May 15, 2009

Upcoming Dates

* Monday, May 18th: San Francisco Zoo Field Trip
Thank you to our four parent chaperones: Emi’s mother, Seyon’s father, Jhanvi’s mother, and Mai’s mother. Please have your child dress in layers to stay warm and send a BAG lunch with your child’s name on it. Everything will be thrown away at the zoo!

* Thursday, May 21st: LAST Scholastic Book Orders Due!
Attached to today’s newsletter is the last book order of the year. Please make ONE check payable to Scholastic Book Clubs if you are interested in purchasing!

* Friday, May 22nd and Monday, May 25th: NO SCHOOL
Friday, May 22nd will be a staff learning day for all of the teachers. Monday, May 25th is Memorial Day so there is no school. Enjoy your long 4-day weekend!

* Thursday, May 28th: Open House 6:30pm-7:30pm
Save the date! This will be your opportunity to come to Room 8 and see all the beautiful work your child has completed this year in first grade. Siblings are welcome too and your child will be your “tour guide” for the evening!

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Dear Families,

Here are some highlights from the week:
Star of the Week: Jhanvi
Poem of the Week: The Robin’s Secret
Song of the Week: The Presidents
Kindness is … singing with all your heart
Words: watched, together, garden, sharp, baby, edge, only, enough
Next Week’s Sharing: Riddle – something at the beach
(at least 4 sentences memorized and picture/object to show)

• Language Arts: Theme 9 Special Friends – Week 3
o Strategy and Skill Focus: Question & Compare/Contrast
o New Sound: vowel pairs oi, oy, aw, au, suffixes –ful, -ly, -y
o Grammar: Describing what we see

• Math: We are in out last chapter for first grade on two digit addition and subtraction. This week we focused on addition and practiced adding two-digit numbers. Students had trouble with subtracting numbers such as 16-9 because they would confuse the ones place as 6-9. Please be careful!

• Writing: We finished learning about the frog life cycle. On Wednesday, we wrote an outline together in class, then students drafted an expository piece about a frog’s life. At this point in the year, students should be able to write an organized paragraph with a topic sentence, at least 3 facts with details to support it, and a conclusion. On Thursday, we published our writing and illustrated a frog to decorate our piece. We also made a quilt square about our favorite memories of first grade this week.

• Science: This is our last week observing the cloud cover, precipitation, wind, and temperature. Students have been assessed on whether or not they made accurate observations during the last month. This includes graphing temperatures correctly.

• Computer: Many students are finishing their The Very Hungry Caterpillar stories in the computer lab. We only have about 2 more weeks to work on them! Students who finished are reading stories in Starfall.

• Music: This week, the first grade classes got together to watch the DVD of our show! Great job everyone! Also, on Monday we were able to watch the fourth and fifth graders perform their musical! The upper graders use instruments such as drums and xylophones to accompany their singing, and also have role playing to tell a story.

• Circuits: On Tuesday, we had circuits with Mrs. Zankich. We reviewed fractions and then designed our own flags using either ½, 1/3, ¼ or 1/8. Then we wrote about what we made.

I came down with a cold during the week, so I rested on Thursday. I know some of the students were also sick! Take care and I hope you have a nice weekend!