IMPORTANT DATES
Tuesday, November 8th: No School, Professional Day for teachers
Friday, October 11th: No School, a Day.
THANK YOU!
Thank you so much to all of the parents and families that helped to make our field trip to the apple farm a huge success. The children had a lovely time and the weather was fantastic. With the help of parent chaperones, we were able to enjoy the farm in small groups and we had plenty of hands, eyes, and attention for all of the children. Thank you!
COMMUNICATION I check email regularly (Katrina_McNamara@brookline.k12.ma.us) and will reply as quickly as possible. You may also leave a message on the classroom phone (617.879.4430) or with the Devotion School office (617.879.4400).
If you would like to be “invited” to the blog please let me know. If you prefer the paper copy, I will put it in your family mailbox each Thursday.
POST FIELD TRIP APPLE DAY
On Thursday, we spent most of our day exploring apples. Together we followed a recipe to make applesauce. We chose the apples, measured the ingredients , and cooked it in a slow cooker all day. We enjoyed our delicious creation after lunch. It was a four ingredient hit! We also moved through centers where we looked at a map of n apple farm, wrote a funny apple story, stamped with apples, measured apples, looked at apples through magnifying glasses, and many more.
LIBRARY
Our visits to the library continue to be exciting and successful. It really works out to check out books before we have Third Grade Reading Buddies. This way, everyone has a new book that they are excited to read.
MATH
We’re focusing on number lines for the beginning of Chapter 2 in the Think Math Curriculum. First we made patterns on number lines (jumping over 2 spaces, for example). Next we “jumped” on a giant floor number line. We made the connection between plus (+) and jumping forward on the number line, and minus (-) and jumping back (towards 0) on the number line. We extended this skill with a “treasure hunt” game. We used clues to move forwards and backwards on a number line to get close to a “secret number.”
LIBRARY
This Friday, students will have the opportunity to bring home their school library books. This is a big privilege and responsibility for first graders. In order to check out a new book next Friday, students will need to bring their library books back to school on Fridays (or earlier). Please enjoy your child’s library book together at home, and help your child remember to bring the book back to school every Friday.
WRITING
We began our writing program this week. We will write in our Writer’s notebook 4 days a week. Much of our writing will practice focusing in on one moment and using sensory details (taste, touch, smell, sight, sound) to describe that moment or experience. We will think together about our topic for the day and write independently for a short period of time. During this time, students are expected to try their best with spelling and writing. Children may draw and write, or just write. Eventually, we will build up to the opportunity for children to read their writing aloud to the class, but for now, the focus in on getting our ideas down on to paper. It has been a success so far and students have been excited for writing time.
WORD WALL WORDS: at, had, has
This week our Word Wall Words all have a short a sound. We have identified the 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and are thinking about the short sounds these vowels make first. In the coming weeks, we will move beyond short vowel sounds and onto the long vowel sounds.
COMMUNITY
Next week, we will spend time thinking about our families and our roles in our family (son, daughter, brother, sister, niece, nephew, cousin, grandchild, etc.). These roles also have jobs associated with them. We will share some of our jobs within our families (take care of brother/ sister, be healthy and clean, wash dishes, clean room, be nice…). We will then expand this conversation and think about other communities in which we belong, like our school, neighborhood, team, church/ synagogue, after school program. We will focus on these two big ideas:
1. We have roles and jobs in each of these communities.
2. We have different roles and jobs in the different communities that we belong.
SCIENCE
This week, to connect with our field trip, we focused on apples and the yearly cycle of the apple tree. We have read many apple books, both fiction and non-fiction. Thursday will be “Apple Day.” We will do a number of activities relating to apples. Next week, we will begin our Liquids unit.
HALLOWEEN
We will celebrate Halloween on Monday, October 31st with many fall, pumpkin, and Halloween activities. We will not be sharing candy or bringing in costumes. We’ll keep you posted of more details.
SNACK
We will have a morning snack every day. Please pack a nutritious, filling, low-sugar snack for your child each day. We eat lunch at 12:40pm everyday, so our snack is very important to keep us energized during our long morning. Please encourage your child to eat his or her entire snack so they do not get too hungry before lunch.
FIRST GRADE WISH LIST
We welcome donations of the following items for our classroom:
• Thick Markers
• Old Legos that your family is no longer using~ we’d like to create a Lego Center for choice time.
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What was your favorite part of our field trip to Tougas Farm?
• How did you decide which pumpkin to choose at the farm?
• Can you singe the A-P-P-L-E song?
• What languages have we said “Good Morning” this week?
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