October 20th-24th

Hello families!

We have made the switch from fairytales to sports! Our first week of studying athletes and sports was centered around soccer. We learned rules, had Ms. Cory come in and talk to us, got to learn about Mia Hamm and more.

Thematic: There were four centers that everyone got to rotate through. We read many informational books about soccer as well.

1. Make a Mia Hamm fact book. Mia Hamm was an amazing soccer player that we enjoyed studying!
2. Make a foosball game using your shoe box, straws, a ping pong ball and cut out soccer players. This   was a hit!
3. Write a soccer rule that you learned from the book we read or from Ms. Cory. Use your best green line writing and illustrate that rule. These rules are going to be put together in a big book for the class.
4. Make a soccer ball out of a paper plate by tracing/cutting black hexagons. Glue those black hexagons on in the pattern you would see on a soccer ball.

Reader's Workshop:

Our three beanie baby reading strategies that we learned this week are:
*Chunky monkey- He reminds us to look for chunks of words that we already know within the word we are trying to solve. Example: -art, -old, -and, -er
*Skippy Frog-He reminds us to skip the word we do not know, read to the end of the sentence and then go back to that word.
*Flippy dolphin- He reminds us to try the other vowel sound if it does not sound right. Try the long sound or vice versa.

We have also been gluing things into our 'poetry, songs and more' books. This week we added a mini book about the 3 ways to read a book. The 3 ways to read a book are..... read the words, read the pictures or retell the story. Gluing this mini book into our journal will help us remember the 3 ways but it is also a safe place to keep it to frequently remind us.

We have enjoyed practicing our word study words. We have used play dough, paint and we even used these really cool letter cards and put them on string to make word necklaces.

Everyone should have received a book to read at home! Please have your child practice the strategies we have discussed in class if they come to an unfamiliar word.

Math Workshop:

We pulled out the hundreds mat from last year and started working with those higher numbers again. Looking at patterns and how numbers work together. The hundreds board has two dice. The children roll the dice and add together. Then move their marker that many spaces on the hundreds board. The first one to 100 wins! For a challenge children are asked "How many more to get to_____?" This works on adding using many strategies we have been practicing.

We also worked on the "3 Towers" game. This is where there are 2 different colors of unifix cubes.. A dice is rolled and then whatever number that is you place that many cubes to make a tower. The partner then rolls and places that many cubes on top. Your goal is to make 10. Example: I rolled a 5. I take 5 yellow cubes and place them on the bottom. My partner rolls a 4 and then places that many on top. I have to roll again. If I get a 1 then my tower is done. If I roll more than a 1, then I place 1 on top and then take the leftovers and start a new tower. The game is done when 3 towers of 10 are built.

The final game we introduced this week was called "Heads or Tails." You get 7 pennies. You shake them and then drop them on the table. You count how many landed on heads and record that under the "heads" column. Without counting you should know how many tails there should be. After you figure that out, you check your math work by looking at the remaining pennies. After the you master 7, you go to 8, then 9 then 10. For children who need a challenge, we have added more pennies. Working with different materials is always fun!

Parade of Fiction: Next Wednesday morning...do not forget! It starts at 8:30 and should not take long. PLEASE BRING A CHANGE OF CLOTHES!

Box Tops: Please bring in box tops if you save them! We can earn money for our school and Abbey (from our class) has a special box that she brought in for us to keep them.

Conferences: Conferences have been going well! Please remember that if you do not see a time that works best for you, I am more than happy to make other arrangements.

No school October 30th & 31st. No volunteers needed next week since we have a short week!

Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

October 13th-17th

Hello families!

Remember that the fairytale ball is tomorrow! 8:15 a.m.-10:45 a.m. The first grade dance will start at 8:30 and after that the kids will go through 8 stations revolving around fairytales! Please remember your costume can be ANYTHING related to fairytales. Think of all the stories we have studied the year and last! The possibilities are endless. :) If you can sign up to help run stations, please do that. I think we only have 2 signed up to help and each class should have 4.

Parade of fiction: October 29th-Dress like your favorite character out of a book!

**Remember if you are ever wondering what we are doing in class each day because nothing is coming home, this is the place to check! We try to do hands on activities and avoid worksheets as much as possible. We also keep many things to display in the classroom!

The conference sign up went out last night! Sign up for a time that works best!

If you took a pink piggy to help raise money for the breast cancer walk they are due back TODAY!

Thematic Unit:

This week we are reviewing all the fairytales we have studied and enjoying our last week of this unit! Our 4 stations this week were:

1. Make a mirror out of tin foil and glue it on a piece of paper. Write "Mirror, mirror on the wall, What is your favorite fairytale of all? I liked_________ the best."
2. Jump rope to "Cinderella dressed in yellow went downstairs to kiss her fellow, how many kisses did he get?" I think this was the favorite center of all!
3. Make a venn diagram and compare two of your favorite fairytales. Write what is the same and what is different about the two.
4. Make a torn paper crown. This is great for fine motor skills! Use whatever colors you wish and then write at the bottom which materials and colors you used.

Reader's Workshop:

Now that our reader's workshop is all set up we can finally get to the good stuff. We are learning about all the different reading strategies and relating them to beanie babies to help us remember them. These are called "beanie baby reading strategies."
-Tuesday we learned about 'Stretchy Snake.' He helps us remember to streeeeetch the word out slowly. The put the sounds together to figure out the word.
-Wednesday we learned about 'Eagle Eye.' He helps us remember to look at the pictures for clues to help figure out the word.
-Today we learned 'Lips the Fish.' He tells us to get your lips ready. Say the first few sounds of the word out loud. Read to the end of the sentence and say the sounds again.

