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Dear Families,

Welcome to our classroom website!   I will be putting any important information on this site as well as updates on what's going on in our classroom.  I usually update the website every other week.  My goal this year is to send out a class email each time I update it.  Here's what we have been working on for the last 12 days of school!!!!


In the past 2 weeks, the children have worked really hard at learning the routines for our literacy block.  This is the time when I will be working with groups of children in reading groups.  We have now learned 2 of our Daily 5 jobs: read to self and read to someone.  The children have built their stamina and can independently read a full 7 minutes!  They should be very proud of themselves.  We have also learned how to work with a partner reading.  They have learned how to sit EEKK (elbow, elbow, knee, knee), how to choose a partner, where to sit, and whether to help their partner when they are stuck by coaching (helping them decode the word) or giving them time.  This week we will focus on work on writing.

Here are some  photos of the children doing Read to Someone.


 

In Writer's Workshop, we have begin our narrative unit.  The children are learning how to write a true story about something they do or something that has happened to them.  They are doing a great job at this and seem to really enjoy it!  We have worked hard to put spaces between our words and use lowercase letter.

In Fundations, we have reviewed all the letters and the sounds thye make.  This week, we will begin tapping out short vowel words using our fingers. and learn a few "trick words" (high frequency words)  On Friday, ask your child to show you their tapping skills (this will give us the week to practice:)

In math, we have reviewed counting and are learning strategies that are flexible and efficient for addition and subtraction.  The children have learned some fun games and worked hard in their math journals on word problems.

Scholastic update... On Friday I sent home an order form for Scholastic books.  There are some great selections in the catalog.  The children have really enjoyed the Elephant and Piggie books in my classroom.  The Bob books are also great to practice sight words and the just right readers packs are good for your child to be reading on their level.

I hope you have a great week and I really enjoyed meeting all the families at parent night.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns at hherring@email.medfield.net

Heather

Dear Families,

I hope you are enjoying the nice weather!  We have had a great week in Room 24.  Thank you to all the families who sent in lilacs.  Our classroom looks beautiful and smells divine!!!

Here's what we have been doing in Room 24.  Ask your child...

*  what 3 attributes describes a 2D shape (sides, vertices, and is a closed shape).

*  what are the 4 American symbols we have been learning about (the bald eagle, the American Flag, the Liberty Bell, and Statue of Liberty)

*  what they are writing a review on in Writer's Workshop (a restaurant, toy, place, song, etc)

*  what book they have read in reading group this week

*  what silent e at the end of a word does to the vowel (makes the vowel say it's name) and what a syllable is (a word part-1 breath for each word part)


Here are some photos from when Curious Creatures came to visit us!

"Heads Up"

In the next week or so, I will be sending home an invitation for our Open House.  I will be looking for families to donate coffee, munchkins, fruit, muffins, etc. for our special morning...more to come on this.....

Thank you for all your support!  If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at hherring@email.medfield.net

Heather

Upcoming Events

Dear Families,

I wanted to give you a “heads up” on upcoming events that will take place from now until the end of the year.

• The last day to check out books from the library is May 31st.  The books are due back in the library by June 1st.  Please continue to check for overdue books and return them to the library as soon as possible.

• The children will participate in Field Day on June 1st.  Be sure your child wears   sneakers, hats, and sunscreen on this day.

•  The Book Envelopes will end on June 10th.  At this time, all books should be returned to the classroom, so that the book carts can be organized and restocked for next year’s class.

• The Flag Day Performance will be on June 14th at 9:30 AM.  This will take place in the gym.

• Our Open House is June 14th following the Flag Day performance.  This is a time to come and see our US Symbols slideshow, hear our opinion writing, and enjoy snack with us.  Please remember that due to the amount of people coming that day, we are not inviting siblings.

• On June 16th at 11:45, we will have our end of the year picnic with Mrs. Elrick’s class.   Each family is invited to bring a picnic lunch and eat outside behind the library with us.

* On June 16th we will have a Book Swap. Children are invited to bring in up to 5 books that are in good condition and grade 1 appropriate to swap for new books to read for the summer!

• Transition Day will be June 22nd.  This is when your child will take a bus over to Wheelock to meet next year’s teacher.

• The last day of school is a half day and is on June 23rd.

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I hope that this is helpful when planning any future plans in the upcoming weeks!

Mrs. Herring

Dear Families,

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend!  I wanted to thank all the parents who came into the classroom for our 2 science days.  The children were able to observe 4 plants from the aquarium and terrarium as well as 4 critters which is all part of our organisms and their habitats unit.  We were also lucky enough to have Marla from Stony Brook come in and talk to the children about habitats and what a habitat needs for organisms to live (food, water, shelter, air, space).  Marla also brought a friend from Stony Brook to visit:)
                                         




Here are some of the areas we are focusing on in the classroom...

In Fundations, we continue to learn about basewords and suffixes.  This past week we reviewed the suffix "s" and learned how to add "ing" and "ed".

In math, we have learned about measurement and how to use inch tiles to measure "fish" and tapes on the floor.  Here is a few photo of this activity.
                                        

We also continue to learn about place value.  We have talked about the >, <, and = signs.  We have learned how to look at the tens place to compare numbers.  If the tens are the same we then look at the ones place.  We have learned how to use mental math when adding on 10 to another 2 digit number.


In reading groups, we have read many brand new non-fiction books that Mrs. Cooney worked hard to get us.  These books support the organisms and their habitats unit as well as focusing on non-fiction.  We have worked hard at finding evidence in the text to support our thinking.

In Writer's Workshop, we have started the opinion unit.  The children are learning how to form an opinion and then support their opinion with reasons why.  All the children have done a great job picking out 1 favorite from their collection they brought from home and supporting their opinion with reasons why it's their favorite.

