January 21 - 24, 2014

January 20, 2014:  No school!

Dear Families and Friends,

We have so many exciting things going on this month in 1st Grade! First of all, this is a three day weekend! Yippee!! 

But more importantly is our learning. The children's fairy tale/fictional stories will be completed and put into a published form by the end of next week. These stories are always refreshing and a ton of fun to read because they are filled with the imagination of children! Then, before you know it, we will be having our 1st Grade fairy tale parade!  It will take place on January 31st at 8:15 inside of the school. The children will come to school in costume with regular clothing underneath their costumes, or change into their costumes once they have arrived in the classroom. Either way, they must have regular clothes on underneath and comfortable shoes, as the 31st is a PE day. You are all welcomed to come in and watch our parade as we walk through the school halls! Many parents usually want to take pictures with their child afterward in front of the castle. This is a very exciting time for the children!! 

Not to backtrack in time, but... the International Festival is even before that! I hope you will all have the opportunity to join our community for this incredible event! Your senses will be overwhelmed with music, colors, food, literature, crafts .... You know what I always say, "There is sooooo much to learn and such little time to do it!". Life is awesome when the learning can be this fun!!

Math:  Students will describe and identify two- and three-dimensional shapes. The will distinguish 

between attributes that define a two-dimensional or three-dimensional figure and attributes that do not define the shape. Each student will create, classify and sort two- and three-dimensional shapes 

according to their attributes using informal and formal geometry language. The student will be able to compose two-dimensional geometric shapes by joining two, three or four figures to produce a target shape.

Reading Workshop:  This week, we will be reading Folktales.  Folktales are very similar to Fairy Tales with the 3 key differences being that there are animal characters who display human characteristics, there is no magic, and there is usually a lesson to be learned.  We will read The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and Little Red Riding Hood.  At the end of this unit, we will have our Fairy Tale Parade. That will be on January 31. Parents are invited to attend, and we will parade around the school to show off what we have been learning and our awesome costumes! 

Word Study:

Green Group:  c, h, and ch Diagraph (coat, hook, chick)

Blue Group:  s, t, and st Blend (sun, top, star)

Red Group:  Words with er, ear, eer, and ear=ur (her, hear, deer, heard)

Writing Workshop:  As we head into another week of fictional writing, we will continue to refer back on all that we have learned about the elements of fairy tales, folktales, and fables. We have been applying our new learning by putting pencils, markers, and crayons to paper and working hard at crafting our own amazing stories. We will also be discussing and writing about our favorite fairy tale and folktale characters as the week progresses. 

Science:  This week we will continue to learn about weather.  We will learn about different kind of weather such as sunny, warm, cold, windy, rainy, snowy and windy.  We will also learn about different types of precipitation such as rain, snow and sleet and severe/extreme weather such as flooding tornado, and hurricane.

Habit #7:  Sharpen the Saw.  I take care of myself.  I spend time with family and friends.  I find meaningful ways to help others.

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

*Library day is Thursday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s Homework bag on Friday morning.

*It helps me tremendously if you leave the books and work in the bags! :)

Dates to remember:

January 20:  No School

January 22:  International Festival

January 30:  Science Fair

February 4:  1^st Grade PE Program

February 5:  Early Release Day

March 1:  Family Dinner Night

March 3-4:  Turkey Trot

March 10-14:  Spring Break

March 19:  Early Release Day and Family Skate Night