Welcome Back! A day late :)

Happy 2016!  I hope you all had a wonderful break with friends and family and were able to get your batteries recharged.  :)

We had a wonderful day yesterday!  I could tell the students were a bit on the tired side, but they came back and got right back into the routine of school.

Here is our plan for the next week or so.  :)

Reading

• In reading this week, we will be discussing connections.  We will look at text-to-self connections, text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections.  These will allow the students to look at things they notice in books that remind them of things in their life, other books or things going on in the world.  It is important for students to focus on "deeper" connections in the books.  Many times they will have a connection that the main character is a boy and so are they, but we want to look deeper into the book and make connections based on how the characters are feeling or situations the characters are in.  We will be using The Berenstain Bears books to look at connections because the main characters are kids (even if they are bears) and many of the situations they experience are ones that the students have experienced also.  

Writing

• We have looked at New Year's Resolutions and discussed setting goals.  We talked about how it is important when setting goals for it to be something that you can achieve, but they you will need to work towards as well.
• We also will be starting our next writing unit which is our informational writing.  The students will learn to research and take notes (using graphic organizers) about a topic and then using that information to write a book about their topic.  We will start with short informational pieces all about the same topic to learn the process and then we will move on to each student researching a topic of their choice and creating a presentation.

Math

• We are starting our next unit of math this week.  This is a topic that students haven't been taught at school yet.  We will be learning 2-digit addition.  We will start with simply setting up the problems without regrouping, but then we will move to regrouping and carrying numbers.  Students aren't taught regrouping in first grade, so this will be a new topic.  
• Please continue to practice the basic facts at home.  It will make the 2-digit addition much easier if they know their basic facts "in a snap." :)

Health

• We have started our health unit over the body systems.  The students will learn about the circulatory, respiratory, digestive, muscular, skeletal and nervous systems.  We will spend one week on each system.  We have books to read, experiments and activities for the students to do as they learn about each system.  
• They will be learning a lot of fun and interesting facts about their body.  Be sure to ask them what they have learned.  

Homework

• Just a reminder about homework, your student is to read for at least 10 minutes each night and have a parent write down the time and initial the reading.  They have a reading response that is due on Friday each week, they may complete it early if they would like.  They will need to do only 1 night of math each night.  Please have them only complete one of the squares on the sheet, this helps them in the routine of having nightly homework which will help as they go further in school.  

Winter Weather

• Please check the weather and make sure your student is dressed appropriately each day.  We will go outside if at all possible and it is important that your student has a winter coat, hat and gloves.  Our playground can get windy which can cause it it feel much colder than the actual air temperature.  
• If you need assistance getting your student a coat, hat or gloves, please let me know.

Have a wonderful day (and stay warm)!