This past week we have also read aloud many Kevin Henkes books and learned about his style of writing.

Helping Hands
At this point in the year, we find ourselves running out of supplies.  If any family could dontae a box of tissues to our classroom we would greatly appreciate it:)

As always, if you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me!
Heather

Dear Families,

Happy Spring!  (I know the weather isn't feeling the same way this weekend)  It was really nice meeting with all the families the last 2 weeks and talking about your children!  We have been working very hard in first grade since we returned from February vacation.  We have celebrated Read Across America week (and read lots of Dr. Seuss books), Presidents Day (we learned about George Washington and Abe Lincoln), and now St. Patrick's Day.  Here are some other exciting things that are going on in Room 24!

In Fundations, we have learned about blends and digraphs.  We have learned about closed and open syllables (and how to mark them).  We are now starting a new unit where we will be working with closed syllables with 5 sounds, and suffixes s, ed, and ing will also be introduce.

Last week in reading groups, we focused on plants and seeds and solids and liquids.  Each group read a different non-fiction text which ties into our science curriculum.  Ask your child something they learned during our book talks.

In writing, we are finishing up our informational unit on "teaching books".  Our next unit will be opinion writing.  The children usually love this unit.  More info to come on this.

In math, we continue to learn about place value and have introduced money.  The children learned the names of the coins, their value, equivalent values (5 pennies = 1 nickel), and combining coins.  A fun home connection would be to give your child a handful of coins and have them name the coin and it's value.  This week, we will also start to learn about measurement.

In science, we have finished the unit on solids and liquids and have been focusing on plants and seeds.  The children have all planted seeds and are very excited every morning to see how much their plant has grown.  This week we will be building terrariums and aquariums.  We will start learning about habitats and organisms.

Homework Schedule Reminder

Below is the homework assignment for each night.  I will be increasing the math homework to 2 pages on Monday nights.  If your child has difficulty completing this feel free to take a few days to work on it.

Monday-math
Tuesday-Book envelopes
Wednesday-Raz-Kids
Thursday-Poem notebook

If your child completes their homework quickly, reading is always encouraged :)

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me!
Heather

Dear Families,

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  I would like to thank all the families for their generosity.  Thank you so much for the Target gift card.  I love that store and can't wait to buy myself something there:)

I also wanted to welcome Raphael to our class.  Raphael joined our class right after the break.  The children have been so helpful making Raphael feel right at home!

A quick reminder that once there is snow on the ground, all children need to bring snow pants, boots, hats and gloves if they would like to play on the playground.  If your child does not have all of these items, they will need to stay on the hardtop because no one wants to spend the afternoon in wet shoes and clothes.:)

We have been very busy these past 2 weeks in Room 24.  Here are some things we are working on...

In math,  we are working on Topic 5.  We are learning how to add 3 addends in equations and word problems.  We have talked about one strategy, which is to combine 2 addends that work well together.  They may make 10 or a doubles fact.  Then add the 3rd addend.

example:  6+3+6=   (add the doubles fact then add 3) or 3+5+7= (add the 3+7 to make 10 and then add 5 more.

We have also worked on equations with missing addends in all parts of an equations.

example: _+5=11 or 11=_+5 (this type of equation is tricky for the children so we have talked a lot about whatever is on one side of the equals sign should be the same or equal to the other.  I have also had the children circle the equals sign to help them visually.

In writing we have started our non-fiction unit.  We have talked about how we re switching gears from telling stories to writing "teaching books"  the children seem to love this kind of writing because it gives them the opportunity to share what they know or are an expert on.  They have learned so much this past week about the differences between a story book versus a teaching book (fiction vs. non-fiction).  One way you can help your child with this type of writing in the classroom is to brainstorm all the things they can "teach" their reader about.  This way, they have topics ready to go when we start writing!

In Fundations, we have introduced some new glued sounds.

-ang (fang)  -ong (song)  -ing (ring)  -ung (lung)

-ank (bank)  -onk (honk)  -ink (pink) -unk (junk)

These sounds are tricky because they sound so similar but the children have been doing great so far.  This is also an area where practice at home could include having your child either build or write words that are dictated to them and talking about the different glued sounds.

In reading, we continue to read leveled text at each child's reading level.  This week, we have continued to focus on retelling a story by using a fun tool called "Brady".  Brady is used to support children in retelling a story including the characters, setting, "kickoff" (beginning of the story), the events that follow, and an ending.  Ask your child to tell you about Brady and how he works:)

As always, if you ahve any questions, feel free to email me at hherring@email.medfield.net

Thank you,
Heather

Happy almost winter vacation!

I want to thank all the families for donating to the Gift for Kids program.  We got Olivia so many presents that she wanted like Lego Friends, art supplies, books and games.  The children really seemed to enjoy this project and most of all they learned that the holidays are about family, friends, and giving so thank you!!

We have been busy in Room 24!  Ask your child about...

* basewords and suffixes in Fundations
* the books we have read in reading group this week
* how to use the sequence of events words (First, Next, Then, In the end) to retell a story
* the Jan Brett books we read and how there are many characteristics that are the same in her books
* the different versions of the gingerbread man and what was the same and different in each book
* the Jazz band concert
* working in the library on the Hour of Code project

We have also been talking about different math strategies that we can use to add and subtract.

We have used a part, part whole mat

We have used a tens frame to Make 10

We have used the number line too!

Other strategies we have talked about are using doubles, doubles plus 1 and doubles plus 2

I hope all of your families have a wonderful vacation and enjoy time to relax and spend time with your family!  Thank you for all your support this year!

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me at herring@email.medfield.net

Heather Herring