News: Week of Sept. 6, 2010

Hello Families,

Thanks for sending in all of the paperwork, and for providing support on the first week with homework.  It will take some time to set routines for everyone, so I appreciate your efforts in assuring that your child completes and turns in his/her homework by every Friday.

In our literacy lessons, we have started our first unit in the new reading program.  Our main theme is exploration for the next five weeks.  Each week we focus on a related question.  This week our question was:  What can we learn by exploring different communities?  We read stories, and sang songs to compare urban and rural communities.  In writing, we are beginning to write about a special place, real or imagined.  The children are also writing letters to me each week about the book they are reading for free choice.  During reading group time, the children have begun learning the routine of independent and group work at centers.  They seemed to enjoy the listening center with a CD player and four headsets.  The other center focused on spelling practice using magnetic letters, dry erase slates, and word sorts.

In math, we began a unit on addition and subtraction, and completed a cumulative first grade math test  to determine which areas need reinforcement and reteaching.  We also are working on increasing instant recall of basic facts with a program called Rocket Math.

Enjoy your weekend.  If you have time to visit this blogsite, please leave a comment.  Thanks so much.