Weekly Overview- April 30-May 4

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14..... APRIL 30-MAY 4

Dear Parents:

The animal report notes and rubber-banded t-shirts are due this Wednesday! Please oversee your child so that s/he is not just copying facts directly from the resources. The Walk-a-thon pledge envelopes are due this May 10. Please help us to raise money for updating our computer lab!

LANGUAGE ARTS:

DOL/Sitton/Phonograms: We will continue to practice our English skills, spelling and phonograms. We will have a phonogram quiz on Thursday.

Reading: We will review all the stories in our book for themes 9 & 10 and then take the comprehension test on Tuesday. Our F&P testing for the spring standard text level (Level I) will be done over the next few weeks. Higher levels may also be tested in certain cases.

English:  We are still working on the categorization of nouns, verbs, and adjectives; however, we will expand our work to include labeling them in sentences. There will be a sentence-writing test on Friday.

Spelling: Once again students have the opportunity to have free time on Friday during our regular spelling test time IF homework and the practice test are completely error free.

1.  Did you go after them?                       6.  I have many friends.

2.  Eat your lunch before you play.         7.  It's a nice day!

3.  How old is she?                         8.  Two people are here.

4.  Will he get that book?                         9.  We saw a pretty house.

5.  What did you give to her?                  10.  I'll see him soon. 

MATH:  We will continue to work on different adding strategies. This week we will work on the strategy of making ten to add 8 and 9: 8+6 is the same as 10+4 which equals 14, so 8+6=14; 9+7 is the same as 10+6 which equals 16, so 9+7=16. These two strategies are very important. Please encourage their use on any math homework. We will also work on adding 3 numbers. The idea is to first look for tens facts and doubles facts within the 3 numbers to aid in the addition process: 4+6+5=?  4+6=10, 10+5=15, so 4+6+5=15 or 7+7+5=?  7+7=14, 14+5=19, so 7+7+5=19.

SCIENCE: The final copy paper and illustration page for the research report will be given out on Friday. The entire report is due on May 16, but your child may turn it in as soon as s/he is finished. Please make sure that your child turns in his/her brown notes along with the final project. If your child wishes to draw illustrations at the bottoms of the pages, s/he may. Thank you for guiding your child through this project. We will have our final lab this week. The students will be experimenting with how heat/cold can change matter from one state to another.

LIBRARY: Please help your child to remember to bring his/her library book back to school on Tuesday.

*********************SPECIAL NOTES*************************

PROGRESS REPORTS:  This week and next will be the last weeks that you will receive a progress report until you receive the final report card due to the busyness of these final weeks (PTA HONORARY SERVICE AWARD NIGHT, OPEN HOUSE …) and then I will be starting to compile information for the report cards.  If you ever have any questions about your child's progress, please feel free to e-mail or write a note to me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.  Continue to use your child’s work packet as the gauge of your child’s strengths and weaknesses.  I hope that these progress reports have been of use to you in keeping track of your child's progress.

LOOKING AHEAD:

May 11 – Walk-a-thon 3-6 pm

May 15 – PTA Honorary Service awards and Chorus Spring concert – 6:30pm

May 16 – Animal report due!

THE WEEK AFTER THAT:

May 21- Furlough Day

May 22 - Open House (7:00pm) – everyone come!...Minimum day (1:37 dismissal)

May 24- San Francisco Zoo field trip

May 25 – Minimum Day dismissal – 1:37

THE WEEK AFTER THAT:

May 28 – Memorial Day holiday

May 29– TENTATIVE First Grade Music Program – 9:00am in the cafeteria

May 31 –  Play Day -1:37 dismissal

June 1 – Last day of School – 12:30 dismissal

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - April 23-27

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14.....APRIL 23-27

Dear Parents:

Please remember to send a LABELLED white t-shirt to school by this Wednesday. Also, the animal research notes are due on Wednesday, May 2. If your child is finished with the notes now, s/he may turn them in. If your child has not begun the research, she/he NEEDS to begin now. This is something that CANNOT be done well in one night. Please help your child to reword facts so that copying is not taking place.

