Update November 25th

*I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  It was nice to meet with all of you last week to discuss your child's progress in first grade.  Thank you for taking the time to come in and meet with me!  We picked out a Christmas tree this weekend with our extended family, a tradition of ours each Thanksgiving weekend. 

*On Thursday morning, we will have our Turkey Trot.  Thank you for sending in donations to support our school and our students.

*Over the next several weeks, we will begin to learn about Fall/Winter holidays. The holidays we will focus on throughout our time are:

Diwali

Hanukkah

Las Posadas

Kwanzaa

Christmas
If there is a winter holiday your family celebrates that's not on this list please let me know.  I would love to add a holiday your family celebrates to our list to learn about!

*In Math, we will begin Unit 4.  Unit 4's focus is on measurement.  We will make estimates and measure objects with standard and non-standard units of measurement.

*In Spelling this week, we will continue to practice writing words with and King-ed at the end. 

*In Writing, we will work on our end of unit Writing Prompt.   I will look for students to use all of the elements of writing we've talked about since the beginning of the year.  Students will be expected to: 

*Use best handwriting- with spaces between words

*Capital letters at beginning of sentences and for names

*Periods or exclamation points at end of sentences

*At least 3 sentences

*Lots of details

*Outside and Inside Feelings

*In Social Studies, we will finally begin to make our products for our businesses.  Thank you for sending in donations!

*We will finish our Non-Fiction Features book this week.  

Looking Ahead:

December 4th- School Store
December 6th- 12:20pm Early Release
December 7th-Book Buddies @ Crisafulli

Update November 9th

*There is no school on Monday, November 12th in observance of Veteran's Day.  Thank you to all of those who have served in the military to keep us protected!

*The last day to sign up for conferences online is Tuesday, November 13th by 3:30pm.  You can follow the link to sign up: http://signup.com/go/UqvJGAv

*I will be out on Wednesday at Jury Duty.  Please remind students of using expected behavior at school!

*On Thursday, students will have the chance to go to the Book Fair.  They will be able to shop or create a wishlist for parents.  A flyer with more information about Book Fair went home yesterday.

*On Friday, we will welcome author and illustrator, Emilie Boon to our school.  Each first grade will meet with Emilie individually and learn about the process she takes to make a book.  Students will also practice Emilie's technique for her illustrations by creating their own book.  I am need of one parent volunteer for this event.  I will need someone that can help set up, stay for the presentation and help Emilie clean up at the end.  The total time needed is from 12:15-1:45 on Friday, November 16th.  Please send me an email if you're able to help!

*On Friday, we will walk the Robifulli trail to Crisafulli to visit with our 4th grade Book Buddies. We will be out of our building from 9:45-11:00.  Please dress students for the weather!

*In Math, we will finish up our Unit 3 Assessment and begin Unit 4.  The focus for Unit 4 in math is standard and non-standard units of measurement.

*In Writing, we are working on adding transition words (next, last, after that) and fancy words to our writing.

*We will not be sending home a spelling list for the next two weeks.  We will focus on reviewing the words already taught, especially king-ed words and students will work to write the power words we've learned so far.

*We hope to begin creating goods for our classroom businesses on Tuesday afternoon.  Please send in any donations of business materials to school by Tuesday. Thank you!


Looking Ahead:
November 11th- No School (Veteran's Day observed)
November 13th- Last Day for Conference Sign Up Online

November 14th- Mrs. Conway has Jury Duty

November 16th- Author Visit- Emile Boon

November 19th- No School, Afternoon Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 20th- 2 Hour Delay- Morning Parent/Teacher Conferences 

November 21st- Turkey Trot
12:20pm Early Release

November 22 & 23- No School

Update November 2nd

 *To sign up for Parent/Teacher conferences, please use the online conference sign-up.  The link for sign-up will be available here http://signup.com/go/UqvJGAv
starting Tuesday, November 6th at 3:30pm until Tuesday, November 13th at 3:30pm.  

*On Tuesday, it will be School Store for first grade.  We suggest that you send in no more than $2 for students to spend at School Store.

*On Wednesday, we will welcome Author and Illustrator, Salina Yoon to our school.  Salina will be visiting from California.  She is the author of such books as "Found," Be A Friend" and the Penguin series books.  We've enjoyed reading her books as a class and getting to know her characters.

*We will continue writing our Non-Fiction books "All About Me."  This week, the students will illustrate a picture of their home and find the Robinson School on a map.

