Healy Happenings
1st Grade :: Room 116 :: December 11th, 2015
End of the Week Wrap Up
Literacy
This will be the last newsletter until next year. It
is so crazy to think that it is almost 2016 – this
year flew by!
December reading calendars are due next Friday
(12/18). Students will receive their January
reading calendars before break to start filling in
once it is January. Over winter break the only
homework will be to read and play math games.
Please see the attached PDF document that
explains the SL Student Council Holiday Spirit
Week. The LZ95 Charity Bash will benefit the
Alexander Leigh Center for Autism. Students can
choose to dress up according to the Spirt Week
Calendar:
Monday – King & Queen Day
Tuesday – Character Day
Wednesday – Neon/Bright Day
Thursday – Dress Like a Friend Day
Friday – Holiday Spirit Day
I wish everyone a HAPPY and RELAXING Holiday
and a Happy New Year!
See you all next year!
Sarah Healy
In reading we have been learning new strategies for
fiction reading. Students have practiced reading with
expression by following the punctuation marks they
see. A good way to continue to practice this is to
model your expression as you read aloud to your
child, or to have your child read aloud to you with
expression. Students also learned to identify
character traits of main characters in their fiction
texts. Students can identify main characters,
character traits for the main characters, and prove
the character trait by showing text evidence. Wow!
This is a very high level skill and students did a
fabulous job. At home when you are reading with
your child you can practice this by asking them to
explain a character trait of the main character and to
prove it! We have also started to retell fiction
stories using the important details. This week we
focused on retelling the main characters, setting,
problem, and solution of a fiction text. We then added
explaining some of the important events in the plot.
Next week we will focus on writing a retell of a
fiction text including students’ opinions of the book
and the theme of the text. After break we will begin
our unit on Nonfiction!
Math
These past few weeks we have been busy telling
time! Students have learned to tell time on both
analog and digital clocks to the hour and half
hour. We learned how to tell time to the hour
using the phrase “__ o’clock” and to the half
hour by using the phrase “half past __ o’clock”.
We also learned that there are 60 minutes in an
hour and 30 minutes in a half hour. Students
know the difference between the hour hand and
the minute hand, as well as when the minute
hand is pointing to the 12 it represents “on the
hour” vs. when the minute hand is on the 6 it
represents “half past”. This is something that
can continue be practiced over home during
break. Test your child on telling time and use
the key phrases that we have learned in class!
In Writing Workshop students have started to learn
about writing Personal Narratives or Storytelling. We
are currently in the immersion stage of the writing
process. This stage is when students are immerged
in quality examples of Personal Narrative texts and
are given the opportunity to explore and practice
writing like the modeled text. When we get back from
break we will begin to generate ideas of a possible
Personal Narrative story that students will take
through the writing process.
In word work we have been busy practicing long
vowel sounds. Students learned that long A
sounds are spelled with either a sneaky e (a_e),
ai, or ay. Students also learned that long E
sounds are spelled with either an ee or ea.
Sight Word Spelling
Since there is only one week left before
Winter Break, next week’s spelling is going
to be a review of the sight words from
trimester one. There will be no homework
sheet for students to turn in next Friday.
Students received a list of trimester one’s
sight words in their Home Folder today.
Please be sure to review sight words each
night in place of sight word practice.
Dates to Remember
Monday 11/14 – King & Queen Day
Tuesday 11/15 – Character Day
Wednesday 11/16 – Neon/Bright Day
Thursday 11/17 – Dress Like a Friend Day
Friday 11/18 – Holiday Spirit Day
Friday 11/18 – December Reading Calendars Due
Friday 11/18 – Sight Word Spelling Test
Friday 11/18 – Math Game Due
Social Studies
We have started our Traditions unit in Social Studies.
We are currently learning about different “winter”
holidays. Last week we studied the holiday Diwali.
Students learned that during Diwali people light oil
lamps called diyas, get new clothes, share sweet
treats and snacks, and light off fireworks to
celebrate the Festival of Lights. We also have
learned about Hanukkah. Students learned that
during Hanukkah people light a candle on the menorah
for the eight nights, families play the dreidel game
and win gelt, and potato latkes are eaten with
applesauce. Next week we will learn about Kwanzaa
and Christmas.