Hello, Room 4 Families.  Happy New Year!  Did you hear about our adventure on Friday before the break?  We were fully engaged in our DEC Day when Loker lost power.  Your children did not miss a beat!  They had a wonderful time creating the arcade games they had carefully planned the day before.  They problem-solved, reworked their designs, and played with their new creations.  Wow! 

I have added some photos to our class photo album.  :)

Below are some important reminders and some of the things that we have been learning and working on recently.

Reminders:

•Please remember to send boots and shoes each day.  The grassy areas on our playground are muddy this time of year.  Without boots and a change of shoes, our classroom rug and floor get very muddy.  We sit on our rug for lessons, games, and small groups.  Thank you!

•As a reminder, we are not passing out individual Valentines in First Grade.  We will write an affirmation or compliment for each student in our classroom, during class time.  Please see my email from January 4th for specific details.  

Phonics:

We have learned about the suffix s.  We learned it can make a word plural (more than one) or an action (something you can do).  The suffix s has two sounds.  Sometimes it sounds like the letter s and sometimes like the letter z.  

How do you mark a word with a suffix? 

How do you tap out a word with a suffix? 

Does the suffix in the word “mops” make the word plural or an action or both?  

What about in the word “fans?” 

We have added the words do, does, were, are, who, what, and when to our Trick Word Wall.

Reading:

During our reading time, we are learning about the features of informational text and how they help readers.  As we learn about each feature, we look for examples of this feature in the many non-fiction books we have in our classroom.  Here are the features we have learned about so far:

Table of Contents

Index

Photographs

Words in Bold

Glossary

Pronunciations

Illustrations

Headings

Can you tell me how ___________ helps you as a reader?  

Where will I find the Table of Contents?  What about the Index?  

Do all non-fiction books have every feature you have learned about so far?

We will continue to learn about more features of non-fiction texts over the next couple of weeks.  At home, you may want to gather some informational/non-fiction texts and look for examples of the above features with your child.

Math:

We have been busy in math!  We learned how to use a Rekenrek to add numbers, specifically doubles and double +1.  What is a Rekenrek?  So glad you asked!  Here is a video that explains what it is and how we use it.  ;)

Here is a virtual Rekenrek for you to try at home.

This week we reviewed how to solve story problems while showing our thinking.  This time we are using numbers up to 20.  Later this week we will solve story problems with 3 addends.  

Did you find the Rekenrek helpful?

Can you show me on this virtual Rekenrek how you would solve 8+8 and then 8+9?

Open Circle: 

Last Friday Ms. Mortley joined us for an Open Circle on the Size of the Problem.  There are times when our feelings are very big and our reactions don’t match the size of the problem.  We are learning how to think about the size of our problems and working to match our reactions accordingly.  Big problems require adult help.  Small problems, or glitches, are often things we can solve on our own.  Here is a book that Ms. Mortley shared with us during this Open Circle.

Social Studies:

This week we began learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement.  We will learn about segregation and how people worked peacefully to change these unjust laws and practices.  Later this week and next week we will learn about Ruby Bridges and Audrey Faye Hendricks.   

Writing:

We will finish our Opinion Pieces this week!  Yay!  Your children are excited to see if their Opinion Pieces will convince you (or Mr. Jones) to make the changes they want.