Classroom Newsletter: February 13, 2012

This Week

We will celebrate Valentine’s Day with the first grade Tuesday morning.  It has always been my classroom tradition to have an ice cream sundae party as it is a nice treat in the middle of winter.  Mrs. Schultze and I will provide the toppings and if you are able, we have asked for a $1 donation to help offset the cost. Your child may bring a decorated box for his or her valentines, otherwise we will provide a baggie for all of their treats.   

Reading/Creative Writing

Last week during creative writing time, we began writing persuasive essays.  Since we are using the “OREO” method (opinion, reason, explain, opinion), the topic is “which snack should Mrs. O’Brien bring to share with the class. We have talked about writing to the audience (Mrs. O’Brien) and factors that would persuade me to choose one snack over another (cost, convenience, taste).  We discussed that writing to persuade is like writing to win an argument.  Once our work is finished, we will read them to the class and vote on which one is the most persuasive (students cannot vote for their own).  I will then bring in the winning snack to share with the class.

During reading this week we will focus on identifying cause and effect in literature.  Our class story this week is usually a favorite, Missing: Stuffed Rabbit. We will continue to work on summarizing and connecting story to story and story to personal events.

Phonics/Language

I have been working hard to enhance our classroom with hands on graphic organizers, and language activities.  Last week, I added a new “conversation station” to improve oral language fluency.  This week’s new addition is a homemade Boggle board.  Ask your child how to play our newest making words game.

Our sound of the week is the “aw” and “ough” sound.  We will learn how to use adverbs.

Math

There will be a test over chapter 7 on Wednesday.  Review sheets were sent home today and our next chapter is fractions.  We are continuing to work on addition timed tests.  I have seen a great deal of improvement in most students, however, I still highly recommend regular flashcard practice.  You can find printable flashcards on the apples4theteacher website. It is important that students are able to work at a rapid pace to identify these basic facts as they are necessary to understand multiplication facts in third grade.

This Week’s Assignments

 Reading story due Friday

Keep working on those reading logs!

Math review sheet due Wed (turn in on Tue. for a bonus point)

Math homework on Thursday

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

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