Sterling's Snippets: Happy New Year!

Welcome back to school and to 2018. Can you believe we are at the halfway point in 1st grade? During the past couple of weeks, students have completed numerous assessments. You may be wondering, what's the point? Why is my child taking all of these "tests" at school? While research could give you some detailed reasons behind assessing students, I'll share with you my top two reasons why they are so beneficial in my classroom. Number 1: These assessments provide me with a picture of growth for every student in our classroom. That's right, every student makes growth! While students learn at different paces, I am able to celebrate the enormous growth made by all students. We love dancing and high-fiving to celebrate the growth. These kiddos are truly readers and mathematicians at this point in the year. It is SO fun to see them light up when they check out a book at the library that they can reading independently! Number 2: These assessments provide me with next steps for each student. While I can teach content and see where the majority of my students need to go in the future, these individual assessments give me specific next steps for each student. One student might need support with looking through print while reading while another might need to practice their phrasing and fluency. While the assessments take time, as they are often given 1:1, they are so very powerful and important. I've almost finished and will wrap up with math this week. With that being said, be proud! Your firstie is amazing and I can't wait to see how far they come in the second half of the year.

Assessment and pride rant over....have you started the Reading Medalist challenge with your student? Guided reading will start back up on Tuesday, so expect to see 1-2 books come home with your student each week. Remember, these books count towards the reading total. Students are now able to check out three books from the school library. We are so thankful for our library staff for helping to support this challenge. They have an entire table set up with first grade books for our students to check out. Thanks to Mrs. Cain and Mrs. Kiser. You may turn in forms as soon as they are complete, no need to wait until the end of the week or month.

I have a few penguins left in the classroom that can be picked up at your convenience. I sure hope you enjoyed seeing your child's amazing art piece. While you visit, don't forget to check out our new writing piece that is posted on your child's locker.

We celebrated our first birthday of the New Year this week. Happy 8th Birthday, Gracie!

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: We will jump back into small group reading this week. In whole group reading we will continue learning about subject/verb agreement. This gives us an opportunity to review both nouns and verbs at the same time. In phonics we are practicing writing digraphs th, sh, ch, wh and ph. We'll explore cause and effect relationships while reading Seasons.

Writing: In writer's workshop we are busy learning about opinion writing. This week we will practice elaboration by adding introductions and conclusions to our already impressive paragraphs. Check out the planning and writing process below.

Spelling: Students will take their first spelling test on Tuesday this week. A new list will come home on Wednesday with all students for at home practice, if desired.

Math: In math students are learning about a variety of graphs. We will practice creating and analyzing picture, circle, bar and line graphs. In small group math student are practicing their math facts using a website called Zearn. Visit www.zearn.org to practice at home with your child. Students can enter their individual username and password and play on a computer or tablet.

Science: In science students are learning about the importance of our Earth. This week we will conduct an investigation on the water cycle. We hope to create evaporation, condensation and precipitation.