The Corbitt Connection

Reading

Reading

We will be exploring a few stories by Patricia Polacco this week that have animals as main characters. We will be looking at retelling these stories this week by focusing on the important events and making sure that we sequence those events correctly. The students will also be extending their understanding of the story events this week by responding to the story that we will be reading later on this week. We will be looking at making sure that we are supporting our opinions with evidence from the story as we respond to the story.

In phonics this week, we will introduce the students to the vowel dipthongs /au/ and /aw/ and discuss the sound that can be made from those dipthongs. We will also begin talking about using what we know about vowel patterns from this year to spell compound words with those irregular vowel patterns. Finally, we will be reviewing rhyming words and compound words.

Math

In math this week, we will finish up Unit 9 and begin Unit 10. Please remember to continue working with What’s My Rule tables. The children have taken home WMR blank copies for you to copy and practice these tables.  Remember that you can see your son/daughter’s short cycle assessment results on Progress Book.

Writing

In writing this week, we will continue working on our poetry unit of study. The students are doing an excellent job as they are publishing some of their favorite poems in Google Docs. The children will finish up typing their poems this week and begin illustrating their poems this week.

We are keeping the darkling beetles around for now, but we are basically finished observing the beetles.

Please continue to review all 100 spelling words.  Beginning next week there will be no spelling homework.   Please take this time to review both spelling and sight words.  They will be given the first 25 words on Thursday May 17th.

Also, this is the last week to check out library books at school.

Reading

We will be exploring a few stories by Patricia Polacco this week that will help us understand main idea and supporting details better. One of the stories this week will talk about a family quilt that is passed down from generation to generation in Patricia Polacco’s family. We will also be reading a story about how a meteor landed in Patricia’s town when she was growing up. The people in the town thought that the meteor gave them all magical powers. The students will be writing about what powers they would want if they were able to touch this magical meteor.

In phonics this week, we will introduce the students to the vowel dipthongs /oi/ and /oy/ and discuss the sound that can be made from those dipthongs. We will also begin talking about suffixes this week and focus on the suffixes /er/ and /or/ and what those suffixes mean at the end of words. We will also spend some time reviewing antonyms this week as well.

Math

In math this week, we will be finishing Unit 9. We will be working on the following concepts:  fractional part of the whole; comparing fractions; and many names for fractional parts. Please remember to continue working with What’s My Rule tables and counting coins.  I will be sending home WMR  tables for you to practice as well as counting coins worksheets. Remember that you can see your son/daughter’s short cycle assessment results on Progress Book.

Writing

In writing this week, we will continue working on our poetry unit of study. We will be writing our two final poems of the year this week. The students will be writing bio-poems about themselves. There is a template that they will be following to help them with this poem. We will also be writing acrostic poems as well. We will  begin typing some of our poems this week. Hopefully we will have the typing completed by the end of next week.

Other

The students have been so excited to see Room 13′s  new insects (darkling beetles). They anxiously check their individual vials when they come into the classroom each day. We all observed a darkling beetle on Friday and recorded what we observed in our journals. We talked about how the beetles have all of the body parts that make it an insect and we also talked about how darkling beetles are different from some of the common beetles that we are used to seeing like lightning bugs and ladybugs.

Reminders

Spelling Homework is due on Friday.

Please return spring pictures/money A.S.A.P.

Please remember to bring back those library books on Wednesday. If you happen to forget, please remember that each book is 5 cents for each day that it is late.

Reading  

We will continue reading stories by our new author Patricia Pollacco.  This week we will read Ritchie and the Ultimate Dare.  The children will compare and contrast this story to one we read last week, The Rotten Redheaded Older Brother.   We will also read another story this week titled The Graves Family. We will continue to discuss self to text and text to text connections.

Phonics -  This week we are reviewing antonyms, synonyms, contractions, and compound words.  The spelling pattern we will be working on is the “oo” sound.   The first phonics assessment will be this week.

Writing

In writing this week, we will continue working on our poetry unit of study. The students really did a great job this week with taking risks with two types of poems that they were writing (free verse and list poems). This week the children will be introduced to the following poems: If only or I wonder poems, in which the students pretend to talk to something in nature and ask it questions; 5W poems, in which the students have a line for the poem that follows the format who, what, when, where, and why; and then animal parts of speech poems, in which the students think of an animal and write words for the various parts of speech that pertain to that animal.

Again, with each type of poem that we write, I will start with examples from past students, then we will write a poem together. Next, the students will have the opportunity to write on their own, and finally we will share some of our poems that we wrote that day.

