Blog Update: 10/6/13

Hello First Grade Falcon Families,

September has been a great month in first grade!  I have been getting to know each of the students and am beginning to appreciate how charming this class is as a whole.  It is evident that they are becoming used to the routines and expectations in first grade.  Thank you for sharing your delightful children with me.

Below you will find a first grade classroom update including past, present, and future learnings.  Please also note any upcoming events!

Before the updates, please read this important message about Raz Kids:

This is a resource for you to help your student grow as a reader!! I have purchased and set up an account for each student that can be found at www.raz-kids.com.  There, each student begins reading from a library of electronic books that are at their current reading level.  Each time a student listens to, reads, and then answers comprehension questions about a book they earn points to spend on their Raz Rocket or the Robot Builder.  This is a fun, individualized reading incentive program.  

After students read all of the books at their current level, they will automatically be bumped to the next level.  If your student becomes bored quickly with the ease of the texts at their current level AND they’re able to answer the comprehension questions easily, please email me and I can change their level manually.

Using Raz Kids, students can record their voices as they read aloud, and I can listen to their recordings!  I may also assign a certain benchmark book or passage for a student to read periodically to check in and see how things are going.  

Here’s what you do to get started:

1. WITH YOUR STUDENT, go to www.raz-kids.com

2. Enter the teacher username: varis
3. Click on your student’s name

4. Enter their password - (Your student’s password is the (lowercase) initials of their first and last name followed by their student number (i.e. John Applegate, if he was #1 in class, would have the password of ja1))

5. Click on “Your Assignment”

6. Click on any book in the available library (ear icon = listen to the book, eye icon = read the book, question mark icon = take a quiz… lower levels will not have comprehension quizzes, only listening and reading options)

7. Students: Read, read, read!

8. Click on “Raz Rocket” or “Robot Builder” on the main page of your student’s account to spend earned points.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Riggs: We’ve been keeping up a steady pace of reviewing (and learning for some) the formation and sounds of three phonograms per day.  We have finished reviewing the first 26 phonograms (a-z) and are just about ready to move onto the next 29 multi-letter phonograms.  Every year, every classroom at CHPCS reviews the phonograms at varying paces depending on grade and ability.  Knowledge of the phonogram sounds is an essential part of being a great speller and reader.

RIGGS HOMEWORK is going to be changing a bit as we move onto the multi-letter phonograms.  Students will write their assigned phonograms into their planner, and then they should use Riggs paper to complete their homework.  The basic instructions are: 1. Check planner, 2. Use ½ sheet of Riggs paper to write the proper heading (Full name with markings, full date, and subject area), 3. Slowly, thoughtfully, and carefully say and write the assigned phonograms 10x each using correct spacing (single-letter phonograms should be “comfortably close” to each other, multi-letter phonograms should be underlined and have a space in between each one).  PLEASE SEE THE “Riggs -Phonogram Homework How-To” on the right sidebar of this blog for a more detailed explanation with some picture examples.

Reading:

*Whole Group - Read aloud has temporarily morphed into the classroom creation of a class play.  We have been examining character, setting, sequencing of events, and play elements as we create a play based on Aesop’s Fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  This play creating process was designed to help students more fully grasp literary concepts (characters, setting, sequence of events) because they actually become a part of the story.  Our play will be titled, “The Boys and Girls Who Cried Wolf” and you are invited to come watch us perform this Thursday, October 10th at 3:15PM in the first grade classroom.  Then, we will continue to examine other fables and stories throughout the year.

*Small Group - Guided reading groups continue as the students are divided into four groups based on their reading levels and MAP data: Apples, Bananas, Cantaloupes, and Dates. The students have been reading with a teacher nearly every day and it is already apparent that book sense and reading abilities are improving across the board.  This will continue throughout the year.

*Individual - The students are using their “reading tools” during reading workshop to tackle words as they read independently.  The students seem to be excited by this time of the day.  I also enjoy reading workshop because I get to meet with several individual students throughout the week as they request help.  The reading tools we’ve been, and will be focusing on include: 1. Say the first sound of each phonogram as you read, 2. Point to the phonograms as you read, 3. Underline any multi-letter phonograms before you read, 4. If the first phonogram sound doesn’t make sense, try the second one (and so on).