*We are still working on individual reading and writing goals as well. This week we focussed on making sure that during our 1 hour long reader's workshop that we were getting both writing and reading done. Students have individual writing goals as well. Some students need to spend more time on making sure they have a beginning, middle and end. Some need to spend time on adding details to pictures. Some need to add words. There are many goals that are being achieved each week! We are still working on handwriting as well. Each day we learn how to correctly write a letter.

**Please feel free to use these phrases at home when reading with your child. We will learn others next week.

Word Study Words:
beg
bog
big
bug
bag
*Watch those tricky vowels changing in the middle and listen to each sound.

Math Workshop:

We learned a new math game this week and changed some of our tubs. The new math game is called "10 plus what?" There is a 10 frame already filled with 10 dots. You roll the dice. Then place that many counters on the other ten frame. Then add 10 plus that number together to get your total. After that you record your equation. Eventually everyone will be really quick with their "10 plus____ math facts." For children that need a challenge, we have them adding 8 and 7 to numbers. We have also been  doing addition equations with multiple numbers. For example: 1+4+5+6=? We also have these multi step equations mixed into word problems. This is where strategies (other than adding in our head) come in handy! In relation to adding we have also been given the sum and had to figure out different combinations to get to that sum. For example: "I have 12 pieces of candy. Some are lollipops and some are peppermints. How many of each could I have?" Each child could come up with several combinations to get to 12 and then show their work and prove their answer. These are fun to come up with and solve!

SCHOLASTIC ORDERS DUE TOMORROW!!

Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

This week!

Happy Thursday!

Announcements:

October 17th: Fairytale Ball: You will need a "costume" for this. Please do not worry! If you need help making anything or coming up with an idea I will gladly help. Any costume related to fairytales is great: prince, princess, fairy godmother, fairy, little red riding hood, a knight, etc. Get creative but do not make it too hard! An email was sent out earlier with details regarding this event. Unfortunately siblings will need to stay home due to limited space. So sorry!

October 29th: Parade of Fiction- Dress like your favorite character from a book! Please come to me if you need help with a costume. :) Last year there were many cool costumers! I saw Fancy Nancy, Matilda, Amelia Bedelia, Junnie B. Jones and so many more.

October 30th & 31st: Parent Teacher Conferences *A sign up genius will be sent out later. I will offer these all throughout the week.

November 5th: Yearbook pics...dress your best! :) We take these at 8:30 in the morning thank goodness.

Thematic Centers: 
We are still studying Cinderella and reading many different versions! I hope everyone can come into the classroom at some point and see all of this beautiful artwork displayed. We have not been sending things home lately because we need to decorate our classroom! We are also saving items for portfolios and conferences. 

The 4 centers were:
1. Create a menu for the ball! Include an appetizer, main course and dessert. This was hilarious! :0 My favorite menu was: dough for an appetizer, pizza for dinner and a cookie cake for dessert. Yum!
2. Decorate an invitation for the fairytale ball and give it to your parents.
3. Create Cinderella's castle using attribute blocks. Trace the shapes and come up with a castle!
4. Make Cinderella's necklace using a pattern of your choice! Then write what your pattern is using green line paper. 

Reader's Workshop:

We have finally introduced all 5 stations for reader's workshop and we are good to go! Everyone really enjoyed learning about the listening center. This week we are focussing on punctuation in our writing AGAIN! This is something that is so hard to remember in our writing. We are working on individual reading goals in reading groups as well. Reading goals look like this (they are different for every child) : working on stretching out the word and putting it back together, looking at non fiction features, taking a picture walk before reading and pointing out unfamiliar vocabulary, learning site words etc. Reading groups take place each day. After your child reads the book in their group, the book is sent home so that they can read it to you at home. Then it goes in their book box for a familiar re-read.

Math Workshop:

We have been saving each math "sheet" that we do for conferences. That's why we're not sending much home! But we also try to avoid doing worksheets. Our math tubs are all hands on! This week we are continuing to work on math story problems. Everyone is still struggling with how to "show their work." Every good mathematician has two strategies to solve each story problem. One can be in their head but the other needs to be shown physically so that they can always double check their answer. Strategies can be: counting on, using fingers, using manipulatives  drawing a picture, grouping or skip counting to get an answer quicker, breaking apart numbers to the math is easier, using a ten frame to prove the answer, etc. Each day we have a math talk and discuss the MANY ways to solve a problem. The important thing here is that everyone can prove it! We also played double compare. This is very similar to the game we played a few weeks ago that I wrote about. This time instead of turning over one card, you turn over two cards and add them together. The person with the biggest sum, gets to keep both cards. Students who are really great at adding have cards that have more dots. Students who need a challenge have more dots so they are adding higher quantities. We continued to review "Fix It" and "5 in a Row". We also learned how to play roll and record a different way from last year. This year the kids are rolling dice and adding them together and then recording their answer.

Word study words this week are: a, an, the, good, last

**Do not forget to order scholastic if you would like! Orders are due by October 17th. Class code is: MG2XP

Enjoy the weekend!
Hugs, 
Mrs. Schultz