 

LANGUAGE ARTS:

DOL/Sitton/phonograms: We will do DOL and work in our spelling review workbook. We will have a phonogram quiz on Thursday.

Reading: As usual we will start our week with a listening comprehension test and vocabulary study. Then we will read the last story in our reading book – “Days With Frog and Toad”. Please remember that your child needs to return the Take Home books at least once a week. We will be taking our theme vocabulary test on Thursday. I will be doing reading level testing for many students over the next few weeks. Of critical importance is the testing for those students who have yet to pass level I, our exit standard for 1^st grade.

English:  We will continue to learn how to identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives. We will have an editing and sentence writing quiz on Friday.

Spelling: There were 9 perfect spelling papers this week! J But, many errors are still being made on homework!!:( This is very avoidable with careful checking. Again this week, your child will not need to take the final test on Friday if, and only if, s/he completes PERFECT homework on Monday and Tuesday AND a PERFECT practice test on Wednesday with at least a 2 in printing.

1. That book was about animals.         6. She wants yellow boots.

2. It's time for your bath.                       7. Is their house blue?

3. Where is my white hat?                     8. My mother likes red.

4. What will they do this summer?      9. The green frog jumped into a box.                                                         

5. I saw a funny play.                            10. You're early!

MATH: We will finish up our data and graphing topic and take our topic test on Tuesday. Then we will move on to addition facts to 20 with a review of doubles and near doubles.

LIBRARY: Our library day is Wednesday. Any book that is taken home must be brought back on TUESDAY. Again, I need your help in teaching your child responsibility.

 

*******************************SPECIAL NOTES*****************************

There will be no progress reports, as I will be working on assessing the narrative writing that your child did on Friday. The score on this writing piece will go toward determining your child’s writing score on the report card. Please check through your child’s work packet in the Wednesday envelope to note progress, challenges and any missing homework points.

Walk-a-thon pledge drive begins next week!

Check your school calendar for the many events of the next few weeks!

Please plan on attending Open House on Tuesday, May 22 at 7:00. Your child is working hard on projects to show you!

First Grade Music Program-Tuesday, May, 29- 9:00am

Hope to see you there! J

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

                        

Weekly Overview - April 16-20

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14....APRIL 16-20

Dear Parents:

I hope that you and your child were able to enjoy some special times together this week. Now we really kick into “high gear” as we head into the last few months of school. Please reestablish homework and bedtime routines as soon as possible.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

DOL/Sitton: We will continue to review English editing skills with our DOL sentences. We will also use our Sitton spelling workbook to review spelling patterns and rules. There will not be a phonogram test this week.

Reading: Our listening comprehension test for the story, “Stone Soup”, will be on Monday. The rest of the week we will be working on a realistic fiction story called “Fireflies for Nathan”. In this story a boy goes to visit his grandparents and has a fun time doing something that his father had done as a boy. Our reading strategy focus is summarizing events (this fits in well with our exit level I story summary requirement) and our comprehension focus is noting the sequence of events. Please remember that Take-Home books are to be returned at least once a week.

English: We are going to start something completely new!  We are going to learn about 3 different types of words: nouns (people, places, things), verbs (action/doing words), and adjectives (describing words for nouns).  The children will be reading and categorizing words.  We will continue to review all editing skills through creative writing.

Writing: The students will have an opportunity to once again show their understanding of the narrative process. On Friday they will be given an hour to show what they can accomplish toward a complete narrative. This writing will be assessed and students will have more opportunity to work on it after the initial assessment and hour-long time. This year there is no formal district assessment, but in future years the students will be required to complete some type of writing assessment within a specified time limit. We are doing this informally this year just so you can get an idea of how your child would have scored, if in fact we were having the formal assessment.

Spelling: Beginning this week, if your child has perfect homework for Monday and Tuesday, and a perfect Wed. practice test, s/he will not need to take the final test on Friday.

