Friday, October 25, 2013

Weekly Preview....

Happy Halloween!

This week will be a busy one!  We will have time for fun and time for learning. We will continue to work on reading as a whole group and in reading groups.  We will be working on the short u sound.  We will also be focusing on story structure.  This will include identifying characters, problem, solution and setting. We will continue to work on the writing process.  We will focus on creating a graphic organizer, writing a sloppy copy and then creating a final piece.  We will also continue to review all sight words.

We will finish learning about force and motion and begin talking about seasonal changes.  This will include learning about how the weather affects animals, plants and us. 

In math, we will focus on telling time to the hour and measuring length.  

We will have some harvest fun on Thursday and go on our field trip on Friday.

Reminders for this week:

Monday- Be on the winning team- don't do drugs- Wear a team jersey day
Tuesday- You'd be crazy to do drugs- Wear a hat day
Wednesday- I wouldn't dream of doing drugs- Wear your PJ's day
Thursday- Dress up as your favorite story book character
Friday- Wear RED day

Friday is our field trip.  PLEASE have your child dress appropriately as it will be chilly!!!  Your child also NEEDS a bagged lunch for that day.

Have a great weekend and a great week!
Mrs. Beltz

Sunday, October 20, 2013

This Week...

Hi Families,

I hope you all enjoyed a weekend filled with memories and relaxation.  Here is a preview of what to expect your child to learn.

We will continue with reading groups.  I have been impressed with how much they are reading.  We are trying to read fluently rather than as robots.  We will work on the short e vowel sound during whole group reading.  Check out this video with your child...they sing it all day long!



We will read a book called "Not a Box" during writing block.  We will use this book as a building block/foundation for our own writing "Not a Box".  This fits perfectly into our math SOLS also as we will focus on Geometry and Patterns.  In math we will review patterns and extend them in various ways.  We will also review all the shapes and their attributes.

We will learn about Forces of Motion in Science this week.  We will talk about the words push and pull, talk about sound vibrations and circular motion.  We will do several experiments with these motions and have some fun.

Some reminders:
Please sign and return your child's permission slip for the First Grade field trip on Nov. 1, $10.00.
As Halloween approaches, please remember that we will not have a party but I will be asking for items to have Harvest Stations.  I will send home a slip in your child's communication folder tomorrow.
As the weather gets cooler, please send a coat in with your child each day as we will continue to go outside.

Many Thanks,
Mrs. Beltz


Saturday, October 12, 2013

This Week....

Extra, Extra, Read All About It...We have welcomed a new student to our class.  This is Gabi and we welcome her to our family.

Did anyone ask for some FREEZE DANCE?? This First Grade did!  One way we start our mornings to get the blood flowing.

This week we will continue to learn about American Symbols.  We have already talked about the American Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance.  We will continue with the Statue of Liberty and the Bald Eagle.  This has been our focus in writing and theme time.  We will also begin to learn about story problems in math.  We will use a variety of methods in learning how to pick out important information, writing an equation and solving it.  We will continue our focus on reading groups, word study groups, and working on short vowel sounds. We will also go to the computer lab and begin our Istation assessment.  This is a program focused to help improve our reading skills.  We will do this daily in the classroom and continue to go to the computer lab.  
Thank you for your continued support!

Thank you so much for making my birthday special!  You and your children rock!  I couldn’t have asked  for a better day!  Feeling Blessed!

Have a great week and as always if you need anything please contact me.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Beltz

Making 10

We were busy learning ways to make 10 this week.  We listened to songs, used our bodies, made a rainbow of facts, magic wands and playing cards all to help us learn the facts of 10.  Have your child fill in the missing addends to these problems....


6 + ____ = 10

1 + ____ = 10

5 + ____ = 10

10 + ____ = 10

7 + ____ = 10

2 + ____ = 10

Listen to these songs on Youtube with your child....







Challenge your child to tell you all the addition facts of 10!




Sunday, October 6, 2013

Weekly Preview

Here are some pictures from this past week....






This week we will continue with reading groups, literacy stations and word study groups.  We are planning on switching again this week.  We are still considering this week practice and you will not receive a copy of word study for this week.  This is a trial and live it switch...therefore we need to work out all the kinks to see if this switch will be most beneficial to ALL students.  We will keep you posted on this.

We will work on addition facts to 10.  We will look at various ways to make 10.  This will be our main focus for the week.  We will play some games while learning math.

We will also begin to learn about symbols.  We will focus on the American Flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, Statute of Liberty, the Washington Monument and the Bald Eagle.  We will make a book focusing on important facts about each symbol.  We will also incorporate this book into our writing time this week.  The book requires writing several sentences for each symbol and we are working on incorporating science and social studies across all curriculum.

Reminders for this week:
Please continue to complete homework each night.
Please continue to send in snack daily.
Now that the weather is getting colder, please send your child to school with a sweatshirt or coat.
PLEASE send in Impact Aid forms that went home last week, we NEED ALL of these forms returned.

Thank you for your continued support and have a great week!
Mrs. Beltz

Sight Word Challenge...

Can you Beat Jordyn……

Jordyn is saying the sight words as
fast as he can….can you beat him?
Challenge:  Play the video for your child and see if they can say the words faster than Jordyn!





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