Weekly Wrap-Up

It was another short week here in first grade, but we were still able to get to a lot.  I am pleased to report the NWEA went a lot smoother on Tuesday with almost no slowdowns.  The class did great.  Our iPads were delivered on Thursday and we are really looking forward to using them when we return on Tuesday.  I cannot wait to utilize such fabulous pieces of technology with the kids.  I know they will love it.  Also, just a quick reminder that there is no school for students on Monday, January 26^th. 

I wanted to let you all know that I was out of the classroom today. Unfortunately, this year I am on a specific building-team that requires me to be out of the classroom from time to time. In addition to that I am in a clinical phase for my masters work, which will take me out of the classroom for job shadowing with Ms. Heyward, along with conferences and meetings. I apologize for my absences from the classroom. It is never something I take lightly and I wish that I could be in two places at once because I never like to be away from the kids. I am happy to report that the class does fantastic in my absence. The reason we have spent so much time on routine and expectations is for precisely this reason: the class performing at the same level whether I am in the classroom or out of the classroom.

If you are concerned or have questions about this please do not hesitate to send me an email. I am always available to talk about any concerns you may have regarding me, or your child. I appreciate your understanding. Now that we are done with the housekeeping issues…onto the highlights!

Math:

In math this week we spent more time talking about greater than and less than stories. Introducing animal cards into this concept furthered the class’s knowledge. We spent time to create comparison stories that utilized an animal’s height or length. It was a lot of fun. We also practiced adding and subtracting two-digit numbers. Finally, we tackled an open-response problem that had the kids devising ways to add two-digit numbers. The class had a lot of fun with this. I look forward to revisiting the open-response problem next week.

Science:

In science we continued our weather records for the month of January. We also took time to investigate the role of snow. The class built various snowflake representations using pattern blocks and then traced them into their science journals. We also looked more at the concept of friction and how it is a force that occurs when two objects come into contact with one another. The class had a lot of fun with this.

Phonics:

In phonics this week we worked with contractions more. This is a concept that has come up a lot in our Daily Oral Language review (morning job) and I was very pleased with how the class took to the concept. We also had our spelling test today, which went great. In addition to those items we also practiced consonant clusters and continued work on long vs. short vowels; all in all a big week in phonics.






Well this was not the entirety of our week, it is a mere snapshot of what took place. As always please let me know if you have any questions, comments or concerns and until next week….all told.