A few FYI's -

First Grade Math - We have started learning about place value.  We are working on the ones place and the tens place.  We are learning about teen numbers.  We are learning how to "make a ten" to solve a problem.  We have also started learning the basics of telling time.

First Grade Phonics - We are continuing to learn about basewords and suffix s.  This week we learned the difference between a suffix s word that is plural and a suffix s word that is an action word.

Science - This week we finished up our Einstein Kit on weather.  We learned about three types of clouds this week - cumulus, stratus, and cirrus.  Next week we will be starting our new Einstein Kit - light and sound.

Read-aloud - We finally finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Now we are reading a Junie B. Jones book titled Turkeys We Have Loved And Eaten (And Other Thankful Stuff)

Writing - We continue to write in journals and work on writing in daily 5.  This week we also made (and continue to make into next week) 2 types of thankful turkeys.  One had 6 feathers that we had to write things we were thankful on.  The other is a hand print that they are making into turkeys and writing something on it that they are thankful for.  We also wrote thank you letters to Mr. Beylon this week.

Handwriting - We are continuing out of our book.  Our focus is writing the letters in the correct place and forming them the correct way.

Religion - We have been working on creation books.  We are illustrating the seven days of creation.  Today we worked in our Promise Paper and learned that the Gospel this weekend is about worrying.  Today we also had a visit from Fr. Bob.  He talked about veterans and the military with the students.

Reading - Every day we work on daily 5.  There are 4 different reading groups.  While the students are in group, they are working on a story at their reading level.  When they are not in group they are either doing read to self, read to someone, listening, work on writing, or word work.  From now until Thanksgiving our word work centers will revolve around Thanksgiving.  Some examples are making words out of the letters in Thanksgiving, making Thanksgiving books. filling in the blanks of Thanksgiving poems, and writing and creating thankful turkeys.  Raz Kids - FYI - we now have a subscription for Raz Kids again.  This weekend I will (hopefully) create our page and get all of the students entered.  

Spelling - This week we didn't have a spelling list.  We'll have a list again next week.  (If we ever have a short week, we won't have a spelling list.)  Just a reminder that our class has a Spelling City page your student can use to practice the spelling words at home.

ART

In art class, we are learning about how artists use shapes to create art. We used basic geometric shapes to build a cityscape silhouette. This cut silhouette looks great against our watercolor wash skies.  Currently, we are learning about negative shapes. By crayon rubbing over the edges of fish templates, we are creating a school of negative shape fish. The fish remain the white of the paper, while the crayon color becomes the background. Look for negative shapes in your environment, such as the empty space between the rungs on a bench or fence, or the oval in the empty space of your coffee cup handle. Have a great weekend.          Mrs. Jeanne Ihlenfeldt