Whitman's World of Wonder November 2009 Welcome to the Whitman's World of Wonder webpage. I hope you will be able to visit often to stay updated on happenings in our first grade classroom and what our precious first graders are learning this school year.Whitman's World of Wonder is, traditionally, the best class in the school. There are 10 boys and 11 girls; 21 wonderful students in all. Mrs. Bass and I enjoy working with our first graders every day. We've been involved in many fun and exciting activities. Learning is fun. There is a character trait each month. These are traits that good citizens strive for. The November character trait is "courage". We are learning what it means and various ways show courage in our everyday lives. We are practicing this at school in first grade. Our first grade Rockwell Rockets are learning new things about reading, sight words, spelling, writing stories and handwriting, math, science, social studies, art, music, library, computers, guidance, and living and working in a community, side by side. In first grade we are making new friends and learning with old friends. First graders are able to bring a healthy snack each day. No drinks, please. We take 10 minutes to have our snack time while we work. Saltines are provided for those who don't have their snack. If you could provide a box of regular Saltines for our class we would be greatly appreciative. Getting homework assignments in on time is a good habit that must be mastered in order to insure school success for years to come. Homework contracts are provided for every full week of school. There is not a homework contract for the week of Thanksgiving. Spelling and homework will continue the week after. (November 30th) Students need to "layer" their clothes. Wearing a sweater or sweatshirt in the morning can be removed if our classroom gets too warm or put on when the air conditioner gets chilly. (and it does!!)
If you haven't already, you'll want to get a free library card from the public library in order to check out books for your child and you to enjoy for years to come. It has been amazing to see the reading improvement of the students who read at home during the school year! Read, read, read!!! Let your child read to him/herself, you read to him/her, or you read together. Remember when you read with your child that you get him/her to retell the story to you in order of beginning, middle, and end including many details and the names of the characters. It is best to just say, start at the beginning and tell me what happened in this story. The desired outcome is that your child can retell the story with very little prompting from you. Get him/her to tell alot of details without your questions. Another good idea is to have your child tell his/her favorite part of the story and tell why or what the problem in the story is and how it is solved. Remember there is spelling work and sentences to turn in each week with the homework contract. Please include the "at home" practice test. The November 6th spelling words can be found by clicking on "Flashcards" at the top of this newsletter.
In math, we are learning about finding the missing part and how to use the information we know in order to find the information we do NOT know. For science we are studying germs. We are learning about Thanksgiving traditions.
In language arts, we are reviewing correct formation of letters and their sounds. Also how to segment and blend sounds to make words which helps in spelling and reading. We know that pictures and words on the same page go together and taking a "picture walk" through a story helps us to relate our experiences to the story. We are learning about word families, rhyming words, word endings and the sounds of the digraphs ch, th, sh, wh, ph, -ck. We constantly review skills that make us good readers. In writing, we have written daily. We are trying to become automatic when putting periods at the end of a sentence (thought) and starting the next one with a capital letter. Thank you for participating in your child's report card conference recently. It was so nice to talk to you about the progress of your precious first grader! :) Important Dates:Tuesday, November 3rd - Election DayWednesday, November 11 - School Holiday/Veterans' DayTuesday, November 24 - Early Release Day; early lunch served, school dismissed at 11:45Wednesday, November 25- Friday, November 27 - Thanksgiving Holidays, no school Our lunchtime is 11:25 - 11:55 Please feel welcome to have lunch with your first grader until the last day of school. It is such a special treat for your child and we love company! Please sign our guest register beside the door, too.Thank you for staying in contact with me in Whitman's World of Wonder by note, phone, or email to this webpage.
We're having a happy, productive, successful year!!!
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