First Grade

We will enjoy the story the New Friend which will help us force on evaluating the structure of a story. We will answer the comprehension questions also to make sure that we are understanding what we read. The story also shows us how there are words that take an ES at the end instead of just an S to make it plural.

We will continue our study of habitats focusing this week on the ocean. I hope you enjoy many non fiction books about the ocean at home this week too. 

In math we will refocus again on fact families. Please complete chapters 18 and 19 in your at home math book to reinforce this concept. It is very easy to make worksheets of fact families so feel free to make homemade ones as well. All the extra practice will help!

This Saturday at the Capitola Mall there will be the Author's Fair. Please take some time to stop by the mall  and look for the Rio del Mar table. Each class will have student made books there for all to enjoy. Each year they ask students to come up front and read his/her book to the crowd. If your child is interested in doing this, find the person in charge and sign up.

Remember that this Friday is our school's Jogging for the Arts. Help your child to remember to come to school ready to run!

A special thank you to Linda Morales for all her hard work with the students decorating our garden box. It looks amazing! She will finish planting with the student this week so please send in your child's favorite flower to be planted.

Welcome to a new week. I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weather this past Saturday as I did! We were hoping that the weather stayed nice so Mrs. Morales could work with the kids to finish the garden project! Have you seen it? I love the bright orange color they picked. The designs that they will paint on the garden box will finish it off! We will get out there again when the weather gets better. If you haven't sent in your child's favorite flower please do so soon so it can get planted into our Room 6 Garden Box.

We have a new story this week that will help us focus on the different sounds that the letter y makes depending on where it is in the word. This story also helps us focus on details and how they provide so much interest in a story. We will try to add many details in our writing this week and from this point on. A good way to help you child with this is to ask him/her to speak using many details when telling you about something.

In math we will learn how to relate subtraction to addition and the other way around. For instance, if you know that 2+7 is 9 then you know that 9-7 is 2. This should be your focus this week while doing the daily math review with your child.

In science, we will study a new habitat, the desert. Do you have desert books at home? If you do, this week is s a good time to read them. The kids are enjoying adding all the new learning to their science journal. It will come home again soon for you to see what they have been doing.

This week we will celebrate Earth Week with many different activities. You child should come home talking about ways you can help save the earth by reusing, recycling and reducing. They noticed today how much trash they have daily just in their lunch! This is something they are going to try to reduce.

Have a great week!

Welcome to a new week! It is nice to have a full week!

We started our study of habitats last week which is always fun. Your child heard many non fictions stories about the temperate forest and then wrote in their science journal what they learned. They also had a directed drawing lesson on the temperate forest with Mrs. Werner. Their drawings are amazing and you will see them soon when your child brings home his/her science journal.

In math we will continue our study of money. Your child is learning to put the coins in order from the highest value to the lowest and then add the value of all the coins. This is really fun for them so please continue this at home as it is a fun way to help your child and it really makes a difference when the concepts we are studying here at school are continued at home.

After last week's crazy weather, I decided it was a good time to read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Afterwards, your child pretended to move to the town of Chewandswallow and became a meteorologist. While in Chewandswallow, they wrote their own version of the story. The stories are fantastic so take a minute and stop by to read them.

This week we will read all about Johnny Appleseed and learn how to take facts from a story to retell it to a friend. This story will also help us learn to sequence a story to make it make sense.

Have a great week!

Welcome back!

I hope all of you had a wonderful break and spend quality time with your family. I had an amazing trip to DC to visit my daughter who attends The Catholic University of America in DC. The weather was beautiful and being with her was the best!

The children had a great time performing their Reader Theater plays for you. Weren't they amazing? I hope you all took videos! They were proud of all of their hard work. I know everyone had fun skating afterwards and thanks to those of you who volunteered your time and help to make it a great time for all.

In science, will be studying habitats so please enjoy non fiction books at home as well as talk to your child about different habitats.

In math we will continue learning about money and start learning about time to the hour and half hour. Please work on telling time at home to by using a traditional clock or watch.

We are also getting ready for Open House which is Thursday, May 10.

Please continue to have your child read to you nightly and also practice math facts (addition and subtraction to 20).