Whitman's World of Wonder February 2010
Welcome back 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 9 boys and 11 girls; 20 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 February character trait is "honesty". We are learning what it means and various ways show effort 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. Students need to "layer" their clothes. Wearing a sweater or sweatshirt in the morning can be removed if our classroom gets too warm when the heat gets very, very warm. (and it does!!) Thank you for putting your child's name in the clothing.
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. It has been amazing to see the reading improvement of the students who consistently 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.A tip for fluency (reading smoothness) is to have your child reread a story that is not too difficult over and over several times to practice that skill. Many times the "choppy" reading smoothes out when this is done on occasion.
Remember there is spelling work and sentences to turn in each week with the homework contract. Please include the "at home" practice test. The current spelling words can be found by clicking on "Flashcards" at the top of this newsletter.
All the schools are involved in the Larry Bell series of 12 Powerful Words. Our students can sing and gesture signs to remember what each powerful word means. Ask your child to sing it for you. First grade has attached one of the words each week as a challenge word. See my flashcards for this. In math, we are learning about place value in numbers (tens, ones/units). Make sure your child is able to write and count numbers to 100. Also help your first grader daily by practicing and reviewing the math facts in their folder.
We are learning about dental health, Lincoln and Washington's birthdays, Black History, valentine traditions and the groundhog legend in Social Studies. In Science, we are studying motion, push and pull.
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 reviewing compound words, synonyms (glad/happy), contractions (can't means can not). We constantly review skills that make us good readers. We are now learning that antonyms are words in our language that mean opposite; such as hot is an antonym for cold... 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. We are now writing exciting stories with beginning, middle, and ending events and details. Thank you for participating in your child's education. Please know I appreciate your help at home with reading, sight words and homework. We've been in school almost 100 days and your first grader is progressing nicely in so many ways. We all are working hard. Important Dates:
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - Groundhog's Day-He didn't see his shadow in our area so spring is right around the corner.Thursday, February 4 - 2nd Quarter report cards issued.Monday, February 8 - Students may bring class valentines. Lists have been sent home.Wednesday, February 10 - J. Beaver and Whitman classes to Horizons. Back for late lunch.Thursday, February 11 - 100th Day of School pending more school closings.Friday, February 12 - Valentine's Day refreshments.Monday, February 15 - Regular school day; flood makeup day.
Stay tuned for the other 3 makeup days to be announced. 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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