Sept. 24, 2015
Fall has arrived and we are getting busier and busier in Room 101!
READING
READING CALENDARS ARE DUE NEXT THURSDAY!!
After a few weeks of training, our Daily Five is now up and running. Mrs. Tomczyk
will be reading with three small reading groups each day. While she is working with
students, everyone else will actively be involved with writing and reading.
Bright Bags have been coming back and forth from home to school. After
independent reading, your child selects two books to bring home to read. Each
week, the children have a designated day to “shop” for new books. These books
should be able to be read by the student without a lot of parent support. Don’t
forget to have your child Check for Understanding every couple of pages. This
strategy teaches children to stop frequently when reading and give a quick
summary of Who and What they read about. Comprehension is important! (If your
child works with a reading teacher, he/she will not take a book from the
classroom. He/she will continue with the books and materials sent home from the
reading teacher.)
Don’t forget to review the sight words. They are the same as the spelling
words. Having a large sight vocabulary builds comprehension and fluency.
MATH
In math, the children are continuing to build their number sense. Sometimes the
class is all together thinking like a mathematician and other times, Mrs. Weider has
small groups come up and work with her on concepts. The past weeks we have been
working on several topics, for example, the objective that you can count on from
any number. This is a precursor to addition. We have also been working in our math
journals on story problems. The children are encouraged to show their thinking by
using pictures, numbers, and words. Attached is a parent letter from our math
book.
Weekly math homework: Please make sure you are saving the directions for the
math games. Once we mark the assignment complete, we put a star in the corner
and send it back home, so it can be added to the math folder. Many games have a
video on our website! If you find a math game without the star, it means your
child didn’t turn it.
PRINTING
We have reviewed all the capital letters and have started on small, magic c letters.
HOMEWORK
Many reading homework assignments will be responses to books that were
read. Please have your child choose a book that he/she has read
himself/herself. We are constantly working on building the importance of thinking
about what you are reading. Also, please make sure it is done in pencil and remind
your child to use proper letter formation. (Letters do not start at the bottom line
and capitals are not in the middle of words.) Let me know if you need another
hand-out on how to print the letters.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE
In social studies, we talked about school rules, how to meet new friends, what to
do if someone is bothering you, and people who help us at school, Some key points
we discussed are if someone is making you feel scared or if someone is hurting you,
tell an adult right away. If someone is annoying or bothering you, then you should
be trying to solve that on your own. Tell the person exactly what you would like
him/her to do. Ex. Please stop pushing me. It hurts me. If that doesn’t work, try
moving away. If the same problem continues over several days, then tell an
adult. We are trying to build independence in solving small social problems, rather
than a reliance on tattling.
We are starting Rocks and Soil next week in science! You should have gotten an
email about creating a rock collection.
IPADS
The children are learning to use several Apps. Some are to reinforce math skills;
some will be used to show their learning in different academic areas, like science,
and some are to listen to stories.
WTW
It looks like WTW is starting to make sense. If you have additional questions, feel
free to send us an email. PLEASE make sure your child has his/her container of
words each day.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Sept. 30th-Early Release (at 12:50)
Oct. 1st September Reading Calendar is due
October 12th-No school
FROM THE TEACHERS
You might be wondering how Mrs. Tomczyk and Mrs. Weider split the teaching
during the day. Mostly, Mrs. Tomczyk teaches in the morning. There is small group
reading and whole class reading lessons, as well as writing. There is also Read to
Self in the afternoon which provides more opportunities to listen in and provide
feedback on reading. Mrs. Weider teaches math and science/social studies in the
afternoon. We discuss student behavior and classroom management on a daily
basis. When we are not teaching the students, we are providing
technology/curriculum support for the teachers at SP and for the first grade
teachers across the district.