I was so proud of our class Friday! Everyone did an amazing job memorizing their lines and showing off their animal adaptations!

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Library books / Accelerated Reader (AR)

I have AR reading levels (which you will get with Tuesday papers) for each student so we will begin reading and assessing on library books this week. 

Our library times will be Monday from 8:10 - 8:25 and Wednesday from 11:40 - 12:00. Here is the plan… Each student will check out a new book tomorrow on his or her correct reading level. They should read the book AT LEAST 3 times before testing on it (unless its a chapter book). I recommend that they read it out loud at least one time. We will practice taking AR tests together on books that we have read as a class, but each child will be able to test on his or her own library book using the AR app during school hours. They may get a new AR book after they have tested on their current one, and I will send home AR reports with your child’s test scores each week. I would like for them to have at least one test each week, but they may have more since we have books in the classroom. 

> You will need to download the free Accelerated Reader app (orange icon with white leaf design) to your child’s iPad sometime this week, but they may also use our classroom iPad to test. 

Sight Words

I will reassess sight words 2-3 times per nine weeks and send home a new list each time. The goal is to continue progressing to harder words (ie. higher lists) throughout the year. We will practice sight words during independent reading centers, but this is not something to stress about. I will occasionally send home a fun app or cute idea that I find, but your child will learn sight words better if they enjoy what they are doing. 

Spelling

We are ready to start spelling this week! I am using the same program (All About Spelling) that Mrs. Jenny used in kindergarten so the students should be familiar with the procedures. We will work on the spelling patterns and rules during small-group reading, and I will give weekly spelling tests on the words that we practiced in class. Just like in kindergarten, I will not be sending home a list of words each week to memorize. The goal is to have students learn and apply the rules of spelling, not memorize a list of words then forget them next week. Please feel free however to help your child practice any words that he or she missed on the weekly test. :) 

Gradelink

We were not able to get Gradelink to work with the kindergarten and first grade academic and behavioral checklists. I will send home a progress report (very similar to kindergarten) every nine weeks. The first progress report will be October 14th. It will list the standards that we have been practicing in reading, language, writing, and math, as well as overall behavior and participation in activity classes. Students will be given a letter grade to indicate their level of progress so far.

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Reading / Language Arts (yellow folder):

Throughout this entire unit we will be reading the book Nate the Great and discussing how detectives use forensic science to solve cases. Will spent each Friday doing a hands-on experiment to explore how forensic science really works.

In Language we will be using unfamiliar terms from our book to create synonyms and antonyms that will help us better understand the new words. We will also be writing complete sentences with our new vocabulary and spelling words.

Math (blue folder):

We will finally be finishing Ch. 1 in the “My Math” textbooks this week. This has been a very long chapter, but we have thoroughly explored the concept of addition. 

We have also been working with our hundreds chart to count to 120 starting from any number, fill in missing numbers, and understand the pattern of the hundreds chart (1 more, 1 less, 10 more, 10 less). This will be a year-long skill. 

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I can always be reached by email at lisaainsworth@benedictdayschool.com any time that you have a question or concern! :)