March 1, 2016
As February comes to a close, here’s a peek at some of the learning happening in Room 103!
Due Friday, March 4th
*Sum it Up Math Game
*Non-Fiction Reading about robins (back to back with math game)
*Words Their Way homework page and sort
**Please send in your February Reading Calendars if you have not already.
**Book Orders and March reading calendars went home yesterday.
Spelling and Sight Words
The third trimester spelling and sight word schedule is now in your child’s folder. It is the purple
page in the center protective sleeve. Please take note of the spelling test words and dates for
the rest of the year. Our first test will be next Friday the 11th. Just as last trimester, there are
five or six sight words and two bonus words for each week. If we have Words Their Way that
week, there will also be five words similar to your child’s sort on their spelling test.
Important March Dates
March 2nd: PTO Meeting
March 10th: Early Release
March 12th: PTO Soiree
March 15th: Family Poetry Night
March 18th: Book Orders Due
March 24th: Box Top Collection
March 25th: No School
March 28th-April 1st: Spring Break
April 4th: March Reading Calendar Due
Reading
The students are really enjoying our Non-Fiction unit so far! Nonfiction books present interesting
facts about important people, places, and things in our world. In class, we learned about three
types of nonfiction books that we will be reading. Literary non-fiction (A mix of fiction and nonfiction, like Magic School Bus series), reference books, and biographies. Scholastic News has
introduced us to a lot of nonfiction learning already! Since our in-class focus is on non-fiction
reading, we have been trying to reinforce that in the homework assignments. Each child is
encouraged to select non-fiction books for his/her book box to read at home throughout the
week.
Writing
Our class had writing fever this past week! Each student wrote a creative story about an animal
that is having a problem. Their stories contain a beginning, middle, and end with characters,
problems, and solutions. The students worked incredibly hard on these stories and are excited to
share them with each other. While writing these stories, we are reinforcing writing skills such as
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
Math
We continue to work on our partner pair of numbers. The end of first grade expectation is to
know the partner pairs of all numbers through 10 and to be able to use those to add and
subtract number sentences and to use those partner pairs to solve story problems. We are
continuing to review different strategies when adding numbers such as making ten and using
doubles. We will begin to discuss fact families and “part, part, total” over the next few weeks.
Science
Recently we have been discussing ways we can observe the world around us. We read about the
tools we use to measure different properties such as weight, size, temperature, and volume.
There are some great BrainPop Jr. videos about Solids, Liquids, and Gases that our class has
enjoyed, feel free to check them out at home!
Family Poetry Night
Author and Poet Bill Buczinsky will be presenting at school at 6:30 on March 15th, check out the
attached flyer for more information about Seth Paine’s Poetry Night!
Teddy Bear Factory
Next year, your child will participate in the 17th annual Teddy Bear Factory as a second grader.
The Factory gives students a hands-on experience of making a teddy bear that will be donated
to children who attend One Step Camp in the summer. The Factory only happens if we have a lot
of volunteers. If you would be interested in chairing or being on the committee for this event
next year, you can attend the event on March 22nd from 9-10am in the school's lunch room.
Please email Sara Woitel at woitel5@gmail.com if you plan to attend or if you have any further
questions!