December 18, 2015
Winter Break has finally arrived! The kids had a wonderful day celebrating the start of break
with their stuffed animals. Here is a peek at what we have been up to these past few weeks!
Reading
Our class has been reading Realistic Fiction stories. We have defined this genre as a story that
“could happen in real life with imaginary characters”. As we read these stories, we have practiced
different strategies such as making a movie in our minds or visualizing. I read a story to the
students without showing the pictures, and the students drew what they pictured in their minds.
We have also practiced asking questions while we read. The students picked books from their
book bin and wrote questions they had while they were reading. We will continue working on these
skills with different books when we return from break.
Math
Our class has been hard at work with subtraction! We discussed the way to create a subtraction
sentence and the importance of starting with the total and using the minus symbol. When we
talk about subtraction, we examine the subtraction sentence as breaking apart the total into
different parts. For example, in 9-5=4, 9 is the total and 5 and 4 are parts of 9. We also
practiced reading word problems and deciding if they were addition or subtraction problems.
Thank you to all those who donated food for the Seth Paine food drive! Our class created a
floor graph using the food and wrote math facts about our graph. The students loved
connecting their real world experiences to math!
Writing
Our class just finished writing their Boo Boo Stories; thank you for helping your child complete
their story planner at home. When writing this story, the students continued to practice writing
sentences with a starting capital and ending punctuation. We also discussed the writing process
and the importance of reviewing your own writing. The students wrote their stories and drew a
title page to match. Then, each student reread their own writing to revise (add more detail) and
edit (check sight words, capitals, and periods). Their stories are proudly on display in our
classroom!
Social Studies
We have really been enjoying our Cultural Comparisons unit this month! Our class has read stories
and discussed the following holidays: Las Posadas, Chinese New Year, Diwali, Eid Al-Fitr, Passover,
Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas. As we explore each holiday, the students enjoy finding
similarities and differences to their own traditions. As we continue talking about different
cultures, we are reinforcing the idea that different does not mean bad and talking about ways
we can embrace our differences.
Book Club
Attached you will find the handout for the after school book club. Book Club will be January 25th
after school until 4:15. If your first grader is interested in attending, please see the flyer for
more detail and send in the form after break!
Homework
In your child’s home folder today is a blue bonus homework page. If your child would like to
complete it, they should return it on Monday Jan. 4th to earn tokens! There is also a holiday
themed packet with different activities reviewing skills we have been working on in class. Any
unfinished pages may be completed by your child for extra practice if you would like, but the
packet does not need to be returned.
Important January Dates
Winter Break: Dec. 21st-Jan. 1st
Bonus Homework Page Due: Jan. 4th
December Reading Calendars Due: Jan. 4th
PTO Meeting: Jan 5th
Institute Day – No School: Jan 15th
Martin Luther King Jr. Day – No School: Jan. 18th
Box Top Collection: Jan. 28th
I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing break and enjoys their time with family and friends.
Happy Holidays!
Miss Rogers