Sept. 30 - Oct. 4, 2013

Dear friends and families,

This has been another exciting week in first grade. With September winding down, the smells and feels of Fall are in the air. Fall Conferences are well on their way, and October festivities are just around the corner! I would like to thank each parent who has taken time to work with our children in the classroom and at home. Your time and care are so valuable to each child. If you have not helped out with something in the school already, there will be plenty of opportunities to come.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please return signed Tuesday folders on Wednesday morning.
Thursday, Oct 3rd: Individual Picture Day!
Thursday: Library Day! All library books are due by Thursday morning at 8:00.
Thursday: Computer Lab

 Here is what we will be doing this week:


READING
We will continue with read to self and read to someone.  We will focus on choosing a good spot in the classroom where we can sit comfortably and read without being too close to others to get distracted.  This week,we will also learn what to do when we get stuck on a word.  There are different strategies that readers use when they get stuck on a word.  For example they could look at the first letter of the word, or look at the picture or think about what they have already read. They could also look at the words after or before and based on all these clues, make an educated guess. 


HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING AT HOME?
While reading with your child at home, there are different ways you can help your child if he/she gets stuck on a word.  Let's say, the sentence says: It was a sunny day. And your child gets stuck on the word, sunny.  There are different ways you can coach your child.  One way is to ask your child to look at the first letter of the word.  Then look at the picture.  By looking at the letter "s" and the picture of the sun, your child might quickly say, "Sunny". Another way is to look at the word after or before.  In this case the word after is day, so obviously it is either a sunny or rainy or a cloudy day. So for this word, the letter "s" at the beginning and the picture on the page are all indication of a sunny day. Children can also sound the individual letters and put the sounds together.  S-u-n-n-y, or read chunks of the word and put the chunks together.  For example the word, yesterdays can be divided into chunks of yes-ter-day.  You can cover the word and only show one chunk at a time.  Each time your child reads a chunk, uncover the other chunk and let your child puts the chunks together.


WRITING
The children have done a great job writing stories that are personal and special to them. As they finish their stories, your child and I confer to revise and edit their stories.  This is when we learn how to add details to make our stories more interesting and how to take off sentences that have been repeated or that really belong in a different story. During editing, we check for capitalization, correct punctuation, and correct spelling of the first grade sight words. The process of revising and editing make our stories more beautiful and interesting to the readers. This is also called "Fixing Up and Fancying Up" our stories.  As our stories finish and go through all the steps of writing, we will have an author's celebration as we share our stories with the whole class and publish them! Please be looking for our stories on the walls of the 1st grade hallway!


HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING OF WRITING AT HOME?
Please check your child's Tuesday folder for the pieces of writing that come home.  As I send some samples of each child's writing home, you can see places that I have marked.  Those are the areas that your child and I have talked about, such as starting with capitals, or writing with lowercase letters in the middle of the words or sentences, correct punctuation and spelling the sight words correctly. Please review these with your child and emphasize these points at home.  Thank you!


MATH
This week we will continue to understand that a number is made up of two or more parts. We call this part-part-whole.  We will use the concept of part-part-whole to explore a variety of addition and subtraction word problems.  Part-Part whole will make us understand the idea of joining two parts to make a whole and separating a whole into two parts. In first grade students use addition(sums) and subtraction (differences) up to 20.


HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING IN MATH AT HOME?
This week we will work on a variety of addition and subtraction problems.  Samples of the problems will come home in your child's Tuesday Folder. Please practice with similar math stories at home.  It is important to allow your child to find the different missing parts for each math story.
For example:
Mrs. Leyva has 10 books.  She read 3 of them to her students   How many books does she still have to read to her students?

This week, Mrs. Leyva wants to read 11 books to her students by the end of the week. Today, she read 3 books.  How many more books does she need to read, so she would read all 11 books?

Mrs. Leyva read 3 books on Monday, 2 books on Tuesday, and 4 books on Wednesday.  How many books did she read in all?


SCIENCE
So far in science we have learned that matter is anything around us that takes up a space.  Matter can be perceived by our senses and can be classified based on its physical characteristics.  This week we will learn that all matter has mass.  Mass is the amount of matter that forms a body that has some sort of shape and size. Also, the three states of matter can be changed from one state to another.  For example, frozen water can melt and change from solid to liquid, then evaporate and change from liquid to gas.  When matter changes from one state to another, the mass won’t change.  The mass doesn't get more or less, it is still there but in another form.

7 Habits of highly Effective Kids
We have already discussed the first two habits:
1.  Be proactive: I have a "Can Do" attitude.  I choose my actions, attitudes and moods.  I don't blame others.  I do the right thing without being asked, even if nobody is looking.

2. Begin with the end in mind: I plan ahead and set goals.  I do things that have meaning and make a difference.  I am an important part of my school.  I look for ways to be a good citizen.

This week we will continue to discuss:
3.  Put first things first: I spend my time on things that are most important.  This means, I say, "No" to things that I should not do.  I set priorities, make a schedule, and follow my plan.  I am organized.


THANK YOU!
Thank you for stuffing folders, reading with the children, helping in and out of the classroom, and even donating treasures for our treasure box. Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!