This week

Lots of reminders for the week!

- It's conference week! Thank you for arriving on time for your appointment. This keeps us on track as many conferences are back to back.
- Wednesday is a late start : School begins at 11:05
- Screen Awareness Week: Send in screen-free slips as your child completes them
- Book Fair is going on this week in the library

Reading - Character Study

Last week we begin our next reading unit. We are transitioning from non-fiction back to fiction for a bit. During this unit we will learn how we can get to know the characters we read about. Comprehension and deeper thinking are key goals in our reading instruction now that students are efficient decoders.

Last week we talked about identifying physical and external character traits. This week we will discuss internal qualities and traits. Students will think about how a character acts, what they say, and what they do and then describe them using character traits such as: silly, serious, happy, curious, etc., etc.

EQ Update

Here are the essential questions we are currently work on in class!

Writing:
- Why do people compose expert books?
- How do people organize books so others can learn about topics?

Math:
- How does creating models help us make sense of problems?
- How can understanding place value help me solve problems?
- How can I communicate my math thinking?

Reading:

- How do readers get to know their characters well?

- What can readers learn from characters and their experiences?

Social Studies:

- What makes a good leader?

- What do symbols tell us about our country?

Writing - Expert Books

We are beginning our new unit - a non-fiction writing unit. During this unit students will ponder what they are an expert on and write a book about that topic. The second half of this unit students will write a "how to" book.


In Kindergarten, students used a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. In first grade, students will become more independent with writing about a topic of interest, while adding supporting details and adding a sense of closure.

 Students are selecting topics in which they already feel they are experts and therefore will not need to conduct research within this unit.  Later in the school year when students write Nonfiction Expert Books Based on a Mentor Text, students will conduct research to add to what they already know on a topic.

This week we are using graphic organizers to find areas the students feel they are experts in. We will plan for an expert book using a graphic organizer web and then a table of contents to organize our thoughts.

Week of 2/27

There is a lot going on next week! It is conference week - sign up for a time if you have not already, please. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4fa5ae22a4fa7-spring

It is also Read Across week - we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss' literature!

And... screen awareness week! Slips will go home Friday. :0)

Also... THE BOOK FAIR!

We will be very busy!

Read to Succeed

The six flags read to succeed forms need to be turned in no later than this Thursday the 16th! Students with 6 hours or more of reading get a free six flags ticket. Let me know if you need another form. Thanks!

Conference sign up

Here is the link to sign up for conferences. When you have a moment, book a time!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4fa5ae22a4fa7-spring