October 4-7

Hello Families!
Our week was a bit of a whirlwind with Monday being a holiday and due to the fact that I was out of the classroom serving on our social studies committee Thursday and on our PBIS committee Friday afternoon. That left me with few photo opportunities during the week except for our science investigation on Friday and capturing our final King of the Week! Here he is...

Now that all of our friends have had a chance to be either our King or Queen, we'll soon begin Star of the Week! Due to our short week this upcoming week, we'll get started on the week of October 24th. If your child is chosen, s/he will bring home information later this week.

During Writer's Workshop this week we brought our small moment stories to life by bringing what's inside out. This means we thought about what the people in our stories were thinking and feeling. We also used drama to bring our stories to life by acting them out. Finally, we focused on a spelling strategy: using known words to spell unknown words.

We began adding words to our Word Wall this week. Each week, we'll focus on five new "snap" words. We refer to them as "snap words" because we should be able to read and write them "in a snap!" During the course of the week, we'll focus on these words by using them in our Morning Message, noticing them in books and poems, and practicing them through activities like rainbow writing and roll and write. 

This past week's words were:

I

a

the

to

is

Next week's words will be:

my

go

me

like

on

Your child should be able to read and write these words independently and "in a snap!"

During Reader's Workshop this past week, we learned that readers track words with their eyes and "scoop up" phrases rather than reading word by word. We want to make sure that when we're reading, we don't sound bumpy or boring! We talked about how readers reread so that they can see more. I can't stress enough the importance of rereading for our developing readers. What we know how to read, we should read smoothly. So, if your child is reading and gets stuck on a word then uses strategies to solve that word, they should go back and reread  the sentence so that it sounds smooth - just like someone talking. We also learned another reading habit: Readers Take a Sneak Peek at the pictures again DURING reading to help them figure out tricky words. 

During Math Workshop this week we continued to work with our number cards and stair steps to learn about partners of 7, 8, 9 and 10. On Monday we'll review what we've learned in our first unit, focus on the Standards for Mathematical Practice, and complete our unit 1 assessment. 

We added a new routine to our mornings this past week - tracking the weather in our desktop calendars! Each morning we write the new date, then check our Weather Channel link for the day's temperature. We then show this temperature on our thermometers and then record the weather for the day. These activities are part of our first science unit Air and Weather. On Friday, we did our first investigation: What Can Air Do?

Each scientist received a bag with a feather, balloon, cotton ball, straw, piece of paper and a foam ball. When we emptied out the items in our bags, was there anything still left in the bags? Ask your first grader!

Using the straw to blow the items in the bag: What did this scientist find out about what air can do? Ask your first grader to tell you!

These scientists used their straws to fill up their bags. We learned that air is matter and matter takes up space! One of our scientists even noted that air contains moisture!

Using a pump to inflate the balloon. 

Investigating what happens to the objects when you drop them. Some even experimented with putting items on top of the paper to see what the effect was. 

While some were in the "lab" investigating air, others were exploring nonfiction books on Tumblebooks using our Chromebooks. Others were exploring science books. 

Later in the afternoon, we were introduced to our Science Notebooks where we'll record our learning for each investigation. We responded to our focus question: What can air do? 

Here were some of our ideas. 

Finally, the PTO put on yet another AMAZING Scholastic Book Fair for our school community! A huge thank you to them and to our many friends who brought in coins for the Reading Makes Cents drive. The bulk of our funds collected were used to donate books to a school in need. I purchased two books for our classroom and was thrilled to also find many books that were donated to our classrom library from several of our friends. My heart is overflowing with gratitude - thank you! 

Just a reminder that Tuesday is our Library day and kiddos should return their library books then. 

Next week we'll enjoy a Fire Prevention Assembly.

Until then...

Michelle Mullen

Mark Your Calendars!

Wednesday, October 12: NO SCHOOL

Thursday, October 20: Conferences 4:30-8:00pm

Friday, October 21: Monster Bash

Wednesday, October 26: Early Release

Conferences: 3-6:30pm

Thursday, October 27: Conferences 4:30-8:00pm

Tuesday, November 22: Music Concert (Last Names A-M at 10am/Last Names N-Z at 2pm)

Wednesday, November 23: Early Release Day