Christmas in Samoa - First Grade Social Studies

  A Big  to 

Zion Gali's 

Mother, Father and Grandfather

who presented, 

"Christmas in Samoa"

We watched a beautiful Samoan Dance,

listened to Christmas Carols sung in the Samoan language accompanied by Guitar, learned "We wish you a Merry Christmas" in Samoan, and

ate delicious chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

It was the highlight of our

Celebrations Around the World Unit

in

Social Studies!

Science First Grade Reminder - Project Due Monday

Reminder:

Science Water Cycle Projects

Due Tomorrow

Monday, December 16th

Thank you to the students who have already handed in their projects.

For details on the Project please visit the

SCIENCE TAB

of this website.

All Water Cycle Posters will be displayed at the bottom of the stairs after they are

presented in class.

I look forward to hearing the students present their Water Cycle Posters tomorrow!

Language Arts Homework

Starting January 6, 2014 

a parent signature will be required

to verify the completion

of nightly homework: 

SPELLING

and 

NIGHTLY READING

Please sign their PLANNER nightly so I know homework was completed.

I will be checking their planners daily for a parent signature.

Students who complete their homework will be rewarded daily with money in their banks.

Students who do not have a parent signature will have to complete their homework during recess.

"Spell and Roll" Homework has been in 

affect for 2 months and should be

apart of your child's nightly routine.

Monday Night:  Pretest your child on their spelling list in their planner.

Tuesday through Thursday: Please use the below Roll and Spell Homework sheet for the INCORRECT words only from the Pretest.

All students should have a copy of this Roll and Spell Homework sheet in their Take Home Folders.  I also provided a mini dice in October.  If a dice is not available please make an appropriate choice and ask them to complete the task.

Books are sent home nightly.

Please read the book with your child.

Please invest time in making sure your student reads and practices their spelling words

nightly.

Thank you!

Donations needed for our Classroom Store

Our Classroom Store needs replenishing for the New Year.

If you would like to donate to the 

Classroom Store 

we could use the following:

(All items can be purchased at the Dollar Store)

Pencils (fun looking)

 Plastic Jewelry

Hair Accessories

Tops 

 Small Toys (like slinkys, imaginary toys like mustaches, bugs)

Highlighters

Stickers

Small containers of Play doh or Silly puddy

Trinkets - (like whistles, small musical instruments - most often found in the birthday gift favor aisle)

Candy

Fruit Snacks

Mini bags of pretzels or nuts

or anything you would like to donate.....we will put it to good use in our classroom store.

Thank you for all of your support!

Language Arts Holiday Party - Bring a Treat to Share

Wednesday, December 18th

Please bring a treat to share.  

We have 12 children in our Language Arts Class.

We have fun writing and grammar activities planned like:

Christmas Mad libs

http://www.classroomjr.com/christmas-mad-libs/

We have a fun Guided Reading (Read to Self and Read to Someone) .....instead of speaking our Guided Reading we will be SINGING.......Christmas Carols

http://supersimplelearning.com/christmas/songs/

* We will be singing together - "Choral Reading (singing)"

*We will be singing in groups - "Small Group Reading (singing)"

*We will be singing individually - I will be encouraging those who would like to perform for the group to do so.

The children will be coming home with a packet of Christmas Carols to read...."SING" over the Holiday Break.  This is a great way to get your readers to keep reading and not even know they are practicing important skills they have learned in the classroom.

Listen to Reading

Holiday Stories will be read aloud.

Emergent Reader Class - Language Arts

Reading Assessments are done and 

EVERYONE is progressing!

Starting the week of December 9th

the students will be provided with

10 Spelling Words Weekly

5 Sight Words Weekly

5 Bonus Words Weekly

AND

10 Word Family Words Weekly

What are WORD FAMILY WORDS?  Word Family Words are groups of words that have a common feature or pattern - they have some of the same combinations of letters in them and a similar sound. For example, at, cat, hat, and fat are a family of words with the "at" sound and letter combination in common.  The students are very familiar with Word Family Words because they work with them in our "Word Work" Center several times a week.  On a weekly basis the students should be bringing home "Word Work" books with highlighted words in them that they have completed in class.  These books and flashcards that are provided in the "Word Work" Center are completed weekly by all of the students.  You can find examples of Word Family Words at this website:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/wordfamilies/

I am confident they are ready and able to learn 30 words per week.

You can find these words on our classroom website and in child's agenda weekly.

They will be tested on all words every Friday.

***The week of December 16th Spelling Words, Sight Words, Bonus Words, and Word Family Words will be provided but the test will not be until Friday, January 10th.