January
Ms. Lucken's First Grade Friends
Thoughts, Reminders, and Oops I Forgots
Welcome Back! I hope everyone enjoyed the long holiday break!
A special thank you to the following students and their families for sending items to help make and decorate gingerbread cookies: Ben, Isabelle, Miles, & Trevor. If I missed someone, my sincerest apologies.
Please make sure to send back the bag of books, your child's winter gear, their water bottle, and the December monthly homework. Those who completed the Snowflake Reading page (in with the books), will receive their prize and/or participate in a celebration on Friday, Jan. 8th.
January's Westwood word of the month is attitude. We are talking about always trying and doing your best. This applies to reviewing things you already know, being introduced to new skills, and working hard to master a skill that challenges you. It even applies to when you work with other people. The teachers and I will work together to choose a student with a continous positive attitude at the end of January.
January will be another busy month. I'd like to see 100% participation in the monthly homework squares and PAKRAT! Family participation can be directly linked to students' success in maintaining or exceeding the pace of the reading curriculum.
We will be welcoming teacher candidate Matt Delfs from Saint John's University. Mr. Delfs and I will be teaching side by side from Jan. 8th until March 4th. We will co-plan and teach all lessons. This will have a positive impact on students as together we can provide additional intervention, differentiation, and enrichment.
As with anything, be sure to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Jen
Important Dates
- Thursday, January 7th: STAR reading test. Kids need a good nights sleep and a healthy breakfast. Scores will be shared at Feb. conferences.
- Friday, January 8th: Book Bag Celebration and/or Prizes
- Tuesday, January 12th: STAR math test. Kids need a good nights sleep and a healthy breakfast. Scores will be shared at Feb. conferences.
- Monday, January 18th & Tuesday, January 19th: No School
- Thursday, Feb. 11th: 100th Day Celebration (assuming we have no weather related school closures prior to this date). More information coming at a later date.
- Thursday, Feb. 11th OR Tuesday, Feb. 16th: Conferences. Watch for sign up information to come from the Westwood Office Staff.
- Friday, Feb. 12th: Valentine's Celebration. More information coming at a later date.
- Monday, February 15th: No School - Presidents Day
- March 4th - March 12: No School: Mid-winter break
Westwood Spirit Buttons are on sale near the cafeteria Monday mornings. Buttons cost $1.00. Buttons can be worn with or in replacement of t-shirts on Fridays. Go Westwood!
Homework
- Read a minimum of 10 minutes daily (PAKRAT, library, or personal books)
- Complete one homework square five days per week. If you need an additional copy, they can be accessed from the weebly website link below. These activities are created to help your child meet the monthly social and academic goals below.
Social and Emotional Goals
- Use a strong, clear speaking voice when speaking to the class
- Use breaks to fix minor behaviors and return to the learning area with a positive / engaged attitude
- Accept redirection and consequences when needed
- Reflect on choices and make plans to be more successful
- Set your own personal and academic goals
Language Arts Goals
- Follow words from left to right
- Read and write your name
- Name all 26 uppercase and lowercase letters, and give the correct sound
- Put words in alphabetical order
- Read new high frequency words: away, now, some, today, way, why, & will (by January 8th), grow, pretty, should, together, water, & them (by Jan. 15th), any, from, happy, once, so, upon, & these (by January 22nd), and ago, boy, girl, how, old, people, & him (by Jan. 29th).
- Read contractions, such as: that's, it's, etc. Understand that it means that is.
- Recognize s can mean plural (more than one), a contraction (that's), or possessive (Ms. Lucken's class).
- Recognize and produce rhyming words
- Count (can = 1 syllable), blend, and segment the syllables in words (/c/a/n/ = can)
- Read and write one syllable / 3 letter words
- Read one syllable words with double endings (fill, mitt, buzz, etc)
- Hear and identify words that have same beginning, middle or ending sounds
- Hear, identify and read 4 letter words with blends: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl, sn, sm, sk, sc, sp, st, sw, br, cr, fr, gr, dr, pr, tr
- Hear, identify, and sound out words using all of the following end blends: nd, nk, nt, mp, sk, st.
