1st Grade - Ms. Tarantino

We've had a fabulous start of 2012! Our snowmen with our "There Must Have Been Some Magic" stories are in the hallway outside of our classroom. We hope you'll stop by to read them.
Next week in Shared Reading we will be leanring more about getting information from nonfiction books by reading a story called "Road Builders" We're learning that nonfiction books open doors to information about the world.
In Words Their Way we are working on Sort 21 with beginning sounds K, WH, QU, and TW. Each Friday at the end of our Phonics Spelling Assessment you will see a dictation sentence that your child has written. We are practicing using correct capitalization and correct ending punctuation.
In math we have finished learning about learning more addition facts and strategies. Next week we will learn more subtraction facts and strategies. Please continue practicing both addition and subtraction facts at home with your child. We are working on knowing single-digit addition and subtraction facts to 18 with conceptual understanding and fluency.
In Social Studies we are continuing to learn about Harriet Tubman as a strong leader and we are learning about the character traits of courage and perseverance that helped her become a leader of the Underground Railroad. We are also learning that Tubman's work as a nurse helped during the Civil War, as well as that we honor Harriet Tubman as remembering her as someone who spent her life working for equality.

Specials:
Monday: PE
Tuesday: ART
Wednesday: PE
Thursday: MUSIC
Friday: TECH

*Please remember that your child is bringing home a homework packet each week that is due on Friday AND that your child should be reading and coloring in Stars for books on a regualr basis. Our goal this quarter is 30.*

Needs and Wants:
We are in need of Glue Sticks and healthy snacks.

Happy New Year to all of our Fantastic First Grade Families!
We hope you had a wonderful holiday together.

This week in our Phonics Words Their Way we are working with r and l blends, specifically cr, cl, fr, gl, and gr.

In math we are reviewing number patterns and skip counting.

We are writing "There Must Have Been Some Magic" stories based on Frosty the Snowman. We are using our imaginations to write about the magic our snowmen would have if we had magic hats. Be looking for our snowmen and stories outside our classroom very soon.

Later this week in Social Studies, we will begin learning about Harriet Tubman.

Looking Ahead:

Please remember that the Holiday Challenge Forms are due tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 11: Walk to School Day
Monday, January 16: No School, MLK Holiday

COUNT DOWN!!!! Three more days until our CULTURAL FEAST
Here in our classroom on Thursday, 11/17 from 11:00 - 12:00
See you then! YUM and FUN!

"Tis the week before Thanksgiving and all through our first grade classroom we are learning about:

Beginning consonants and blends: (s, t, st) in Words Their Way.
In Shared Reading we will be reading The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza). We are learning about story elements such as main characters, setting, and a plot that involves resolving a problem. Later in the week we will be reading two special Thanksgiving stories: We Gather Together...Now Please Get Lost! and Thanksgiving at the Tappletons' where we will practice identifying story elements.
In math we are beginning to explore coins and count on. It will be helpful if you can send in a ziplock bag labeled with your child's name that has 2 quarters, 3 dimes, 2 nickels and 10 pennies. This real coins will help your student practice as we learn to count on using money.
Our TOSS student is teaching our science class where we are learning about magnets. We are learning to apply and identify scientific knowledge (S1P1.a,b) by demonstrating how common objects are non-magnetic, attracted to or repelled from a magnet.
After the Thanksgiving Holiday Break we will begin making Pattern Books during our Writing Lessons.

Our Specials Schedule has changed:
Monday: Tech
Tuesday: PE
Wednesday: Art
Thursday: PE
Friday: Music

A special thank you to all of our Veterans for their service to our country! Especially to Jayla's and Kalani's dads who joined us for the Still Veteran's Day Breakfast last Friday. And to Mr. Deedon who read us a patriotic story with a patriotic themed dessert provided by Mrs. Black.

LOOKING AHEAD: NO SCHOOL 11/21 - 11/25 ENJOY!
Thursday, 12/1: Science Night at Still

We've worked hard this week! We have been busy taking many assessments including the Math Benchmark which I will share with all parents during conferences. The students had fun using I Respond to record their answers!
Next week in math we will learn more addition and subtraction strategies including doubles, doubles plus one, adding three numbers and the Associative Property of Addition.
Our Words Their Way study will include short i words from the word families: -ip, -ig, and -ill.
We have completed our science study of weather. Next, we will learn more about identifying and describing landforms (deserts,valleys, plains, mountains,plateaus, and coasts). On Friday, Mrs. Manharth will join us for a special Yummy Landform lesson and assessment. SS1G3 and ELA1Wb.
Best wishes for a wonderful weekend with your families! I look forward to meeting with all of you during Conference Week (October 24 - 28).

Today is the last day of our second month in school! It's hard to believe that October begins tomorrow!

Thank you all for your generous contributions to the Calvary Children's Home Food Drive! This morning we collected 34 items! Your child will be bringing home a note to you this afternoon showing how we practiced our math standards: M1N1 abd M1N4: representing numbers, M1N3: understanding word problems, and M1N3 understanding addition and subtraction facts, using our collection of foods. We have challenged ourselves to double that amount of 34 for next week. If you can help us with more food items, please do.

