Happy Fall Friday! I wanted to give a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for my wonderful birthday celebration! The flowers were beautiful and the gift cards were amazing. I could not have asked for a better day! 

There are a few things that are coming up that I wanted to make everyone aware of:
1. Tonight is the Hoot Family Picnic. I am excited to be a part of this fun tradition and I hope to see everyone there!
2. Next week kicks off Red Ribbon week. We will be talking throughout the week about making healthy choices and how that affects our bodies. Each day will have a different theme, so please see that weekly plan below for what to wear. I always love the fun Red Ribbon week days!

Monday: “Sock it to Drugs” day – wear crazy or mismatched socks

Tuesday: “Stomp out Drugs” day - wear tennis shoes

Wednesday: “Boot out Drugs” day – wear boots or western wear

Thursday: “Pledge to be Drug Free” day - wear red, white and blue

Friday: “Say BOO to Drugs” day – wear Halloween colors or t-shirt

More dates to remember:

October 14:  Student Holiday

October 18:  Hoot Family Picnic

October 30:  Early Release Day

November 2:  Harvest Festival

November 13:  Family Skate Night

November 27-29:  Thanksgiving Holidays

December 4:  Early Release Day

December 5:  Family Art Night

December 9-13:  Book Fair

December 23:  Winter Break Begins

The week of October 21-25 we will be learning about....

Math:  Students will collect, sort and organize data in up to three categories as well as draw conclusions, generate and answer questions about the graphs.  They will construct picture graphs, bar-type graphs, and graphs using real objects.  Students will display math concepts using concrete models in problem solving connected to everyday experiences.

Reading Workshop:  This week in reading workshop we will continue our unit with reading and studying nonfiction/expository texts.  So many students are really enjoying this unit and even checking out nonfiction in the library now.  I love the learning that takes place with this unit!  This week our focus will be on reading nonfiction books about bats and using our reading time to research and learn facts that we don’t already know about them.  This unit will extend into writing workshop too.  We will also spend some time on comparing and contrasting fiction vs. nonfiction books on bats.  Take a look in the halls to see our facts about spiders and watch for our bat facts to appear soon!  We are going “batty” over learning about this unit!

Writing Workshop:  This week during writer's workshop, we will continue learning about the elements of non-fiction versus fiction. We will be learning all about bats as we practice finding information, taking brief notes, and turning our research into a non-fiction piece of our own.

Social Studies:  This week, we will continue to learn about our National symbols.  We will discuss the vocabulary in the Pledge of Allegiance, and we will learn about the Statue of Liberty and the Bald Eagle.  We will also be creating some wonderful art projects!

Have a wonderful weekend and week!

-Miss Hill

Fall is here!

I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! The rain was a wonderful blessing! We are in full swing and I have so enjoyed meeting with everyone during conferences. It truly is such a wonderful time in your child's life and I am happy to be a part of it!

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for PE.

*Library day is Thursday.

Dates to remember:

October 14:  Student Holiday

October 18:  Hoot Family Picnic
October 20: Miss Hill's birthday

October 21 – 25: Red Ribbon Week

October 30:  Early Release Day

November 2:  Harvest Festival

November 13:  Family Skate Night

November 27-29:  Thanksgiving Holidays

December 4:  Early Release Day

December 5:  Family Art Night

December 9-13:  Book Fair

December 23:  Winter Break Begins

This week in first grade we will be learning about....

Math:   Students will continue to develop their conceptual understanding of the relationships between the numbers 1-10.  Students will practice and develop an understanding of how to compose and decompose numbers 0 – 120 using concrete and pictorial representations. Students will count up and back between 1 and 120.  Students will continue to develop their ability to conceptualize a number as being made up of two or more parts and their understanding of the part-part-whole model and related number relationships. They will also continue to explore, in this unit and throughout the year, a variety of addition/subtraction problem situations including joining, separating, part-part-whole, and comparing, with different unknowns: result/change/start, or part/whole or difference, in order to develop an understanding of the operations of addition and subtraction. Sums and differences are limited to 20. Students will generate a problem solving situation from a given number sentence and use concrete and pictorial models to solve problems using addition and subtraction with whole numbers to 20.

Reading Workshop:  This week in reading workshop we will continue reading and studying nonfiction/expository texts.  This week our focus will be on reading nonfiction books about spiders and using our reading time to research and learn facts that we don’t already know about them.  This unit will extend into writing workshop too.  We will also spend some time on comparing and contrasting fiction vs. nonfiction books on spiders.  This is fun unit and the kids always have fun researching with this unit! J  Be sure to ask your child what they learned this week about spiders!

Writing Workshop:  During the next several weeks in Writer’s Workshop, we will be learning how to write expository texts to communicate ideas and information that we are learning.  Our learning this week will focus on bats and begin with KWL charts in which we will write down facts that we already “know”; then write down questions that we “want to know”; and conclude with an informative writing that communicates what we have learned about bats. Please be watching for our work to begin filling the halls this week as our new unit of study unfolds.

Social Studies:  This week, we will be learning about Freedom, Liberty, and various United States symbols.  We will read and write facts about the Liberty Bell, the United States Flag, and our National Anthem.

As always, do not hesitate to call or email me with any questions you may have. Have a wonderful week!

-Miss Hill