Ms. Ward's 1st Grade
Week 6
We celebrated Terry Kim's birthday today, and we finally got to relax and enjoy each others' company in the cool breeze of a working AC! It was fantastic. Thank you for the treats, Ms. Kim!
Daily Five
CAFE
CAFE is our reading strategy board. CAFE stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary. We have introduced 3 options this week. Under comprehension, the students know that good readers Check for Understanding while they read, as well as Retell a Story using key story elements. Under Accuracy, we know that good readers Cross Check when they come to a word they do not know. That is, ask: Does it look like the word? Does it match the picture? and Does it make sense? Under Expand Vocabulary, the students learned on Thursday that good readers Tune in to Interesting Words, or pay attention to and use new words learned through reading.
Basically, the CAFE menu board breaks down all the things you (great readers) do subconsciously! Before they become engrained in these 1st grade minds, however, we have to teach them explicitly.
There are several students who remember these from Kinder. What a wonderful surprise that was! For all students, we are working on specific strategies that are within their needs, and diving into some really fun on-level texts in small groups. It's going to be a very productive year!
Math
Science
Conversations about these subject areas will help your child to recall the information even though we will not be talking about it at school anymore. Next week we will shift our attention to Social Studies, where we will focus on self-identity as well as our identity within larger social groups (communities).
Announcements
So... Many... Papers!
Some of you might notice that your child's homework folder is quite full this afternoon. We were only recently trained on entering grades into RenWeb (our electronic grade books) and thus I have been hoarding all your children's work until I had a chance to enter it. This flood of graded papers will not happen in the future. As your child completes an assignment that is meant to be home, it will be in your hands. If ever there is graded work in the folders, please take a minute to go over it with your child so they know you and I are on the same page as far as their progress goes. If you have any questions about any of the assignments, please let me know.
We're going GREEN!
This will be the last week that I am going to send home paper copies of weekly targets, vocabulary words, and popcorn words. You will ONLY be able to find them attached to the Friday email in an effort to reduce paper usage. If you prefer to have a paper copy, please let me know via email or a note in the agenda. I will be happy to send a copy home with your child as per usual!
**Reminders**
Picture Day will be next week. Stay tuned for exact dates.
Have a safe and relaxing weekend!
Ms. Ward : )