1.  They're good friends.       6.  Do you have a larger piece?

2.  Let's go!                     7.  He can't find us.

3.  We've bought some toys.  8.  Take what you want.

4.  I'll share my cookies.      9.  Would she know them?

5.  Didn't they like that?      10.  Which animal could we have?

MATH: This week we will be working on the topic of data and graphs. We will work on using data from real graphs, picture graphs, and bar graphs. The students will also collect data using tally marks and make picture and bar graphs.

SCIENCE: We continue to finish up our in-class animal reports. Just a reminder that the animal research notes are due Wednesday, May 2. Help your child to budget his/her time and not leave it until the last night. Any late projects will lower the Behavior grade one level (A to A-) since it relates to responsibility. Thank you for helping your child to experience success with this project, but please do not do the project for your child. We may be working on how solids and liquids mix with other liquids.

*********************SPECIAL NOTES*************************

Looking ahead:

This Friday, April 20- PTA-sponsored Game Night 6:30-8:30

April 30- Walk-a-thon pledge drive begins

May 2 – Animal research notes due

May 4 – animal report notes with final copy paper and illustration paper sent back home to be worked on

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - April 2-6

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14....APRIL 2-6

Dear Parents:

Please note the separate assignment regarding a research project for your child to do at home over the next 5 1/2 weeks (along with a little help, please) about a zoo animal. On Monday an informational note will be sent that explains the project. At the bottom of the page is a place for your child to indicate his/her animal preference for study. This section should be returned by this Wednesday. Keep the top of the page for the instructions for the project. Please make note of the important due dates for the project parts. A research folder with paper will be going home on Thursday so that your child can begin the research project. Do not allow him/her to wait until the last minute to do this project.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Sitton/Phonograms- We will review some spelling rules in our spelling workbook. We will also review the phonograms and take a quiz on Thursday.

Reading: We will read our story called, “Two Greedy Bears”. Your child can also practice reading this story at home because it is in one of the reading books that was sent home in the blue bag. We will also use our reading time to work on our polar bear reports.

English: We continue to review all of our skills and will have a quiz on Friday.

Spelling: This week we begin having 10 sentences. There will still be four grades for each final test: new (underlined) words- one in each sentence, old words (all others), English, and handwriting (rubric 1-4). Monday's homework will be to use sentences 1-5 for writing the underlined words four times each and copying the sentences once. Tuesday's homework will be to use sentences 6-10 for writing underlined words and sentences. Beginning after vacation, if your child gets a PERFECT paper on the Wednesday practice test, has a handwriting score no lower than a 2, AND has no mistakes on spelling homework, s/he will not need to take the final test on Friday, and all the test grades, will be taken from the Wednesday test.  That student will have free time during the Friday spelling test.

1.  Is your sister very tall?            6.  Is this the longest bridge?

2.  She is the tallest girl.              7.  He is the shortest boy.

3.  The show was too long!             8.  I'm taller than that sign.

4.  That line is longer.                  9.  Which book is best?

5.  He has a short name.               10. Who was shorter?

MATH: We will finish our coin study and have our Topic test on Tuesday. The rest of the week we will be working with measurement. Please note that our standards only require measurement with non-standard units, however, I will be introducing measurement with rulers using inch and centimeter units. Your child will need an inch ruler for homework on Thursday.

SCIENCE: We are continuing to work on our in-class animal reports. We will also be working with the properties of liquids. There will be a liquids explorations lab on Thursday.

COMPUTER LAB: We are very busily typing in our animal stories. Parent helpers for this week – we look forward to seeing you!

************************SPECIAL NOTES***********************

Looking ahead:

April 9-13 - Spring Break

April 16-20 - TV Turn-off Week

April 20- PTA sponsored Game Night  6:30-8:30

April 30 -Walk-a-thon pledge drive begins!

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Have a wonderful Spring Break!

Sincerely,  

Mrs. Pierce