Thank you very much for all the wonderful donations that made our class Halloween party such a big success.  The kids had a great time playing the games and enjoying all the treats.  I hope everyone had a safe and fun evening trick or treating.  

This Tuesday will be our last Fall conference day.  This Tuesday, November 4th is a full day of conferences so students do not have school.  I will be meeting with the Conboy, Boguslavskiy, Hayes, Provost, Yafayeva, and Stryker families. I look forward to our time together.  

This Friday, November 7th is the PTA Family Fun Night from 6-8.  It's a great night filled with fun activities for the kids! 

There will be no school on Tuesday, November 11th due to Veterans Day.  All district and school offices will be closed.   

Our next big celebration in first grade will be the Thanksgiving Feast.  This is a time when all first grade gathers in the small gymnasium to feast with one another as our Native American and Pilgrims did with one another.  We will be wearing costumes, singing a few songs, and enjoying lunch.  More details will follow about the date and time.  

Thanksgiving recess is Wednesday, 11/26-Friday, 11/28.  Classes resume on Monday, 12/1.  

We are moving right along academically...

During Writing Workshop, we are in the midst of a narrative unit.  We are connecting personal experiences with books (mentor texts).  These books contain themes such as "a time when the relatives visited", "a time when you learned something new", a "time that you were worried about something",  and a "time that you were in danger".  The goal is for the students to explore with writing in a more in depth way zooming in on a small moment in their lives.  This has been a fun writing unit and the students are definitely writing some wonderful pieces.  

During Math, we are in Chapter 3 of the Go Math program.  We are learning about both addition and subtraction.  The students are progressing quite nicely in math.  They have learned the importance of reading the language rich directions with purpose and intent in order to proper answer the problems/questions they are faced with in their math journals. New vocabulary words such as adding to, addition and subtraction sentence, fewer than are all words that your child is becoming very familiar with each day.

During Reading Workshop, we are working in small guided groups learning about strategies to solve unknown words and patterns within words.  This past week we learned about the -ot and -ig word families.  Using strategies such as "lips the fish", "stretchy snake", or "chunky monkey" will be helpful to you child while trying to decode (figure out) unknown words.  Encourage your child to looks for patterns within a word.  Look for one of the "H brothers" ie. TH, SH, WH, or CH rather than trying to sound out each letter individually.  Each night your child should be bringing home a book in a bag to practice reading with you. 

During Word Work, we continue to work on five new sight words a week.  I didn't get a chance to correct the Friday Try-It on Friday with all the afternoon Halloween activities, but I do have them done now to give to the students tomorrow at school.The students are doing a great job on this weekly task.  Developing sight word vocabulary is an essential way to help build your child's reading skills.

During Social Studies, we are working on the Block Buddy Atlas program as well as reading our weekly subscription to Scholastic News learning about current events.  Once the Block Buddy Atlas program is complete our science kits will in all likelihood arrive for us to begin Science each day.  The students will love the hands on experiences in Science.  We will form partnerships and conduct experiments and journal our observations.  

As the air becomes much more cooler, please pack hats and mitten/gloves, and a warm coat.  We will go outside for recess each day to get fresh air and exercise as long as the temperature stays agreeable.   Since Winter is such a long time here in the Northeast, I like to take the students outside for recess for as long as I can.  Otherwise, we will have indoor recess.  During the winter months we will plan several outside recess times so that we can enjoy the snow! 

As always, please don't hesitate to reach out to me should you have any comments, questions, or concerns.  

Have a great week!

Take care-

Stephanie Brennan