Math – This week in math we will begin Unit 9.  We will be working on the following skills: tens and ones patterns on the number grid; adding and subtracting tens; number grid puzzles; and adding and subtracting 2 digit numbers.     The following week we will continue working on fractions.  These can be tricky.  Please continue to work on counting coins including quarters.

Science

The children have been waiting patiently for our mealworms to change into adult beetles.   This week we finally had some  beetles!  The children did a great job being gentle with these insects and most of the children were brave enough to pick them up.   They recorded the changes they observed in their science log. They were so excited to finally see all four stages of a mealworm’s life cycle.

Reminders 

This week the children will take their first writing assessment and phonics assessment for fourth quarter.   Time is going SO fast!

Many thanks for all the families who participated in Math-a-Thon.  Wow you did a great job getting sponsors and donations.

Library on Wednesday!  The last week the children will have to take out books is the week of May 7th.  There will be more information to follow.

Reading

This week in reading we are going to begin a new author.  Her name is Patricia Polacco.  She is a great story teller and I am sure the children will enjoy reading her stories.  This week we will be reading “My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother”.   We will concentrate on making self to text connections with this story as well as discussing the story elements and plot development.  For many of the children this will be an easy book to make connections because it involves an annoying older brother who comes to the rescue at the end of the story.

Phonics

We will continue to work on the dipthongs “ow” and “ou” sounds this week.  We will also be reviewing some complex vowel sounds (ew, ui, oo).  The children will be searching for words that contain these vowel sounds.  We will continue to work on changing beginning letters of words to  make new words.

Writing

In writing this week, we are beginning our Poetry Unit of Study. Since April is National Poetry Month, the students in first grade are going to become immersed in poetry writing. We will be talking about many different types of poems and the students will be writing their own poems. We will be working towards creating a poetry anthology by the end of the month, in which the students will be publishing at least one poem in each of the different formats/types that we will be talking about.

We will be starting this week by introducing the students to poetry and talking about what they already know about poetry. Then we will expose the students to free verse poems and show examples of free verse poems that have been written by other first graders. We will be concentrating on using less words to say more, ending our poems with a bang, and thinking of engaging titles for our poems. Towards the end of the week, we will be working on Awesome Adjective/List Poems, in which the students will think of an item that they can list a lot of something with (pizza for example) and then many different adjectives that they can use to describe that item.

With each type of poem that we write, I will start with examples from my former first grade students, then we will write a poem together. Next, the students will have the opportunity to write on their own, and finally we will share some of our poems that we wrote that day.

Math

We will hopefully finish up with Unit 8 this week.  Some of the concepts we will be working on this week are: equal shares, fractions, sharing pennies, and explorations of parts and addition facts.   Please be sure to review the senteo scores from last week.   The children need to practice “What’s My Rule” – especially when they have to figure out the input number.  WMR is a secure skill this quarter.  The children also need to be practicing their addition and subtraction facts.   Facts tests are timed so speed is important as well as accuracy.   If a child gets all the problems completed in 2 minutes or less they will receive a secure.   If they get all the problems correct but it is over 2 minutes that is considered developing.

Science

The mealworms continue to be an exciting part of Room 13, for most students that is. We talked last week about molting, as some of our scientists noticed that there was skin present in their vials. Some of the students thought they added a new mealworm. Unfortunately, we have also had some scientists lose their mealworm to an early death. We have talked about how that can happen when we are investigating living things like plants and insects. We will continue observing our mealworms this week and recording our observations. Our observations are focusing on anything that has changed with our mealworms, as opposed to writing the same observations each week.

The children should be surprised by the changes they will see over the break.  We might actually have some beetles in our classroom.

Other News and Reminders:

Many thanks to all the children who are involved with Math-a-thon.  The children are excited about this service project and helping the children at St. Jude’s Hospital.

Library Books are due on Wednesday.  If your children forget their books remind them that for each day their books are late they owe a nickel per book.

Reading

We will be concluding our fairy tale unit of study this week. We will be reading Rumplestiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk and Hansel and Greta this week.  We will be  talking about the story elements and plot of the story, as well as looking at the characteristics of a fairy tale and determining which characteristics we can find in the story. Towards the end of the week, the students will be working on a star job in which they pick a fairy tale that we have read to create a brochure for. They will be including the characters in the fairy tale, as well as a retelling of the important events from the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Also, we will be completing our unit of study by creating fairy tale character riddles and trying to solve each others riddles.

