Reading Update: Unit 1 Week 3

 The theme in this unit is My Neighborhood. In this unit, we will be answering the question: What is a neighborhood? The children will read realistic fiction that discusses neighbors and neighborhoods.  Each week we will address specific questions such as What is a neighborhood? What and who can I see in a neighborhood?  We will use elements and clues in the texts to make connections. We will also read infographics, informational texts, and procedural texts. 

Highlights from Unit 1 Week 3:

Weekly Question:  How do signs in our neighborhood help us?

Reading:

This week we turned our focus to reading informational texts. The children are identifying the information that different parts of a book provide. They are beginning to recognize the characteristics and structures of informational texts, features such as headings and labels, and use them in order to locate key information in a text. In addition we have been working hard to recognize the differences between stories and informational texts. 

• This Week's Story:  Look Both Ways! by Janet Klausner

• Genre:  Informational

• Weekly Question: How do signs in our neighborhood help us?

• Weekly Vocabulary

     traffic, crosswalk, right, left

• Foundational Skills
• children learned how to segment and blend the sounds in three-letter words with the middle sound short /o/.
• reading and writing words with short /o/ in the middle.
• decode words with initial and final consonants Ff, Gg, and Bb.

• Heart Words - words we need to know by heart.

     are, by look, was, you

Joyfully,

Hilary Jackson
  

Reading Update: Unit 1 Week 2

We have begun Unit 1. The unit theme is My Neighborhood. In this unit, we will be answering the question: What is a neighborhood? The children will read realistic fiction that discusses neighbors and neighborhoods.  Each week we will address specific questions such as What is a neighborhood? What and who can I see in a neighborhood?  We will use elements and clues in the texts to make connections. We will also read infographics, informational texts, and procedural texts. 

Highlights from Unit 1 Week 2:

Weekly Question:  What Can I See in a Neighborhood?

Reading:

Our focus is on reading realistic fiction and understanding the setting. The setting is where and when a story takes place. In realistic fiction, the places are real or seem real.

• This Week's Story:  Henry On Wheels by B. B. Bourne

• Genre:  Realistic Fiction

• Weekly Question: What Can I See in a Neighborhood?

• Weekly Vocabulary

     block, corner, sand, street

• Foundational Skills
• children learned how to segment and blend the sounds in three-letter words with the middle sound short /i/.
• reading and writing words with short /i/ in the middle.

• Heart Words - words we need to know by heart.

     do, like, one, the, we

  

Math Update: Unit 1 Lesson 3: Add in Any Order

 This week your child will learn that numbers can be added in any order.  A family letter will come home in your child's BEE folder today.  

Joyfully,

Hilary Jackson

Reading Update: Unit 1 Week 1

As you have probably heard, we have adopted a new literacy curriculum that is more in line with the science of reading research. We are getting our arms around all of the resources and are excited to have launched

Unit 1. 

The unit theme is My Neighborhood. Over the next 5 weeks, we will be answering the question: What is a neighborhood? The children will read realistic fiction that discusses neighbors and neighborhoods.  Each week we will address specific questions such as What is a neighborhood? What and who can I see in a neighborhood?  We will use elements and clues in the texts to make connections. We will also read infographics, informational texts, and procedural texts. 

Highlights from this week:

Weekly Question:  How can neighbors help each other?

Reading: Our focus is on reading realistic fiction.  The children are learning that realistic fiction is a made-up story that could happen in real life. It has characters, settings, and events that seem real. 

This Week's Story:  The Blackout by Zetta Elliott

Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Weekly Vocabulary

     check, listen, mutters, quiet

Foundational Skills

• children learned how to segment and blend the sounds in three-letter words with the middle sound short /a/.
• read and write words with short /a/ in the middle.
• review consonants Mm, Ss, Tt 

Heart Words - words we need to know by heart.

     I, a, his, is, see

Unit 1 Family-School Connection

Joyfully,

Hilary Jackson
  

Curriculum Night Presentation

                                  

Hello families,

I enjoyed seeing many of you at the Curriculum Night. In case you were not able to make it, I have included a link to the presentation that was shown. For those of you that did attend, we did not get to review all the slides at the end. Please take the time to look at these slides, which introduce you to our support staff and specialists. There is also important cafeteria information. I hope you find it helpful and informative. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy the long weekend.

Joyfully,

Hilary Jackson

Starting the Year with Hopes and Dream

 Each year in Room 18, we begin with the children naming their most important goal, or "hopes and dream" for the year. This process takes place over the first few weeks of school. To start, I ask the children to think of reasons why we come to school. Then we name the things we are looking forward to learning and accomplishing in first grade. Each child selects their most important goal for the coming school year. These hopes and dreams become the basis for creating our classroom rules. The class and I talk about what rules we need so that we have a classroom where everyone can work well together and achieve their hopes and dreams. Finally, we post the rules along with our Hopes and Dreams in a classroom display. The children have fabulous goals for first grade!

Joyfully,

Hilary Jackson

Math Update: Unit 1, Lesson 2 Doubles and Near Doubles

You may have noticed that your child is bringing home an assortment of math papers each day. The papers with the blue banner on top are work that we have done in class and it is being sent home. Many times we don't get to finish all these problems. However, in-class work does NOT need to be completed at home or returned to school. Please note the papers with the green banner on top is homework and called "Practice" pages. Homework should be completed and returned the next day. I hope this helps to alleviate any confusion.

Below is the Family Letter that was sent home earlier. We are starting Lesson 2: Doubles and Near Doubles. We have been solving problems with double facts (4+4). We have also been working on facts that are close to double facts like doubles plus one(4+5). Ask your child to tell you what makes a fact a double fact. Learning to recognize these facts will help your child add quickly and accurately. 

Joyfully,

Hilary Jackson