December
Ms. Lucken's First Grade Friends
Thoughts, Reminders, and Oops I Forgots
I hope everyone enjoyed the long Thanksgiving break.
December will be a short, but intense month. In 17 school days, we will cover all sorts of phonics skills and an entire math unit (see standards below).
I also recognize how busy the month can be for families, mine included. Enjoy the season and the celebrations. Treat every experience as the opportunity to converse with your kiddos, observe, make connections, and develop understanding of our world. These traditions, celebrations, gatherings, and experiences are part of culture and history. They create natural times to compare wants and needs. They give us times to express opinions and let children develop opinions. Please do all of this while keeping homework and bedtime routines in place, preferably 7 days per week! I know that since we are all SUPER HERO parents, this will be no problem;) But when the shopping takes longer than expected and the cousins are all having a great time together, maybe it will help us go home by 9 instead of midnight!
Please put kids and education first. The school curriculum and the MN state standards do not recognize breaks. They assume all of the kids are reading, and doing math everyday. After long breaks, there is no time set aside for review. We immediately move on to the next skill. Those who take time off typically do not retain the information learned in the week prior to a break. They are tired, and do not learn the information learned in the week after the break. They need you to help them during the break!
The school office staff asked that teachers include a note about collecting Toys for Tots and Food Drive items. If sending items, please put them in a bag and attach a note, then we can make sure they get to the right place.
On a more joyous note, we will read a book about a celebration from each culture in our classroom. If there is a culture you do not want me to miss, please send me an email or text. Dec. 21 and 22 we will do activities related to the book The Gingerbread Boy. One of the activities is to bake and decorate a cookie. If you are willing to provide any supplies, please text me. We could use: gluten free flour, ginger, molasses, white frosting, mini chocolate chips, Mike and Ikes, other decorating ideas. All donations must be store bought, in a sealed package. Thank you for considering!
Jen
Important Dates
- Friday, Dec. 4th- Report Cards and all assessments in your child's red folder!
- Friday, Dec. 11th - Merlajean Gartland, Levi's Great Aunt, comes to perform a free puppet show for our class. LAST DAY FOR TOYS FOR TOTS AND FOOD DRIVE ITEMS!
- Wednesday, Dec. 23rd - Sunday, Jan. 3rd - No School
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: each, eat, no, of, under, who (by December 4), all, call, day, her, want, which (by December 11th), around, by, many, places, walk, and if (by December 18th)
- 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.
- 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 for 10.
- Write subtraction number sentences: 5 - 4 = 1
- Solve simple subtraction stories by drawing a picture.
- 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
No science unit in December:(