In phonics this week, we will be talking with the students about the vowel dipthongs /ou/ and /ow/ and discussing the different sounds those dipthongs can make. We will also be doing quite a bit of work this week with changing the beginning or ending sounds in a given word to create a new word. This is a great activity to help them start to notice similarities in words, which is one of our fundamental reading strategies. We will also begin looking at words that end in a consonant + le and talking about what those words have in common.

Math

In math this week, we will be working on solving number stories, making change, and equal shares.  Please continue to work on the developing math skills from the third quarter math report cards.   Many of these skills will be secure 4th quarter.

Writing

This week the children will finish up writing the stories for the wordless picture book “Deep In The Forest”.   When we come back from Spring Break we will begin our Poetry Unit.  I am very excited to begin this unit and am anxious to see what awesome poems the kids come up with.

Other

The mealworms continue to be an exciting part of Room 13, for most students that is. We talked last week about molting, as some of our scientists noticed that there was skin present in their vials. Some of the students thought they added a new mealworm. Unfortunately, we have also had some scientists lose their mealworm to an early death. We have talked about how that can happen when we are investigating living things like plants and insects. We will continue observing our mealworms this week and recording our observations. Our observations are focusing on anything that has changed with our mealworms, as opposed to writing the same observations each week.

Reminders

Our field trip to Children’s Theater to see Rapunzel  was a HUGE success. The students were very well behaved and represented Dulles wonderfully. When we got back to school (a little later than expected due to our buses being one of the last ones called) the students completed comparison webs in which they looked at the similarities and differences of the play and the story. Many of the children took these webs home in their contracts last week.

Spring Break begins this Friday, April 6th. School will resume on Monday, April 16th.

Report cards are available online. Please let me know if you have any questions after reading over your son/daughter’s report card.

Please remember to bring back those library books on Wednesday. If you happen to forget, please remember that each book is 5 cents for each day that it is late.

FIELD TRIP INFORMATION

Thanks to all of you who volunteered to go on the field trip.  Although we wish all of you could go we are limited to taking only two chaperones.  I chose the volunteers by throwing their names into a box and picking two names.  Those parents (lucky winners) whose names were drawn should have received an email from me with directions and information.  If you did not receive an email from me then you know your name was not picked. Again, thanks to everyone for offering to volunteer.

Our field trip to the Children’s Theater is this Thursday, March 29th.  Please make sure your child arrives to school on time.  The bus is planning on leaving school by 9:05.  

The children need to pack their drinks and lunches on that day.

Reading

This week we will continue to read and discuss fairy tales.  We will start off the week by reading Red Riding Hood.  We will continue to discuss the characteristics of a fairy tale (good vs. evil,  things come in threes, unusual names, once upon a time, a lesson may be learned, magical parts of story).  In addition to discussing the various characteristics of a fairy tale, we will also be examining cause and effect as it occurs in the fairy tales.

In phonics, we are going to be looking at the suffixes -ly and -ful and talk about what clues those suffixes can give us when we are trying to determine what words mean as we read. We will also be working more with long /u/ vowel patterns and talking about the different ways that we can see that vowel sound.

Math

We will continue working on the following concepts in Unit 8 :   introducing the dollar and the children will be counting dollars with mixed coins; place value (100′s, 10′s, 1′s ); solving addition and subtraction number stories; and making change.

Writing

In writing this week  we will be doing an extension of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in which the children will be challenged to write the story for a wordless picture book called “Deep in the Woods“.  In this story, a baby bear breaks into a man and woman’s house (opposite of Goldilocks and the Three Bears where the little girl breaks into the bears house).   The children will work in groups to create the words to match the illustrations.

Other

In science the children will be introduced to the first insect in our Insects Investigations Unit. This will be the last science unit for the year. We will begin investigating mealworms at the end of this week. We will be talking again about what the different things are that all living things need to survive. Then we will discuss how we plan to provide those necessities for the mealworms. This week, we will create our classroom culture of mealworms, and then we will look at giving the students two mealworms of their own to observe and care for during the following week.

Reminders

Report Cards go online March 30th.   Your child will bring home their Report Card packets on Friday as well.  Please review your child’s report card online and go through the packet.  There is important information regarding your child’s progress in school.

Room 13 had a terrific turnout for Open House.  Thanks to all of you and the grandparents for taking the time to visit our classroom.  The children were excited and so proud to show off their room.