- Hear, identify, and read words with beginning and ending digraphs: sh, ch, th, wh, ph, and qu.
- Read words that contain the chunk ing.
- Identify vowels. Apply vowel rules to reading and writing new words. For example: super e at the end of a word changes the vowel from the short to the long sound. When two vowels are side by side, the first one often says its long name.
- Read a grade appropriate book.
- Use graphic organizers to demonstrate your understanding of the text/book you have read
- Write a sentence that has been dictated to you. Use a capital letter for the beginning, dates, and names. Use the appropriate punctuation mark. Spell high frequency words correctly.
- Write a sentences using commas to make a list.
- Use a graphic organizer to plan your writing.
- Write a personal narrative (a story about yourself). Use 3 sentences. 1 for beginning, 1 for middle, 1 for end.
- Write an opinion. Tell what you like. Tell 3 reasons you like it.
- Collect information from a text. Use the information you have gathered to write your own informational text.
Math Goals
- I can name 10 colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, black, brown)
- I can name 8 shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, circle, rhombus (diamond), trapezoid, & hexagon
- I can build and extend patterns
- I can read and write numbers to 50
- Add numbers between 0 - 20
- Write addition number sentences; 1+1 = 2
- Find multiple ways to make sums for numbers 1-10
- Draw pictures to solve addition number stories
- Use counting on as a strategy for solving addition problems (7 + 2 = .....7, 8,9....=9)
- Use a number line to complete addition problem
- Memorize doubles facts (1+1 = 2, 2+2=4, 3+3= 6, etc.)
- Use doubles facts to add a double plus 1 (since 1 +1 = 2, I know 1+2 = 3)
- Make ten to solve addition problems (8 +7 is the same as 8+2 = 10 + 5 = 15)
- Determine whether a number sentence is true or false
- Use objects to solve for the missing part / addend (7+___=10)
- Developing fact fluency; especially problems involving +0 and +1
- Addition vocabulary: part + part = whole, the answer in an addition problem is MORE, we call that answer the sum, = means one side of the number sentence is the same as the other side of the number sentence.
- Subtract numbers from 20.
- Write subtraction number sentences: 5 - 4 = 1
- Solve simple subtraction stories by drawing a picture.
- Use counting back as a strategy for solving addition problems (7 - 2 = .....7, 6, = 5)
- Use a number line to complete subtraction problems
- Use doubles facts to subtract (since 7 +7 = 14, then 14 - 7 = 7).
- Make ten to solve subtraction problems (16 - 9 .....10 - 3 = 7).
- Use related facts / fact families (6+7 = 13, 7+6=13, 13 - 6 = 7, 13 - 7 = 6).
- Use subration to solve for the missing part / addend (7+___=10, is the same as 10 - 7 = 3)
- Determine if a subtraction number sentence is true or false.
- Subtraction means if you know the whole, and one of the parts, you can figure out the other part: whole - part = part.
- The answer is a subtraction problem is called the difference.
Science Goals
We will complete plant life cycles in January. This will be an ungraded unit.
We will also complete solids, liquids, and gases. This will be a graded science unit. It covers the following standards:
• Common matter is solid, liquid, and gas.
• Solid matter has definite shape.
• Liquid matter has definite volume.
• Gas matter has neither definite shape nor volume and expands to fill containers.
• Intrinsic properties of matter can be used to organize objects (e.g., color, shape).
Social Studies Goals
- Learn about globes and maps
- Using map keys
- Learning about the compass rose (north, south, east, and west).
- Drawing sketches of landforms
- Talking about our continent, country, state, city, and address.
- Practicing spacial words: near, far, left, right
- comparing people and places in different parts of the world
Beginning in late January we will compare Then and Now. This will be a graded unit. It meets the following standards:
- Asking historical questions (such as: When was I born? What was the same as today? What was different then today?)
- Compare and contrast family life from the past with family life from today
- Compare and contrast buildings and technologies from the past and today