Mrs. Jensen's First Grade

This weeks spelling words are: day, say, play, may, way and stay.  The challenge list words are: spray, player, today, tray, birthday, away and there.
The phonics focus this week is on long a words.  Primarily long a words with ai and ay.  Children learned that (ai) is usually found in the middle of a word and (ay) at the end of a word.

We are finishing unit 5 in math, the unit test will be on Thursday this week.

In science, we are studying animal habitats.  So far, your student should be able to share information about aquatic and desert habitats. We will soon expand to grassland, forest habitats and tundra animals/habitats.

Your student may have shared that we have two new teachers in our room.  This semester, we welcome Ms. Hannaford and Ms. Martin who are both juniors from UNL.  They will be here in the afternoons on Tuesdays and all day on Thursdays as they begin their practicum work.

Stay warm and keep reading!

Amy

This week’s spelling list: me, see, mean, feet, eat, and he.  Challenge list words: teach, three, sweet, dream, knee, clean, and house.  This week’s focus is on long e.  We’ll be learning the phrase “when two vowels go out walking, the first one does the talking”.  See if this tip helps your student with these words.

Regular spelling list: go, bone, so, nose, home, and no.   Challenge list: phone, drove, those, broke, close, choke, and went.  This week’s focus is on long o, super silent e.  Happy studying!

We are welcoming a new member to our classroom this week, bringing our class size to 21 students.

This quarter we’ll be focusing on nutrition, learning about our country, and in science, learning about animals and their habitats.  In correlation with our animal unit, we’ll be writing research papers.  This week I’ll be asking your student which animal they would like to research, preferably wild animals not pets.  At the end of the quarter, we’ll be having an Animal Fair where we’ll invite you to school to see our projects (research papers, habitat dioramas, and clay animals).  Dates will be sent home later.

Please continue to encourage your child to read at home.  Writing down titles and minutes helps your student to earn rewards, but the largest reward is time spent together and developing a love of text.

This week’s spelling words are: like, five, ride, nine, time, and kite. The challenge words are: prize, shine, smile, write, stripe, nice, and when.

I will be assessing students on several things this week, as Friday marks the end of 2nd quarter.  Reading levels, high frequency words, cause and effect, and a dictation test.  In math, we will have our first timed math test over addition and subtraction questions 1-10.  Students will have two minutes to accurately complete 18/20 problems.  We will also be taking our December problem solving test.  It will be a busy few days!  We will celebrate our hard work on Friday with a few fun activities and a class party.

Enjoy your break, hug your children a little tighter, and remember to take time to read.Wishing you the happiest of holidays.

Amy

This week’s spelling words are: make, came, take, name, gave, game.  The challenge list words are: face, brave, plane, page, stage, skate, would.  As you’ve noticed, the words are getting trickier!  We don’t have a lot of time to focus on spelling practice at school, so your efforts at home are appreciated.

We’ve been learning about clusters the past few weeks, r clusters (br, tr, cr, dr, fr, gr…), l clusters (fl, bl, cl, gl, sl…), ch and sh.  We’ve also started work with triple clusters spl, spr, str, and thr. Also in the news, contractions! Students are finding this a bit tricky, especially those that don’t fit the “rules” such as won’t.  We are also continuing to work on long vowel words, ask your student about what Super Silent E does.

Each month we have two PLC meetings, one that we get out early for and an additional meeting mid-month after school.  It is during these meetings, that we get together as a first grade team to discuss what we are doing well, what we need to improve, and what strategies we can implement to meet our goals.  As a school, we have focused on reading comprehension and math problem solving.  Here are the first grade specific goals.

READING: All students will read a level DRA or higher at the end of the year.              MATH: 1. All first grade students will demonstrate proficiency in problem solving as measured by monthly problem solving assessment.   2. All students will be proficient in math computation 1-10 addition and subtraction.

You can help your student meet goals by: encouraging your child to read at home, practicing the word flashcards that we send home each quarter, checking over the nightly math homework and by practicing math facts 0-10 addition and subtraction.

This week’s spelling list: up, us, but, fun, cut, run. The challenge words are: truck, must, drum, duck, jump, plus, was. The test will be on Friday.

We have a Junior Achievement volunteer (Mrs. Parde) with us this week.  Junior Achievement has a unit that correlates with our social studies curriculum. The focus of this unit: needs & wants, jobs, and communities.

We will be celebrating great classroom behavior on Tuesday!  We’ve filled our marble jar once again, and this time students voted to bring a stuffed animal to school.  Please make sure the animal fits in their backpack.

Last week’s stone soup activity went very well and we ended up with 4 large roasters filled with delicious vegetable soup! Proof that a little contribution by many yields great things.  Some students were braver than others when it came time to feast, but hopefully this Roper tradition leaves fond memories of first grade.

Due to the short week, there is no spelling list or test this week.

On Tuesday, we will be celebrating our first grade community as we join together to make and eat Stone Soup. We will meet in the cafeteria at 1:20 to enjoy our soup.

Also on Tuesday, students will receive a new book compliments of LEA’s Harvest of Books. We are appreciative of those in the community who donate books and funding so that all first and second grade students in our district may receive a book of their very own.

Lastly, I will be transitioning back into the classroom on Monday, Nov. 26!  Mrs. Woodward will gradually ease out of our classroom by Wed. Dec. 5. and will graduate on Dec. 8 from UNL.

Have a wonderful break.  Travel safely, remember to read and most importantly enjoy your time together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spelling words this week are: get, ten, red, pet, men, yes.  Challenge words:  when, next, then, well, step, rest, are.

First graders are listening to many versions of Stone Soup this month.  We will be making stone soup as a community building/Thanksgiving project on Tuesday, Nov. 21.  We will be asking each student to bring something to contribute to our feast… a can of vegetables, seasoning or fresh vegetables.  No meat products will be added.

We are working with comparing and contrasting this unit.  Children will be asked to tell what is the same and/or different about the stories we are reading.  We will be using Venn diagrams as a graphic organizer.

We have just completed unit 3 in math.  Please continue to practice math facts with your children.  In December, we will begin timed addition and subtraction tests that all children will are expected to pass by the end of the year.  Students will have 2 minutes to complete 20 problems.

Spelling words this week are: on got not box hot top. Challenge list words are: rock slot drop lock shop frog they.

As your children may mention, our student teacher Mrs. Woodward is teaching independently for the next 12 days. I will be supervising but will not be in the classroom during this time. Mrs. Woodward is doing an excellent job and will be graduating from UNL in December.

This week’s spelling words are:  trip, crab, drip, grin, grab, trap.  The challenge words are:  trash, crack, drank, trick, string, bring, said.

Last week, your student was asked to set an academic goal for this school year.  I’m in the process of updating the bulletin board just outside of our classroom with your child’s goal posted.  Please stop by or ask your child what they have chosen to improve this year.

We are currently working on the concept of main idea.  You can support your child’s learning by asking questions such as “What is the story about? How do you know?”