*This week in Spelling, we will focus on words that end with e.  We call these words King Ed words.  King Ed sits at the end of the word telling the vowel before him to "say your name."  For Example kit becomes kite with King Ed at the end.

*In Math, we will learn about frames and arrows, which will help us practice addition and subtraction facts. We will also practice using a calculator to help with skip counting.

*In Economics, students will work creating a business.  They will work in teams to decide on a business they can create (paper fans, jewelry, holiday decorations, etc.)  Once students create a business plan with their team, I will send home a list of items we're asking to be donated to help build our businesses.  Students will then work on their products over the next few weeks.  Finally, we'll sell our items to the other "businesses" in our classroom.

*In handwriting, we will continue to work on our lowercase letters.  I'm encouraging students to begin using lowercase letters when appropriate.

*The class once again filled the pom pom jar from showing expected behavior in our classroom.   They voted today and ask to see one of my world famous headstands!  

Looking Ahead:
November 6th- Conference Sign Up Online

November 6th- School Store

November 7th- Author Visit- Salina Yoon

November 11th- No School (Veteran's Day observed)

November 14th- Mrs. Conway has Jury Duty

November 16th- Author Visit- Emile Boon

November 19th- No School, 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 20th- 2 Hour Delay- 8:30-10:45 Parent/Teacher Conferences 

November 21st- 12:20pm Early Release

November 22 & 23- No School

Update October 26th

*This Wednesday, October 31st at 11:45am, is our Harvest Party.  Thank you to the parent volunteers and parents that have signed up to donate items for the party! Students may wear costumes in school only during the Harvest Party.  The costumes should be brought to school in a bag with your child's name on it.  No face paint, masks or weapons will be allowed.  

*In Math, we will practice counting on the number line, counting to add/subtract and skip counting.

*In Social Studies, we will begin our Economics unit.  Our focus will be on businesses that provide goods and services.  Businesses that provide goods sell items that are made or grown.  Businesses that supply services provide work that someone does for someone else.  This person is usually specially trained.  

*In comprehension, we will continue to learn about Non-Fiction features.  Students will begin writing their own Non-Fiction book: All About Me. 

*In Spelling, we will work on pattern words that rhyme with -all, -ill and -ell.  I will continue to send home spelling lists.  The activities are optional assignments.

*Star of the Week: I will be the first Star of the Week in our class.  On Friday, I will share personal photos, collections and some of my favorite things with the class.  Each Friday we will choose a new Star of the Week.  Every student will have a chance to share.  When your child is chosen, you will receive a letter with information and a poster for your child to fill out.  My hope is for everyone to have their own special time to share a little bit about themselves.

Looking Ahead

October 31st at 11:45- Harvest Party

November 7th- Author Visit- Salina Yoon

November 11th- No School (Veteran's Day observed)

November 14th- Mrs. Conway has Jury Duty

November 16th- Author Visit- Emile Boon

November 19th- No School, 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 20th- 2 Hour Delay- 8:30-10:45 Parent/Teacher Conferences 

November 21st- 12:20pm Early Release

November 22 & 23- No School

Update October 19th

*Thank you for sending in donations for the Westford Food Pantry.  We will continue to collect donations through the end of the week.  On October 30th, two other first grade classes will deliver the canned goods to the pantry and stock the shelves.

*Thank you for sending in donations for our three school parties.  I will go out this weekend to get supplies for our first party, the Harvest Party!

*In Math, we will finish Unit 2 and begin Unit 3.  Our focus this week is finding the parts of a number story and their totals.  We will also play domino top it.  Domino Top It is a game you could play at home if you have a set of dominoes.

*Domino Top-It*

1.    Place all of the dominoes on the table face down.

2.    Each player turns over one domino and counts the dots on each end of the domino.

3.    In turn, players say the number model corresponding to their domino; i.e., 4 + 7 =11 (for 4 dots on one end and 7 dots on the other).

4.    The player with the largest sum takes all of the dominoes from that round.

5.    Play continues until all dominoes are gone.

6.    The player with the most dominoes at the end of the game is the winner.

*Reading Groups are going really well.  Some of you have noticed students coming home with reading response journals in their reading bags.  Most of the time I send these home just so you can see what we're working on in reading group.  If I'm expecting the students to do any work in them at home, I will mark that on the reading log.  If you're child hasn't come home with a response journal yet, they will be soon.

