweatpants, sweatshirts and warm socks. 
• A change of clothes. You never know when you will need them!
• Non-perishable lunch, snacks and drinks- quick and easy things students can eat on their own during lunch! An afternoon snack for school return is GREAT- they are tired and hungry :)
• Any equipment you are providing such as snowboards, boots, skis, goggles, helmets, skates, snow shoes etc. 

No School / Teacher In-Service :  Friday, Feb. 3

Valentine's Day: Tuesday Feb. 14th 

This year we will have a small classroom celebration in honor of Valentine's Day. If you would like to bring a treat please click on the link below to sign up. Please let me know if you are unable to view the google doc.

First and Second Grade Valentine's Day Party

I will be sending home a list of students in First and Second Grade. Making valentine's for classmates is not a requirement but can be fun! If you are able to make them, please be sure to include everyone :) 

Winter Benchmark Assessments 

Over the past few weeks I have been busy conducting our winter benchmark assessments. Students take part in various reading, writing and math tasks to help me identify areas that a student may have misconceptions and need continued learning and/or areas that may need enrichment. Our small groups will be changing in class, as well as our intervention groups taught by Ms. Russin. All students have shown growth and should feel proud of their learning! 

Readers' Workshop

In reading, the first and second graders continue to work on reading nonfiction texts. Our focus has been on asking and answering questions about the nonfiction texts we are reading. Students matched questions and answers, and worked on jotting down their questions about topics. This week, we will continue to work on the Question and Answer Relationship by sorting various questions into groups: from the text questions, think and search questions, author and me questions, and on my own questions. Students learn to identify various questions and then are better able to generate answers. 

Journal Writing 

Together we have begun writing about our reading several times a week. We are learning the different ways to respond to our nonfiction and fiction texts at this time. As students become more confident in their writing this will become an independent task during readers' workshop. 

Writers' Workshop

In writing, the first and second graders are working hard to complete their own nonfiction texts. Students are building their writing stamina each day, and have worked to write about topics they are experts on! This week, we will be choosing our favorite piece of writing to revise and edit. This time, we will be using our laptops to publish our favorite page(s) on a book. Students will learn to use google docs and how to insert images into their document. 

Restorative Circle: Peace Circle 

Each week we have a special circle in class to build classroom community and belonging. All students are encouraged to speak and listen. Our focus for the next few weeks is going to be on respect. Last week, we brainstormed what respect means. Students had some great ideas! Next, we thought of people, places and things we respect at school. In the coming weeks, we will work on building some agreements around respect in our school. 

First Grade Math 

In first grade math we are working through Unit 4 which focuses on the number line. Together we built a giant number line in class. Students practiced counting forwards and backwards to 120 by 1s, and 10s. We used our number sense to identify missing numbers. Later in the week, we learned to add and subtract using a numberline. 

In number corner, we worked to read and solve missing number equations. Students learned to write missing number stories and equations to match. We have been working on counting forward and backward from 0-50 each day. 

Unit 4 Family Overview