Homework Policy Change:

Beginning 4th quarter  if your child forgets their homework they will not receive a stamp that day.   By this time in the year the children should understand that it is their responsibility to complete assigned homework.  The stamp will count as both behavior and homework.

Also, a few students have been turning spelling homework in on the Monday after it is due.   If spelling homework is not in by Friday it is considered a missing assignment.

Congratulations to our Homework Heroes!  To celebrate their great job at turning every assignment in this quarter they were treated to a pizza  lunch on Friday.   SUPER JOB HOMEWORK HEROES!

Spelling homework will resume this week.   Please make sure you practice the words your child missed on their spelling test.  Children who did not miss any words should practice 4th quarter words.

Please remember to bring back those library books on Wednesday. If you happen to forget, please remember that each book is 5 cents for each day that it is late.

Reading

In preparation for our field trip at the end of the month, we will begin a Fairy Tale study that will span the next several weeks. In addition to discussing the various characteristics of a fairy tale, we will also be examining cause and effect as it occurs in the fairy tales. This week, we are going to focus our attention on the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We will be reading three different versions of the fairy tale this week and discussing the characteristics as they occur in those fairy tales. We will also be comparing and contrasting the different versions of the story. Towards the end of the week, the students will be writing their own ending of the fairy tale.

In phonics, we are going to be looking at the suffixes -ly and -ful and talk about what clues those suffixes can give us when we are trying to determine what words mean as we read. We will also be working more with long /u/ vowel patterns and talking about the different ways that we can see that vowel sound.

Math

In math this week, we will discuss the following Unit 8 concepts:  reviewing money; introducing dollars; and Place Value: Hundreds, Tens, Ones.  There will be no Senteo Assessments this week.  We will begin the next short cycle assessments next week.

Writing

In writing this week, we will work on the following concepts:  retelling stories and including only the important parts of the story, a review of capitalization and punctuation in our writing, and reading what we write to make sure that it makes sense. Please make sure that you continue to talk with your son/daughter about capitalization and punctuation in their writing. The students do well with these skills early on in their writing, but they often get a little careless with these skills as their writing progresses.

Other

At the end of this week or early next week we introduce the students to the first insect in our Insects Module that we will end the year with. We will begin investigating mealworms at the end of this week. We will be talking again about what the different things are that all living things need to survive. Then we will discuss how we plan to provide those necessities for the mealworms. We will create our classroom culture of mealworms, and then we will look at giving the students two mealworms of their own to observe and care for during the following week.

Reminders

Open House for Grandparents, parents and students will be help on Tuesday, March 20th at 7:00.  We hope to see you all there, as the children are very excited to show off their rooms to their special guests.

Remember to turn in field trip permission slips and money by A.S.A.P. I will be randomly draw t two chaperones on Tuesday or Wednesday as well and will let the two lucky winners know as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone who was able to volunteer their services.

Spring Pictures are Thursday (3/22).

There is no school on Friday (3/23) as it is a Teacher In-service day. Take advantage of the spring weather!

There is no spelling homework due this week, as it is the end of the quarter Thursday.

Please remember to bring back those library books on Wednesday. If you happen to forget, please remember that each book is 5 cents for each day that it is late.

Reading

In reading this week, we will continue studying books by Ezra Jack Keats. We will be talking some about making and confirming predictions, as well as answering higher level questions with the two stories that we are reading this week. We will continue to review story elements this week, paying close attention to the details in the story that take the reader from the problem to the solution. We talked last week about how using the story elements can help us a lot when we are retelling the story to someone. We will also begin talking with the student about the theme of a story and how authors are sometimes trying to teach us a lesson when we read their stories. The students will also be completing a few writing extensions this week to help them strengthen their understanding of what they are reading.

In phonics, we are going to be talking more about compound words. In addition to this, the long /u/ pattern is on the agenda for this week, looking at some of the different vowel patterns that result in the long /u/ sound. Finally, we will be reviewing the long /a/ vowel patterns /ai/ and /ay/ this week.

Math

In math this week, we will be finishing up Unit 7.  We will be working on the following concepts: identifying spheres, cylinders, and rectangular prisms; identifying pyramids, cones, and cubes; and exploring symmetrical shapes.  Also the children will be taking the last 3rd quarter short cycle math assessments and the district math assessment.  Next week we will begin Unit 8 and start off this unit by reviewing money.