Next week we will be learning about sorting and organizing data using objects, tally marks, picture graphs,and bar graphs, M1D1.

Our Words Their Way phonics focus is on Word Families: -et, -eg, and -en.

In Science we are investigating and identifing diffferent types of weather and the characteristics of each type by recording data in a journal. S1E1a,b.

CONGRATULATIONS to Gia Rene who is our Kiwanis Terrific Kid for the month of October!

Soon, you will see our Scarecrow stories outside of our room in the hallway!

Looking Ahead: October 5 - 7: GogAT Testing
October 24 -28: Conference Week

A special thank you to Mrs. Mathis and Mrs. Claar for sending in extra snacks for us! And to Mrs. Tatum and Mrs. Deedon for extra "treasures". (Please forgive me if I have forgotten any one, you are all wonderfuly generous to our class!)

Happy Fall to You All!

Our first graders continue to do an awesome job! Your support from home is a great help in reviewing all we are learning, thank you!
This next week we will begin learning subtraction strategies such as counting back. We all have our own number lines that we made earlier and have learned to use them to solve our problems more quickly. We also have several activities planned to help us understand and use Fact Families.

We are finishing Benjamin Franklin and will take our assessment on Monday. Then we will move into a science unit about weather. Where we will observe and record weather as well as learn about different kinds of weather.

Our Words Their Way focus will be short o words this week. The students are doing a terrific job on their Friday phonics spelling assessments! You will notice at the bottom of each assessment that they are writing a simple dictated sentence using some of their phonics words. I am looking for proper sentence formation with an uppercase letter beginning each sentence and a period at the end. We are also practicing proper letter form and spacing as we write.

A special thank you to those of you who have sent in Treasure Box items and extra healthy snacks!

Our School's Mission and Vision
MISSION
Our mission is that each of us will learn in a safe, nurturing environment. We will challenge ourselves to positively contribute to our changing world.
VISION
*To provide learning experiences that are challenging in a risk free and nurturing enviornment.
*To foster a positive relationship between family, community, and school that supports student learning.
*To encourage the acceptance of all individuals.
*To incorporate state of the art technology to prepare students for a changing world.

Next week in Words Their Way we will be working with the word families:
-ad, -ap, and -ag. We will continue with our second phonics spelling assessment on Friday. We did an awesome job this past week as you will see on the student's papers as they come home on Monday afternoon.
In Math we are learning more addition strategies and are working on memorizing our math facts. We have made number lines which we are using to count on and will later use to count back.
Our Social Studies Unit on Benjamin Franklin will continue through this next week. We will read two books that will be sure to delight your children as they learn more about Benjamin Franklin the inventor.

Important dates tp remember:
Monday, 9/19: Barney the Bus Safety Presentation
Tuesday, 9/20: Girl Scout Night at Still
Wednesday, 9/21: Stevie B's Night
Thursday, 9/22: Yoguli Mogli Niight
Friday, 9/23: First Day of Autumn
And....further ahead....10/24 - 10/28: Conference Week

Open House was a huge success! It was wonderful to see so many of our parents on Tuesday evening. Thank you for attending!

Next week in math we will be finishing up and assessing our first subtractiion unit and then we will be moving on to learn more addition strategies. We will learn about counting on and doubles. (Please refer to the math vocabulary glossary for an example of these terms.)

On Monday, we will begin learning about the sound of short a in the -at and -an word families. You will find our first phonics words in your child's agenda. We will have our first phonics assessment on Friday.

We're having a great time learning about Benjamin Franklin in social studeis. Your child is learning who he was as an inventor, author, and statesman. (SS1H1a) The children will compare how his everyday life was similiar and different from our everyday lives. (SS1H1b)

Events to look forward to:
Tuesday, 9/13: Picture Day
Tuesday, 9/13: Chick-fil-A night from 5-8

This is our third week of First Grade!
We're looking forward to seeing you at Open House on Tuesday evening,
6:30 PM. You'll want to be sure to check out your student's work in the hallway in front of our classroom as well as inside our classroom. We've worked so hard and the children are looking forward to having you see what they've done thus far.
In phonics we are learning more about hearing individual sounds in words. In Shared Reading this week we practiced recognizing sight words and retelling a story when we read Dee and Me.
We have moved on to subtraction in math and are learning how to subtract vertically and how to subtract to compare. Please practice both subtraction and addition facts with your child.
We are almost finished with our Social Studies unit focusing on our global address.
Today we met with our Book Buddies in Mrs. Wood's fourth grade class for the first time. We will meet with them bi-monthly.

Our Specials schedule will change next week due to the Labor Day Holiday:
Tuesday:Art
Wednesday:PE
Thursday: Music
Friday: Tech
Dates to Remember:
September 5: Labor Day: No School
September 6: OPEN HOUSE 6:30 PM
September 7: Walk to School Wednesday
September 13: Picture Day
September 15: Ident-A-Kid here