Ms. Ward's First Grade
Newsletter Lucky Week 13
Short and Sweet
Spelling Update
We have found that while most students are able to spell correctly the ten words we were sending home, it wasn’t always being utilized in further writing. The focus will therefore shift from word memorization to identification and application of rules. We feel this will provide a more solid and balanced skill set that addresses reading, writing, and spelling. We will dedicate the upcoming several weeks on long vowel sounds as it is a particular challenge for native Spanish speakers.
Students will write the spelling rule in their agenda whereas before they were writing ten specific words. Their homework will ask them to find more words that follow the rule. The spelling test will continue to take place on Fridays and most words will follow the pattern with a couple exceptions of patterns already introduced and related to the current pattern.
A great way to practice the spelling pattern is to look for words in books. Thank you in advance for your patience and support during this time of evaluation and transition.
This Week
Math groups are going great!! I am so happy with how the students are handling the responsibility of working independently. I am so lucky to have a class that works hard and works together so well. This week we explored bar graphs and dove deeper into addition. The routines and repetitive nature of math has helped many students grasp the more difficult concepts.
This week in writing, we continued working on our personal narratives. By this time next week, everyone will have taken a piece of writing through the writing process from beginning to end. We started with prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and finally, after conferring with a teacher, publishing the finished piece. I can't wait to share these fantastic stories with parents!
Next Week
Look for more information regarding the projects' home-component.
*REMINDERS*
On Tuesday, November 12 we will have a special assembly put on by the Spanish department. The First Graders are going to sing the song “Iba Nuedi “(Buenos Días) in the Guna Yala language. On that day the students should wear blue jeans and white T- shirt. Parents are more than welcome to come and enjoy the show.
RAZ Kids has been updated for most students to better reflect reading levels. This is a great resource for reading comprehension and skill building. If you need me to resend log-in information, please let me know!
Have a stupendous long weekend!
Ms. Ward : )