February News from First Grade

                                                           IMPORTANT DATES
February 9th   is the 100th day......if we have no snow days :)
February 6th  deadline to have writing collection to school....note regarding this went home this week
February 10th is the Valentine Dance
February 14th is Valentine's Day....a class list is being sent home with this letter
February 16th is First Grade Field Trip to Planetarium....**very important info
                is going home on Friday about this trip, so please check folders.
February 19th - 23rd is February Vacation


We will have a little class Valentine's party at the end of the day on the 14th.  If you wish to send in cards or a little treat we have 16 friends.

We will be celebrating the 100th day of school.  Please have your child bring in a collection of 100 items.  We will do some sorting, counting, describing, writing, and sharing with this collection.  Some ideas could be stickers, pennies, buttons....or any other idea you and your child come up with. 

**Be on the lookout for the Field trip form on Friday it has lots of information about our trip, and it also has a portion that needs to be filled out and returned.

Our animal book is proceeding very well, and the students are doing an awesome job with the writing and researching process.  I am very impressed and so proud!  You will also be when you see the completed project.  Please be sure to return all slips regarding the book.  Thanks in advance.

In our 6th math unit the focus will be on fluency with 2-addend combinations of 10.  The students will find relationships among the different combinations of numbers up to 20.  They will need to find as many 2-addend combinations of a number, and they will need to prove that all the possible combinations have been found.   Solving word problems with both addition and subtraction will also be practiced.  Subtracting one number from another, with initial totals of 12 will be practiced.  We have been working with telling time to the hour and half hour.  The children are doing well with this skill. 

Read, Read, Read....we have been doing lots of that.  The reading logs are showing that reading is continuing at home.  I love it!  Our comprehension focus will be on story structure (characters, setting, problem, events to solve problem, and solution)  You can practice these at home when reading together.  Making predictions and summarizing are also key elements of our reading work.  Knowing those first grade sight is such a benefit.  If you still have those flash cards that were sent home please practice those.  If you need another copy let me know.  Spelling words are becoming a little more challenging as the weeks go on, and the students are rising to the challenge.  Thanks for studying with them at home. 

In Writing we are finishing our book and will begin the writing review unit. 

In science we are still learning about the moon, sun, and the planets. Just a heads up.....in the near future there will be a planet project guideline paper being sent home.  More information to come in the next week or so.  Each child will become an expert on a planet, and teach us about it.

February is a short but very busy month. We are also all wondering if the groundhog will see his shadow?