Thirty-First Day of School

Today we took our personal narrative Writing test. Our next writing unit will be realistic fiction.

Unsatisfactory notices will be sent this week. This notice is for parent information only. It does not need to be discussed with your child. The good news is that for the first time ever, no notices will need to be sent for the subject of Math. Keep in mind these notices are only for those subjects which have been assessed to date (Writing, Reading, and Math). Bear in mind, the reading notification is for measurements which do not necessarily reflect instruction for the present school year. They are basically an indication of where your child may be beginning the year relative to beginning of the year standards for first grade. You will receive an unsatisfactory notice for your child's reading scores if they performed below standard on 2 or more beginning of the year reading assessments.

We began word sorting exercises today based 3 different student ability levels. We also took an in-depth look at the 'long-a' sound spelled 'a_e' (bake, take).

In Music, we discussed the elements of a song with an emphasis on beat (rhythm to be discussed soon).

Twenty-Eighth Day of School

Today we practiced using a checklist for reviewing our writing. The checklist is a tool devised as a means for writers to check to see if they have everything required in their writing sample in order to pass a writing examination. We will be taking our narrative writing exam next week. Students may be interviewed by their parents so parents may learn which story a child is most likely to tell during the writing exam.

In Social Science today we learned about the United States Independence Day. We learned facts such as:

• Before having an elected President, who ruled what is now the United States?
• From which country was it necessary to declare our independence?
• What did George Washington do before becoming our first President?
• On what day do we celebrate our independence and why that day?

On last night's some students were confused with the part/part/whole when they went to construct the model on their own. When performing subtraction, the model remains with the two parts being above the whole. The difference between subtraction and addition is that with addition, the whole (sum) is the unknown (so the lower space is empty), with subtraction, a part (addend) is unknown and one of the upper spaces will be empty.

In Drama we practiced collaboration on one-scene tableaus.

Second Day of School

Today we continued with letter formation and began phonics review. We have begun our initial battery of reading tests. Soon we will begin Math and Writing assessments. We began our first Unit Project which will be to author a book about ourselves.

In Math we worked on another constructed response. A larger number of students were able to accomplish this task with greater success. the question was:

There are 3 students sitting at a table. How many fingers do all of the students have in total. Show how you arrived at your solution . Write a math equation.

We continued our violence prevention training. In P.E. today we learned the beginning of our first dance for the year.

You should should find in your child's possession a yellow folder with which to complete the 2nd parent homework assignment.

Thank you to those parents who were able to complete the numerous forms brought home yesterday. All of the forms were returned by a majority of the students. Thank you as well to the parents who have already donated supplies to the classroom.