Hi everyone! I'd love to tell you we had a great week but it just hasn't been. Thank-you for all of your understanding and caring thoughts for the Weinman family. I look forward to seeing all of them on Monday. I sent the new words and Homework Calendar home today to try maintain consistency for next week's work.

In Writing Workshop, we continued our work with writing poetry. Some of the areas we focused on were adjectives, powerful thoughts in small poems, shape poems, and reciting poems with a sing-songy voice. We read all sorts of poems. Our favorite writing was definitely the ghost and pumpkin shape poems.
In Reading Workshop, our focus was fluency. We practiced all of our reading by slowing down and thinking about what we are reading, before we read it aloud. Please return your reading bags to school on Tuesday. They will not go home on Wednesday this week but on Thursday Nov. 1st instead. Please check your new November letter for focus skills in reading. Don't forget to log your minutes with Scholastic whether you are on Team Dog or Team Cat.
In Math we introduced the dime. It is getting tricky counting by 1's, 5's, and 10's. Always start with the 10's, then go to 5's and finish with the 1's. Please practice coin combos with the three coins.
In science we discussed muscles, digestion and blood circulation. We learned why each type of cell is important, and what it provides to the body. Red blood cells carry oxygen, white blood cells fight germs, plasma carries food, and platelets help stop bleeding.
I will see everyone on Wednesday for our Fall Festival. Have a happy weekend!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Wow, was our Friday fun, going to the Homecoming Pep Rally in the High School. We screamed and had a blast!
 We are reading Pattern Books and echoing the patterns. We are trying to be as fluent as we can when reading aloud. Keep adding minutes to your team dog/cat in Scholastic. We are beginning our Poetry Unit as well. We will be reading and writing poetry. Thank-you for sending in a descriptive object for us to use. Describing words and our five senses gives us a starting point for poetry writing. I will be sending home another copy of our Dr. Seuss poem, that the students can read themselves. Please help them practice reading it with expression.
 In math, we began the Frames and Arrows strategy to help us solve number sentences. Counting and reviewing patterns on the number grid, will help us solve what number goes into the frames.

In science, Mrs. Peck dissected a cows eye. We learned all about the lens, pupil, optic nerve, eye lids, and eyelashes. Dr. Aboud and Dr. Nguyen came in with fabulous heart tools and even let us do an ekg for us to see our hearts on the screen. have a wonderful week. We will!

We love Rusty from SPCA. What a wonderful start to our first grade service project. Please send in any of the items needed for the SPCA. There are boxes in our hallway and the other grade levels as well.
  Donate a Dog or Cat Bed

For Our Tummies:	Hill's / Science Diet dry or canned cat & dog food Dog biscuits Cat treats
To keep us clean:	Brooms Dusters & dust pans Large garbage bags Mops Laundry detergent Hand soap & sanitizer Paper towels Cat litter (plain gravel/non-scoop) Commercial washer
To Make Us Feel Safe:	Small animal bedding Blankets Towels Sheets Pillow Cases Crates Feliway refills & plugs
For Play:	For Dogs: Kongs and tennis balls For Cats: Ping Pong Balls, empty paper towel rolls, catnip mice, and tennis balls
To Heal us:	A gently used van for 24/7 emergency care transportation Latex gloves Medical drapes Syringes Wound material

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. We had a very busy week even though it was only four days for the students.
Well first and most wonderful was that our compliment chain hit the ground, and we had our first party. The students voted on cupcakes and they were yummy!
In addition to that celebration, we also celebrated the conclusion of our Writing Workshop unit on Small Moments. Please come and read our pieces that we published. We are learning how to really appreciate our classmates work. We fancied up our stories and highlighted the parts we liked with post it notes.
We also began a service project with reading. Scholastic invited us to take part in a Paws for reading program in which Scholastic will donate books. I sent home the user names and password for each child today. The students seem really excited about this opportunity and Sharon Hauser from SPCA brought Rusty to kick off our first grade service project this year for their organization.
In math, we have learned about odd and even numbers. Every number we read about or things we counted, we connected it to either an odd or even number. Please help your child with this at home. It is especially challenging with two and three digit numbers. I would like to thank Mrs. Levitz for being our first game parent. What a delight it was for Johnathon to have mom help us with counting coins.
The picture Lady program began this week. A big thank-you to Patty Ann Hamblen for teaching us about Raoul Dufy. Blue was his favorite color and he loved painting the water. Like us, he learned alot about painting from his friends.

Once again Mrs. Peck came with another organ. This time a heart! It was big and it was a cow's. Ask your child about it. Now it is in our class, to take a closer look. Well this week is just as busy! Have a good one. We will!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a wonderful time talking with everyone yesterday. I want to thank all of you, for the wonderful support and encouragement you give to your children. They are such a delight to teach and I thank all of you for that.
Reading Zip-loc bags are coming home beginning Wednesday. Please refer to the letter inside the bag. Please leave the letter in the bag so you will have it each week to refer to. Each child will use the same bag for a number of weeks. When they need a new bag I will replace it, for them.
In Writing Workshop we are working on stretching out unfamiliar words and small moments. I am working with the students on strategies they can use to help themselves.

Checking Progress for Unit 2 in Math went home. Please review any uncertain answers. The Unit 3 Family Letter came home today. Please work on the Do Anytime Activities. The pictures show us working in Park Math app on the Ipads. We are working on number stories for adding and subtracting.

In Science Mrs. Peck once again came to teach us all about our brain. Yes, we dissected a sheep's brain. please ask your child about it. It began with some a little tentative, but by the end they were thrilled to touch it and learn about it.
There is no school for the students on Friday. It is a Professional Development Day.

My blog is brief, because I told you all so much information on Thursday. Keep reading my blog!