Ninety-Seventh Day of School

This week we have been comparing and contrasting cultures and customs from all over the world. We examined the reason for several U.S. holidays and began exploring in depth the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We will soon be bringing home our world map to study for our next Social Science test.

Also this week we have been learning to revise and add hints and tips to our procedural writing pieces.

For discussion:

• What is segregation?
• What is integration?
• How are schools around the world similar? How are they different?

You should find a Parent Conference Notification in your child's backpack along with a schedule for next week's dismissal times.

Reminder: Shoes worn to school should be of a type which allows for securing with a lace or strap. Boots or other foot wear without a securing feature are insufficient for 1st grade daily physical activities (P.E.) and safety. Thank you for your cooperation.

Unsatisfactory Notices

You may find a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance with your child today. Please sign and remove bottom portion of the notice and return with your child to verify receipt. It is not necessary to discuss the contents of the notice with your child. I am available for after school conferences any day except Tuesdays after school.

Official parent conferences will be scheduled very soon.

Thirty-Third Day of School

Homework due today turned out to be bonus homework. Only half the class turned it in completed correctly so a new assignment on the same concept was assigned today for reinforcement for the test. We will review for the test tomorrow and take Topic 3 test on Thursday.

Today we learned about American Hero Roberto Clemente as our second notable American from the past. Tomorrow we will generate and post questions for oral language practice.

Please continue to retell "small moment" memorable stories (from their list) with your child to facilitate writing during workshop at school. Some students are having some difficulty articulating a memorable story fluently.

Please remember that school shoes should have some type of fastener for safety. Slip on style shoes are really not adequate for our purposes. 

Thank you to those parents that signed and returned their Unsatisfactory Notices. Some parents have come in for a conference already. Please remember that any day but Tuesdays are available for meeting. If you have any concerns about your child's progress, it may be a better time to come in for a conference now rather than at the October conference time.

At home practice activity: practice spelling words which have final consonant blend spelling patterns like, -nk, -nd, -nt, -st, -ft, etc. 

Thirty-First Day of School

In Science today, we investigated different liquids to generate a list of some of their properties (tested). We discussed how our descriptions and words related to the language of the discipline through words like translucent, transparent, opaque, and viscous.

Yesterday we worked in pairs to complete our second math report of the year. We counted and recorded our counting methods of various collections of small items in order to build number sense (1.NB.1; 1.NB.2). Our focus for the activity was working cooperatively, planning, and choosing appropriate counting tools. The focus of subsequent counting reports will be accuracy and replicability of recorded data.

We will take Math Topic 3 test on Wednesday.

At home activity: practice spelling words with initial consonant blends like, sl-, cl-, bl-, fl-, st-.

You may find a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance with your child today. Please sign and remove bottom portion of the notice and return with your child to verify receipt. It is not necessary to discuss the contents of the notice with your child. I am available for after school conferences any day except Tuesdays after school. The dates for official parent conferences will be the week of the 13th of October.