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