It was so great to have a full 5 day week! We loved getting back to our regular routines - even if only for a week. In Reader's Workshop we are immersed in our new unit, Learning About the World - Reading Nonfiction. Our first few strategies included Take a Sneak Peek to Start Learning, Stop and Study Each Page and Guess What Might Come Next. One of my favorite results of these first few days has been watching students fully engaged in their books. Students surprised themselves when they only read 1 or 2 books during a session. We talked about how this is a result of really studying each page in their book. They have loved sharing their new knowledge at the end of each session. Ms. Clark visited the class on Friday and enjoyed reading with us too! In Math our focus this week has been on practicing our doubles strategy and using this to learn our near doubles (doubles plus or minus 1). It also included a discussion and demonstration of why all doubles result in even numbers and near doubles are odd. We also celebrated the 50th day of school which coincided with 1/2 of a pizza on our calendar and 6:00 on our clock. We had a great discussion about halves on that day! (Halfway to 100, halfway around the clock, etc.) Our other big change was starting a new unit in writing. Students dove right in writing about topics that they could teach to someone else. We will be looking at How-To texts and identify text features that are typically included with this type of text. The Thanksgiving holiday might provide a great chance for real world experience working with a How-To (recipe) text. We had our second Art Infusion lesson this week. Students explored texture creating collages with a variety of objects. I was so impressed with the variety of styles and compositions. Scenes from our session are on the photos page. Reminders Tuesday, November 21 - Spirit Day: Tacky Tuesday Wednesday - Friday, November 22 - 24 - No School Tuesday, November 28 - Book Order Due Wednesday, November 29 - Fundraiser @ Wild Abandon 5 pm - 9 pm Thursday, November 30 - Courageous Conversations: Discussion on Race & Equality 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
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Last week was a short one for students so this update will be brief.
First I wanted to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone for coming to parent conferences. I honestly enjoy this chance to share what we have been learning, where we are going and how much progress your children have already made! Please know that if you have any questions or want to touch base again to send me an email and we can set up a time. In reading we ended our second unit, Word Detectives. Students have a large collection of strategies they can know use to figure out tricky words. Ask them to share a strategy or two with you! This week we will begin our new unit, Learning About the World: Reading Nonfiction. We are also getting ready to start a new unit in writing, How-To Books: Teaching Others. I am looking forward to empowering our experts to share their knowledge! It is a week for all things new as we also begin a new math unit. Adding, Subtracting, Counting & Comparing. I shared the family newsletter that gives more information about this unit at conferences.The big idea for this unit is to encourage student mastery of key number facts and fact strategies for addition and subtraction. I am looking forward to a full week of our regular routines! We've said goodbye to a beautiful October and welcomed November even though it has greeted us with wind and rain. These next few weeks will be interested with short weeks in the classroom.
I am sending home a reminder for our conference time with Monday's homework. If this time no longer works for you or I have written a different time than you have on your calendar please contact the office to select a different time. I am looking forward to sharing the progress your children have made so far in first grade and am grateful to have time to learn more about my students from their parents' perspectives. Twenty minutes goes quickly - I will work hard to stay on schedule but if we feel like we need more time we can set up another time to meet. In reading our Word Detectives received word scanners from the Super Secret Detective Agency. I have posted a few pictures of the detectives at work on the Photos page. A TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment) from the district was in our room on Thursday during Reader's Workshop. He was telling me how impressed he was with the stamina of the students so early in first grade. I am so proud of our readers! During Conference Week you will have a couple of opportunities to support the Glencoe community. There will be a Craft Fair on Wednesday and Thursday 9am - 4pm. I've seen photos of some of the vendors and it looks like some great stuff will be available. The Book Fair will also be set up during conferences from 8:00am - 7:00pm. A flyer is coming home with students on Monday. Reminders Wednesday, November 8 - Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School) Thursday, November 9 - Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School) Thursday, November 9 - Restaurant Partner Hot Lips Pizza on Hawthorne 5pm - 10pm Friday November 10 - Veteran's Day (No School) |
MS. SCHIADAI teach first grade in southeast Portland where every day brings a new adventure!
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