Weekly Wrap-Up

It was a terrific week here in first grade. We were incredibly productive in the classroom and I was thrilled with how the class performed throughout the week. It was also spirit week, which led to quite a bit of fun. Before we get into what happened this week I want to take a minute and thank all the parents that sent in items over the past week. We got so many markers, snacks and useful items it is hard to even quantify! I would like to say that I deeply appreciate your support and generosity. A special thank you to Ruth for bringing in an amazing amount of supplies for the class. Also, thank you to the parents for sending in the dry erase markers last week. Thank you to LaSandra for sending in some fabulous snacks for the kids, which they loved! In fact, I do believe with all the fabulous donations we received this past week, we should be set with snack through the end of the year. Again, thank you to everyone who sent in items over the past week and throughout the year. We could not do all that we do in the classroom without your tireless support at home, so from the bottom of my heart…thank you.


We had an Harambee this Thursday, which was a lot of fun and allowed us to learn more about Japan. This coincides nicely with the upcoming International Festival in April. The country we will be researching is South Korea. We will take some time in the computer lab next week to research and record facts about that wonderful country and all of its rich culture. This research and studying will last all the way up to the International Festival in April. I look forward to seeing what the kids discover! Now let’s see what else we were up to in the classroom…ON TO THE HIGHLIGHTS!!!



Math:

In math this week we tackled a couple of new strategies for handling subtraction problems. These strategies included the counting up and counting back methods.

We also reinforced the concept of thinking addition to help with different number models. These strategies are very crucial in your child’s mathematical development and will necessitate us taking more time with them as the weeks move on. In addition (get it?) to these concepts, we also talked more about attributes of shapes. The kids had several fun activities revolving around these concepts. We capped off the week in math by playing some fabulous games on Friday. The kids had a lot of fun!

Writing:

In writing this week we continued our work with revision. The kids had opportunities to partner up at centers to help offer advice on how to revise each other’s work. We also worked on the concept of showing and not telling. What this basically says is that we want the kids to be more descriptive in their writing and their pictures.

Phonics:

In phonics this week we touched on several subjects. One of these subjects included the silent e. The class had an opportunity to sort words based on the vowel sounds they heard along with the silent e. We also had a word wall mystery activity in the middle part of the week. In addition to these topics, we also continued to reinforce compound words, contractions, consonant clusters and consonant diagraphs. All of this happened against the backdrop of our weekly spelling practice.

Social Studies:

In social studies this week we continued our unit dealing with families. We talked about how families show love toward one another and even made lists of what we do to help our families.



This was but a brief view into what went on this week. As I said at the opening, the class did a great job and I am really excited for this stretch run to the finish line. It sure will be tough to say goodbye to these wonderful kids, because you all have done a great job in raising them. That is it for me this week, but if you have any questions, comments or concerns please do not hesitate to drop me a line and until next week….all told.