Writing

In writing this week, we will work on the following concepts:  making sure that we are using adjectives to improve our writing, writing thank you notes and talking about how they are similar/different to friendly letters, and planning details for our stories before we begin writing. Please make sure that you continue to talk with your son/daughter about capitalization and punctuation in their writing. The students do well with these skills early on in their writing, but they often get a little careless with these skills as their writing progresses.

Other

We have finished our Solids and Liquids Investigation last week. We will take a brief hiatus from Science, as we prepare for our final Investigations  of the year, Insects.  More information will be sent on the arrival of our insect friends in the upcoming weeks!

Reminders

This week marks the beginning of the final third quarter assessements.  Over the next two weeks, the students will be taking benchmark assessments in reading, writing, and math. We will also be assessing the students on the spelling words 1-75. This Thursday, I will be completing individual assessments with the students in reading fluency, running records, sight words, and isolated math skills. There will be a sub working with the students on Thursday.

I also have another professional day Tuesday afternoon working with the Common Core Standards in Reading. The students will have a sub that afternoon as well. Please notify the office if you need to get a message to the sub or your son/daughter.

Thanks again for all your hard work in the Animal Research homework. As I mentioned before, the students did a great job bringing in their research and sharing it with their groups. I do hope you take some time to check out their google docs presentations.  Remember once you get into google docs you need to use your child’s google username.  If you have lost this password please contact me and I will sent another copy. The 4th and 5th grade eKids were terrific and taught our first graders how to insert pictures, edit their writing, and other basic conventions of using the computer.  This was a very positive experience for our first graders and I have really seen an increase in Room 13′s confidence in using the computers.

The spelling homework page has been updated for the third quarter. Please remember that you have the freedom to choose any of the spelling or high frequency words to practice for spelling homework. Spelling homework (10 words) is due each Friday.

Important Dates:

• This Wednesday is  Delayed Start. Students are welcome at 9:30.
• Library books are due on Wednesday.
• Open House will be held on March 20th.  Grandparents and students’ families are all welcome.  This is a wonderful evening and the children love showing off their rooms, work, and being with their friends.
• Fieldtrip on March 29th – The first grade will be going to the Children’s Theater to see the fairy tale “Rapunzel”.   More information will be sent home this week.

Reading

In reading this week, we will be wrapping up our non-fiction author’s study. The students will be working in small groups on an animal research project. The groups have been assigned an animal and a particular area to become an expert on. They are going to get together with their groups this week and talk about the information that they found. Then they will be creating a PowerPoint Presentation in Google Docs. After typing in their information in the slides, they will be working with their group to find appropriate images for their presentation as well using the internet. We will also have the luxury of having some our eKids helping us embark on this journey. My hope is to have these presentations finished by the end of the week so that we can share them with the class next week. One of the benefits of Google Docs is that you can see your son/daughter’s group work when you are at home by logging into their Google Docs account from home.

Each of the first grade classrooms are researching a particular type of animal in each of the groups, and then our goal is to bring together all of the students who were working with each group of animal and have them work together to compare and contrast the animals (so all of the students who researched a type of bear would get together with one first grade teacher, for example). We are very excited about taking our animal non-fiction research project to the next level in this digital age. This will your child’s first experience using Google Docs and needless to say they are very excited to get started.

In phonics, we are going to be working with the different long /o/ patterns this week. We will be looking at the different vowel patterns for the long /o/ sound and completing an assortment of activities to help strengthen this understanding. We will also spend some time reviewing synonyms this week as well.

Math

In math this week, we will be assessing the skills in Unit 6.  Later this week we will be  working with the following Unit 7 geometry concepts: sorting attribute blocks by attributes and maybe doing explorations involving strengthening our understanding of attributes, as well as fact platters.   Please remember to continue working on counting coins (P,N,D), counting quarters to $3.00, even and odd, and digital time.  Remember that you can see your son/daughter’s short cycle assessment results on Progress Book.  With it being the beginning of the third quarter, please take a moment to check out the third quarter secure and developing skills for math.

Writing

In writing this week the children will be working on their animal research projects.

Other

This week in science the focus will be:

•  Investigating that solid materials come in all sizes and shapes.
• Particles of solid materials can pour like liquids, but each particle maintains its shape.
• Solid materials can support denser materials on their surface.

Spelling Homework:

For the remainder of third quarter your child will get to choose a spelling activity to practice 10 of their spelling words.  Please look for spelling activity packet that will be sent home on March 5th.

Reminders:

Third Quarter ends on March 22nd.

Fieldtrip on March 29th.

Open House for Grandparents and families will be on March 20th.

Library Books are due on Wednesday.