Writing: During I.E.W. we have been continuing our examination of different works of poetry as examples of good writing.  We have been finding meaning in these poems, discussing unknown vocabulary words, and identifying verbs.  This week we will move onto identifying nouns and then adjectives.

Public Speaking: The students have all finished reciting the poem “Hope” by Langston Hughes.  Every single child got up and did their very best.  Now we are moving onto the poem “Table Manners” (aka “The Goops”) by Gillette Burgess.  This is a funny poem about sloppy eaters.

Support Idea(s):

*As you read aloud to and with your student, ask them about the characters, setting, and sequence of events.  

*Use Raz-Kids to help your student with reading at www.raz-kids.com

*While your student is reading independently, remind them of the reading tools they’ve been taught

*Review the phonogram cards nightly--and use the Phonogram ABC song (http://www.chpcsfirstgrade.blogspot.com/p/phonogram-abcs-song.html) in conjunction with the phonogram chart to get the sounds stuck in their brain!

*In about a week, ask your student to recite “Table Manners” to you.  If they cannot, request that they bring their sayings, phrases, and poems book home to practice.

MATH

Below are the concepts we have been learning, and will be learning in math:

Identify shape names (square, parallelogram, trapezoid, diamond, hexagon)	Identify fractional parts of a whole (½, ⅓, ⅙)
Read and identify numbers to 100	Identify right and left
Identify one more and one less than a number	Graph data on a graph
Tell and show time to the hour	Adding doubles (i.e. 3+3, 6+6), adding +0, +1, +2, and +3 facts
Identify pattern block attributes	Identify ordinal position to twelfth
Create and read a repeating pattern	Identify and act out “some, some more” and “some, some went away” stories
Compare numbers to 50 (i.e. which number is greater? which number is less?)	Compare and order objects by size (area)

Support Idea(s):

*Ask your student to draw an AB, ABC, or ABB repeating pattern for you.  An extra educational twist would be to request a repeating pattern drawn with shapes (parallelogram, trapezoid, triangle, hexagon, square).

*FOOD FRACTIONS  FUN: Before serving pizza or sandwiches to your student, cut the food with them and discuss the fractional parts.

*Ask your student to make up and ACT OUT  “some, some more” and “some, some went away” stories for you.

*Use dot dice to play an adding game.

SCIENCE AND HISTORY

We have moved on from our unit about where we live in this world to a brief introductory unit on the Early People (nomads).  Then, we will move onto a unit about two ancient civilizations: Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.  Below are the “student’s need to know” concepts we will learn during these units:

THE EARLIEST PEOPLE: HUNTERS AND NOMADS

• Where did they live? (Asia and Africa)
• When did they live? (Over 50,000 years ago!)
• What did their early shelters look like? (caves, sticks, leaves, mud)

MESOPOTAMIA: THE “CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION”

• Where did they live? (Asia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers)
• When did they live? (about 5,500 years ago)
• What did they invent? (writing called Cuneiform)
• Who was Hammurabi? (the writer of a list of rules and laws called “Hammurabi’s Code”
• What did their houses/structures look like? (mud bricks stacked - i.e. ziggurats)

ANCIENT EGYPT

• Where did they live? (Africa, near the Nile River)
• When did they live? (about 5,000 years ago)
• What did they do with their dead? (mummified)
• Who was Queen Hatshepsut? (a female pharaoh)
• Who was King Tut? (a very young pharaoh)
• What is hieroglyphics? (Ancient Egyptian writing)
• What did their houses/structures look like? (mud bricks, clay and limestone bricks - i.e. pyramids)

Support Idea(s):

• A GREAT resource for helping your student review and comprehend the concepts we’re learning during history and science is the book, What Your First Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.  A few copies may be available at your local library, and used copies can be purchased (for $0.01 plus $3.99 shipping!) on Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0385319878/ref=sr_1_1_up_1_main_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379274790&sr=1-1&condition=used
• Talk with your student about what they have learned during our science and history lessons at school. Ask questions and see if they are able to answer them. If they are unable to answer your questions, provide extra support for them by reading books (from the library), or finding appropriate websites on the topics we're studying. Ask questions during and after the reading to encourage involvement and comprehension.