*Mr. LaCoste will come to our room this week to read our next Care to Read book called, All Are Welcome.

*We will begin to learn about Non-Fiction features this week.  We will find features in a read aloud book and then students will explore other non-fiction books from our classroom library to find features.  

*In Writing, we will learn about what an "inside story" is.  When writing a story, the outside story is what happened (what everyone could see.)  The inside story is how you felt about what you were doing (i.e. I had a great time or It was boring.)  Students will make sure they use inside stories in their writing.  We will also practice using a writing checklist.

Looking Ahead

October 31st at 11:45- Harvest Party

November 7th- Author Visit- Salina Yoon

November 11th- No School (Veteran's Day observed)

November 14th- Mrs. Conway has Jury Duty

November 16th- Author Visit- Emile Boon

November 19th- No School, 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 20th- 2 Hour Delay- 8:30-10:45 Parent/Teacher Conferences 

November 21st- 12:20pm Early Release

November 22 & 23- No School

Update October 14th

*Last Tuesday, we had a full day Professional Development Day about the new Homework Policy.  The first grade team has decided to try not sending home the weekly Spelling homework this week. We will continue to practice the words in school during whiteboard spelling and work on words times. We will assess students on the weekly words on Friday like usual.  We're trying to assess whether students need the extra practice at home or if they learn and retain the words just from school practice.  We'll let you know what we find out from this week and whether we will reinstate spelling homework the following week.  Thanks for working with us as we make decisions about our new homework policy.

*Last week, I noticed many students were writing "It was fun" at the end of their writing.  We brainstormed a list of other ways to say "it was fun."  I hope many students will choose exciting endings for their stories this week.  We will also brainstorm ways to say "It was NOT fun" this week during writing.

*In Math, we will finish Unit 2 of Everyday Math.  Our focus will be on number stories, using addition and subtraction.  In math games, we are practicing adding numbers together using dice.  I've been encouraging students to find the higher number on dice, putting that number in their head and counting on to find the total. 

*We will finish our Science unit about plants and animals this week.  We'll finish up with finding the ways that parents care for their offspring.

*On Friday, our 4th grade book buddies from Crisafulli will come and visit our classroom.  The first graders will have a chance to read to their book buddies.

*Students are doing great in reading groups!  I'm constantly changing reading groups around as students make gains.  Some students have begun writing about the books they are reading, particularly writing about their favorite parts of the books.

*I had a few students ask for the login information for Dreambox (Math) and RazKids (Reading.)  These are two apps that students can use at home, but are not expected to.  We use both apps throughout the week in school.

Here is the login information for Dreambox.  Students should know their passwords.

To Access DreamBox on a Browser Your student can access DreamBox Learning from any computer, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection. If you’re using a browser, use this link: https://play.dreambox.com/login/3aaq/p3wa 

To Access DreamBox on an iPad To download the DreamBox Learning Math app, go to https://www.dreambox.com/ipad, or search for "DreamBox Learning Math" in the App Store. If you already have the app installed, you’ll want to make sure the latest version of the app has been installed so your student receives the most current experience and lessons. When prompted in the app, enter this school code: 3aaq/p3wa

Here is the login information for RazKids. Students should know their passwords.

Kids A-Z Login Instructions Step 1: Go to www.kidsa-z.com Step 2: Enter or choose the teacher's username, cconway2

Update October 5th

*No School Monday, October 8th for Columbus Day

*No School Tuesday, October 9th for Professional Development

*This week we will not have a spelling list since we have a short week.  Students will receive math homework on Thursday only.

*Last week, the students welcomed a new fish into our classroom.  They voted to name him Frank.  His full name is Frank Gummy Bear Rex Denisavich.  Students are taking turns feeding Frank and reading to him during Read to Someone.

*Yet again, the class filled up the pom pom jar by showing expected behavior.  They voted to pick a prize from my prize box.  Today they will come home with a sticker, pencil or eraser.

*In Math, we will practice using a calculator and work on change to more number stories.

**In Writing, we are writing "small moment" stories.  Small moment stories are taking a big story like going on a trip and picking one small moment from the trip to write about.  For example, the plane ride or your favorite ride at Disney.  

*In Science, we will observe the seeds we planted a couple of weeks ago.  Students will be observing leaves this week.  We will also talk about what body parts help different animals to survive.  We will observe our new fish, Frank.

*On Friday, we will have an all school community meeting to discuss the items the Food Pantry needs.  A list of items for donations will be sent home next week.