Sterling's Snippets: Busy Friends in a Busy Month

We have been busy in 1st grade over the past couple of weeks! Has your first grader shared that we met our Daily 5 Stamina goal of 20 minutes? That's right, these six and seven year olds have learned to sustain activity for twenty entire minutes, independently. So, what exactly are they doing for twenty minutes? They are practicing high frequency words, writing letters, list or in their personal journals, listening to books with CD players, exploring Epic Books to listen and read stories on the iPad, and of course, reading independently. Their independence allows me to pull students one on one or in small groups. I'm excited to begin small group reading next week. Each student will meet with a group of students for a skill, specific lesson. During these lessons we will be working with words, reading and writing. Expect to see 1-2 books come home with your child each week. These books should be read aloud and then returned to school. Watch for a separate plastic bag to come home this week! Inside you will find a book and a reading log for you to sign.

All students in grades K-2 participated in Bus Safety this week. Students learned about safety both inside and outside of a school bus. Even if your child doesn't ride the bus daily, all students will ride the school bus next month for our first field trip. Student practiced sitting properly in the bus seats as well as evacuating the bus from the rear in a practice drill.

Thank you so much for all of the recent Scholastic Book Orders. Did you know, your purchases directly support our classroom? As a classroom teacher, I earn bonus points which can be spent on new classroom books. Additionally, our class was sponsored by several of my friends and family members this year. Students will receive a free book each month. We will work to write thank you notes to send to the donors this week.

Star Student

Our Star Student this week was Eli. In addition to serving as my assistant for the week, Eli also celebrated his birthday! We loved learning about Eli's family, interests and hobbies. The students were especially interested to learn that Eli can hop on a pogo stick without his hands!

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: This week students will read Curious George Goes to School and practice sequencing events in a story using words such as first, next and last. We will also define verbs as action words by playing "Guess the Action." Students have been busy reviewing their kindergarten high frequency words. While most students are able to read these words, our efforts have been spent on spelling and writing the words as well. A high frequency word list has been added to your child's G.O. Book for your reference. This list will be updated as your child masters reading and writing all of the words. I encourage you to practice these words at home as well.

Writing: In writer's workshop students have learned about the three key components of the lesson. Many students are filling their writing folders with writing pieces. One of the best parts of writing is sharing the work. This week students learned how to share their work with a partner. Each partner read their piece. When done, students provided a compliment to their partner.

Math: This week we will begin our next unit in math where we will begin our work on addition and subtraction to 10. Students will learn about math symbols, number bonds and how to combine numbers to 5. Each lesson will allow for collaborative activities as well as independent practice of the skills.

Science: Students are currently learning about plants and animals in science. Last week we learned to identify plant parts as well as about the plant life cycle. On Monday we will plant carrot and bean seeds to learn about plant needs.