FIRST FIELD TRIP FRIDAY and BONUS FEBRUARY FIELD TRIP

First Field Trip Friday:

Who: CHPCS First Grade

Where: Plumper Pumpkin Patch and Tree Farm, 11435 NW Old Cornelius Pass Rd, Portland, OR 97231

When: Friday, October 25th, 2013

What to Wear and Bring: Field trip t-shirts, jeans, jackets, and rain boots are appropriate attire for this field trip.  Students will need to bring snacks for the morning and the afternoon, lunch, and a filled water bottle.

Why:  As a part of the first grade Core Knowledge Sequence, we study about:

• Mesopotamians as the world’s first farmers
• Ancient Egyptian society, including mummification (We will mummify the pumpkins!)
• Living things, including plants and the plant cycle of growth

How: Bus

Bonus February Field Trip: I have already used all of the money in the first grade field trip fund to book wonderful and fun field trips for the year, but I think it would be a memorable academic experience for our class to join Mr. Currey’s second grade class at the play “Charlotte’s Web” this February put on by the Oregon Children’s Theater.  Second graders have the esteemed opportunity to read Charlotte’s Web as a class in second grade, and the plays put on by the Oregon Children’s Theater change from year to year.  That means that Charlotte’s Web will only be available this year.  The cost of the play is $6 per student.  If you are willing and able, please send $6 in an envelope to school with the words “Charlotte’s Web”.  If you are unable or unwilling to pay please let me know via email and I will do my best to find a way to cover the cost.  Thank you!

REMINDER(S):

*Riggs homework is changing a bit! See the explanation in the Riggs section above for details.
*www.raz-kids.com is available for you to help your student with reading and comprehension practice.  My Teacher username is: varis.  Your student’s password is the (lowercase) initials of their first and last name followed by their student number (i.e. John Applegate, if he was #1 in class, would have the password of ja1).

*If you haven’t already, please sign up for a fall conference slot using the link I emailed to you from signupgenius.com.

* If you are willing and able, please send $6 in an envelope to school with the words “Charlotte’s Web” for our bonus February Field Trip (on Wednesday, February 13th).  If you are unable or unwilling, please let me know via email.

CALENDAR AT A GLANCE

Monday, October 7th	Jog-a-Thon, Book Fair, V.I.P. Day *VIPs, parents, and siblings should be at school by 8:45AM for a welcome from Mrs. Denman *First grade is running at 9:00AM *Snack/book fair with VIPs/reading time is happening after students run
Thursday, October 10th	CLASSROOM PRESENTATION: “The Boys and Girls Who Cried Wolf” @ the first grade stage, 3:15PM
Friday, October 11th	NO SCHOOL (No Friday F.I.S.H.) *Statewide inservice day
Thursday, October 17th	1. The Annual Harvest Festival, hosted by Mrs. Adams *6:00 - 7:30PM *NO COSTUMES PLEASE, only fall attire for this harvest fest. *All family members welcome! 2. The Great Oregon ShakeOut (during school) *The state’s largest earthquake drill ever!
Friday, October 25th	Field Trip Friday *Normal school day: 8:00AM-3:30PM *Field trip t-shirts, jeans, jackets, and rain boots are appropriate attire for this field trip. Pack: Snack, lunch, filled water bottle *First grade is going to Plumper Pumpkin Patch and then beginning the mummification process with our pumpkins at CHPCS!
Monday, October 28th - Friday, November 1st	Parent/Teacher Conferences *Your day and time as listed on the signup genius form

After you have faithfully read this lengthy yet important update please write “Fall Fun!” in your student’s planner so that I can see it and I will give them two tickets (earned and saved for prizes) for your diligence.

Thank you!!

-Mrs. Varis