Mrs. V's All Star Learners Classroom: 1/18/14 Newsletter

Dear Parents of First Grade All Stars,

Sometimes on Mondays the children, AND the teacher, seem a little tired from weekend events. Well, this past week on Monday we were dressed appropriately for that feeling in our "jammies". It was "Pajama Day"! Somehow it seemed a little easier to get back to our work routines on a Monday being so comfy and cozy in our pajamas. (I do admit I drew some smiles and laughs from my colleagues who saw me in the hallways in my sock-monkey nightshirt! LOL) What I liked best about this reward treat was seeing the children reading in their pajamas! Our kiddos loved this fun day! This whole week seemed to go 100mph with special happenings like adult Guest Readers, student Guest Readers, Lunch "Blue Ribbon Award" recipients, the start of the S.S. Junior Achievement program, a birthday celebration, Reading Awards presented by Mrs. McCall, etc......Phew!

Our literacy work focusing on long i words and readings. We brainstormed and developed our class-anchor chart of long i words. We worked on a long a poem/song called "Spike and Mike". The students read short books like Bike Hike, I Like What I Am, Mike's Kite, A Bike and A Dime, etc. All these books are "chock full" of long i words. The students continued working to be called "word detectives" by finding long i words when reading their just-right books. Lots of students found their long i spelling words when reading their just-right books. The children were so excited to talk about their at-home readings of Charlotte's Web for our One School, One Book program! We discussed the characters and had fun with some trivia questions. Some students wanted to be sure it was "O.K." to be reading MORE than the schedule suggests! (I just LOVE first graders!) I say, "Go, Readers!" Thanks SO MUCH to my All-Star Parents for reading Charlotte's Web with your child/children so they feel a part of this community project! We continued reading and analyzing easy-read informational books in preparation for informational writing lessons and informational books by the students. Many children have been doing REreads of the informational books and asking to be Guest Readers. In fact, SO MANY have been doing this, that we now have a "waiting list" for Student Guest Readers of informational books! Hooray! We had four adult Guest Readers this week. On Monday, Mrs. Staszak, Ethan's mom, came in and read Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown! Not only a fun book, but also a perfect pick for Pajama Day! On Tuesday, Mr. Tongue, Malena's and Ella's grandfather, came in and read a poem from The Bumper Book and Tiffky Doofky. The children really enjoyed the language and illustrations in these readings! On Wednesday, Mr. Labore, Autumn's dad, came in and read One Potato, Two Potato and Chickens Aren't The Only Ones. We loved the math book with the fun ending, and all we learned with the nonfiction book! On Thursday, Mrs. Puccio, Trey's mom, came in and read ! , We Are In A Book, and Farfallina and Marcel. The kiddos loved "showing off" their knowledge of punctuation marks and trying to make predictions for Farfallina and Marcel. Thanks so much to all our awesome Guest Readers for taking the time to come in! What a treat!
THANK YOU again for all the awesome at-home reading logs you've been sending in. (LOVED seeing Charlotte's Web on the reading logs so many times!) The children are very proud to hand them in to me and to share what they are reading at home. Reading to, with, beside your child is not only a fun together time, but also a tremendous motivator that helps to build the love of reading as well as skills. I truly appreciate your at-home reading time with your child!

Our spelling routines and practices focused on long i words, too. The students worked with their individualized lists of long i words, priority words missed on the REtest, and words missed on the previous test. The children practiced saying and writing their words and learning the meanings of their words. They worked on "Pictionary", traced their words, practiced with a partner, and we had another study practice/quiz time as students challenged classmates to spell this week's words. Our fourth-grade buddies came in yesterday morning to give the first graders their spelling tests. Next week we will not be doing our regular spelling routines. We will take a breath and do lots of review and practices with long a, long e, and long i words. Thanks so much for all the at-home spelling practices. They really do help the kiddos "cement" the learning of the spelling words.

On Monday during writing time the students relaxed in their pajamas and wrote in their journals about their weekend activities. During writers' workshop for the rest of the week we had lessons and "try its" for informational writing. The children chose which topic they know "all about", tried to do some planning by brainstorming words about this topic, analyzed and worked on opening sentences, and began writing their "first try" for their informational books. This is demanding work, so the lessons and informational writings are definitely a work in progress. The children now seem "addicted" to the easy-read informational books, and we had time for several student Guest Readers this week. After some of our lessons and analyzing of informational books, some students are now coming to me as reading and to say, "This is not a very good closing sentence, is it, Mrs. V.?" or "This is a good opening sentence, isn't it, Mrs. V.?" That these students are making these analyses is such a tremendous reading/writing connection and makes me very proud of them!

