Hello, and welcome to the month of May! It's hard to believe that there's only seven weeks left of school! It seems like it snowed three weeks ago. It is WONDERFUL to have those "extended days" behind us, but I must admit that I far prefer doing "extended days" to being in school until July 1st! The administration has officially announced that students' last day of school is June 20th, and that it is a half-day. Lunch on that day will be at 10:15, and the "Parade of buses" will be at 11:30. "Step UP" day will be the day before, on Monday the 19th, from 8:30 - 10:30. "Field Day" will be an all-day event (weather permitting) on Friday, June 16th.
So, now we begin the final "push" of learning for this year in First Grade. Our Spring NWEAs are only a few weeks away, and there are many topics to cover in Math, Reading, and Language Arts before they happen. We have done the basics in Geometry already, learning our 2D and 3D shapes by name and by attributes (characteristics). This week, we will be working on "composing" (building) and "decomposing" (taking apart) both 3D and 2D shapes, as well as learning what "symmetry" is, and what "tessellation" (flipping, sliding, and turning shapes). Next week, we work in earnest on learning about fractions. The following week, we will work on measurement. The children have already been measuring using nonstandard units (blocks, toys, paperclips), but we will use inches and centimeter rulers to measure objects around us. Of course, along with the math we are learning during class time, we are continuing to practice adding and subtracting (though now it is adding and subtracting of multi-digit numbers), figuring out which digits are missing from equations, and working on word problems. Once the tests are over, we will return to the fractions and measurement units to complete properly whatever did not get done as we readied for our NWEAs.
In Language Arts, we are working on adding describing words to our writing. We have been learning about nouns and verbs for a while, and we will add adjectives to the list. We are learning about different contractions, and how they are formed, and started finding and making compound words. Our writing focus for this next month will involve opinion writing. It's a little tricky to understand that this writing involves creating a topic sentence, supporting the opinion with 2 - 3 reasons for that opinion, and then restating the opinion again. The children are not used to writing using a particular structure, so it will be interesting to see how they handle the tasks ahead.
At the end of May/ beginning of June, first graders need to take two Level 16 reading tests: one is a test on a fictional story, and the other is a test on a nonfictional story. Both are timed, and are only "passed" if the reading is FLUENT, and the retelling accurate. We try to get all "exiting" first graders to pass both the fiction and the nonfiction Level 16 tests. To that end, the class and I are spending time each afternoon reading and retelling nonfiction texts. We have been learning about the table of contents, what headings and subheadings are, what kinds of information we can glean from captions, and discovering how to use a glossary and an index. Little House on the Prairie is almost done, and then our final chapter books will be introductions to series books (like Frog and Toad, Horrible Harry, and Henry and Mudge books), as this is what I hope the kids will reading this summer.
I received an email from the kitchen this week, announcing the end of Wowbutter & fluff sandwiches. She has been instructed not to reorder it, and she used up her supply this past Sunday. Wowbutter and jelly will continued to be offered as a second choice each lunchtime.
This Friday, the first grades will go upstairs to the second grades to view the second grades' US monuments and landmarks projects. We will spend 20 minutes in each of the classrooms, so our usual reading time will be devoted to that task. However, we will still do our sight words, fluency sentences, and spelling words, but do them Friday afternoon. Therefore, there will NOT be "Share" this coming Friday.
The last Book Fair of the year will happen during the week of May 8 - 12. Fliers should be coming home sometime this week. If you would like to have your child make a purchase during the school day, he will have the opportunity right after lunch each day of that week. Please send any money in a baggie labeled for that purpose, and the money will be handed to him at the time of purchase.
I think that's all I have for you this week. I will be in touch again on the weekend, after I return from Boston. (Time to go help my daughter put in her air conditioner.) Have a good week.
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