Mrs. Garthe's Fantastic First Grade
January 31, 2016
This Week's Lessons
*On Friday we finished up our unit on Healthy Habits. I hope that your child learned a lot about how to be the healthiest child he or she can be. We did briefly discuss "stranger danger" on Friday. We used a book called Once Upon a Dragon: Stranger Safety for Kids and Dragons as our basis for discussion. We also watched a Brainpop Jr. video about Internet Safety and then each child wrote about what they would do in different potentially dangerous situations. I will be returning these papers this week. Please take time to personally discuss safety with your child.
*Monday is the 100th Day of School! We will be celebrating by rotating 1st grade classrooms and doing special "100"themed activities. This fits in nicely with our current math topic and gives students a chance to practice the concept of 100.
Tuesday, we will begin a new unit of study: American Contributions. Just a heads-up that we will be discussing some sensitive and confusing topics such as slavery and civil rights. Please take this opportunity to talk about these things with your child. I will do my best to present these tough topics in simplistic, kid-friendly ways. I will also defer any topics that I feel are controversial to you, the parents, for discussion at home.
Writing-Students will work on opinion writing and practice peer revising.Reading-Students will read books about African Americans who made important contributions to our country and will identify the central message of the text.
Spelling/Phonics- beginning blends qu/squ (quail, squeak, quake, squash, squid, quiz)
Sight Words- catch, end, animal, behind
Math-Topic 9-Students will compare numbers to 100. Continue practicing addition and subtraction math facts at home. Students recorded their second subtraction fact score on the graph in their Daily Folder. Please check your child's progress and practice as needed.
Specials
Tues-Music, (Please return library books)
Wed-Art, Library
Thurs-PE
Fri-Music
Reminders
Important Dates
February 11-Valentine Exchange-We do not do Valentine's Day parties, but your child is encouraged to send in 18 Valentines for his or her classmates. I will send home a class list with your child this week, or he or she can just sign the valentine and write TO:My Friend
February 12-No School-Teacher Professional Development DayFebruary 15-No School-President's Day