We began our math work on the next chapter by reading the math big book interactive story called "Robots at Work". Our lessons and "try its" included work on making tens to subtract, seeing how addition and subtraction are related, using this connection to make subtracting easier, fact families, equations where the equal sign is moved (eg. 9 = 13 - 4), and on balancing equations. The children also took the B.C.S.D. midyear benchmark math test. (This is a timed test which, thankfully, the children seem much more at ease with now.) We will continue our fact practices in class and any short, at-home practices of addition/subtraction facts would be a great help, too. Thanks!

We continued our weather work for science this week. We worked on weather symbols and the children began keeping their own weather calendars. Each morning they draw a weather symbol(s) for that day. Already they have discovered that the weather can be very changeable! Ha! We have also started our big class weather calendar which caused much excitement. Each day one child is responsible for using the weather symbol stamps on the big class weather calendar. The "official weather stamper" is determined by date/class numbers. For example, on the 17th, the child with the class number 17 has this job. This way every child has turns, with the added benefit that I don't have to remember or record who has gone and who has not...LOL! If/when a child's class number falls on a weekend or a day off, I've asked the kiddos to TRY to remember to draw a symbol for their day to bring in so they may stamp it upon return to school. If you could remind your child to draw the little weather symbol on weekends or days off, it would be a not only be a big help with our weather observations, but would also make them happy because they will get to use the weather stamps! Thanks! We also got a chance to watch a short science video about seasons and weather vs. climate. Parts of this video showed children doing weather experiments. They were SO interested in these experiment parts! I told the kiddos that if they did not yet have an idea for our Science Fair, perhaps they could do a weather experiment. Lots of the students told me that they already had their plans for the Science Fair! Hooray! If your child has not yet signed up for the Science Fair but would like to participate, it is not too late!

On Thursday, Ms. Friedman, Kaan's mom, came in to do the first Junior Achievement lesson for Social Studies. Ms. Friedman started by asking the children what they thought a community was. The students gave great and varied answers. Ms. Friedman even told them that their answers were better than many of the answers of her college students! (Can you "see" the smiles on the faces of our first-grade All Stars?) Then the focus of the lesson went to businesses in a community, specifically clothing stores. The children then did a fun social-studies experiment. They worked with a partner to read the labels on their shirts/sweaters to find out where they were made. The kiddos had desk maps and put stickers on the places their clothing was made. They were all surprised when they shared the results! Please ask your child what they remember about the results and how many were made in The United States. Ms. Friedman even asked the children to think deep and tell why they thought the results were as they were. Thanks, Ms. Friedman, for a fun, challenging, AWESOME first Junior Achievement lesson!
We went from Social Studies to helping Kaan celebrate his birthday with his classmates. Happy birthday, Kaan!

Friday we worked on some history and background on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We read one of our January poems about Dr. King and also a book about his life, goals, and achievements. The discussions and questions that followed our readings were amazing! When our fourth-grade buddies came in at the end of the day, they helped the first graders complete a poem and make a card for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The children were asked to think of a "peacemaker"/"peacemakers" in their families and to present their cards to that person or those people. Those cards should have made their way home yesterday.

At lunch times in our cafeteria a new program called "Blue Ribbon Awards" started. This is to recognize excellent manners and behaviors in the cafeteria and to encourage others to practice these great behaviors. Well, ALREADY FOUR of our All Stars have been chosen and recognized with "Blue Ribbon Awards"! Wowie-Zowie! (This "mother hen" is puffing up with pride yet again.) Congratulations to Luke, Tyler, Maddy, and Vikash! We talked as a class about how even though there are MANY others who deserve the award, not everyone can be recognized at once. The children understood this, and being the good sports they are clapped and clapped for their award-winning classmates! I just bet lots more of our kiddos will be honored!

Speaking of honors, Mrs. McCall, came in to the class to present Reading Awards to two of our students. Congratulations to Jahria and Nathan M. for their awesome reading achievement!

In lieu of the two half-day conference days in February, I asked to be allowed to have those two half-day conference days in January before I must retire. I am very happy to say this was approved. However, because the district considers these conferences optional, there are only two instead of three half-days. Therefore I must make the conferences shorter than my normal conference-marathons...LOL! (You may even be thinking this is a good thing...ha.) If you wish/are able to meet, use this link http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0944AEA62BA1FB6-optional   Then please select a conference day/time and click "submit and sign up".

Thank you again for all your fantastic support at home.
Respectfully,
Mrs. V.