October Newsletter

1H News: October Edition

Dates on Deck:

Friday, October 2nd - 7:30am Breakfast Buddies, Bloomsbury Farm Trip

Wednesday, October 7th - 1:00 Dismiss, Teacher Professional Development

Thursday, October 8th - 1st Grade Field Trip to UnityPoint St. Luke's Hospital

Monday, October 19th - NO SCHOOL (Teacher Professional Development)

Wednesday, October 28th - 1:00 Dismiss, Teacher Professional Development

Friday, October 30th - Afternoon Fall Party (stay tuned for more info!)

News:

Sharing - On your child's snack day, s/he may bring a small object to show to the class.  This can be a photograph or some other object.  We have discussed NOT bringing electronics or animals, as well as anything very expensive, and they MUST have permission from you first! :)  This is optional, but I find it helps keep kids from bringing random toys on a consistent basis if they know they'll get a chance to share in the future!  (They also never forget their snack days!)

Snack Day Reminder - Your child will receive a  pawprint in his/her folder the day prior to your snack day.  Just leave it in the folder to return to school the next day, and I'll give it to the next family as a reminder.

Take Home Books and Journals - I apologize for not getting the writing journals out!  Look for these next week, with a note about how to use them nightly with your child for writing practice.

Socktober - During the entire month of October, all first graders at Keystone Elementary will take part in Kid President's Socktober.  We will be collecting new socks of all sizes to donate to the Olivet Neighborhood Mission all month.  We will be participating in a community service project in which we plan, organize, and advertise our Socktober event.  In previous years, we have made a goal to donate a certain number of socks.  Last year, we made a goal to collect socks from every state in the United States.  To help get the word out, we will be using social media as well as a variety of other technology tools which get students creating and sharing their work.  Last year, we donated over 1,500 pairs of socks to those in need.  Let's work together to make that number even higher!

Party Treat Committees - I will be sending home a note about treats for various celebrations throughout the year, including our fall party, winter party, Valentine's Day, etc.  Each family will be asked to provide one of the following for 22 students: juice boxes, healthy treats, or sweet treats for the celebration assigned.

Fall Costume Party - Stay tuned for more information about our costume party on Friday, October 30th!

What We're Learning:

Reading - We are learning about Main Idea and Supporting Details.  Students are practicing finding what a text is mostly about and locating details to support this information.  We practice together with a book, work with a partner, and discuss how to use this strategy while reading independently during Literacy Stations.

Writing - We are learning about complete sentences, using the word "I" in writing, and how to write a journal entry by including "______ and I" to describe an event.  We're working toward eliminating the use of "Me and ______" in our writing.  The kids are really enjoying their journals!

During Word Work, we have worked on skills such as r-family blends (cr-, br-, pr-, etc.), l-family blends (fl-, cl-, sl-, pl-, gl-, etc.) and s-family blends at the beginning and ends of words (sk, sp, st, etc.)

Math - We have learned about graphs (bar graphs, picture graphs) and how to read these graphs.  We've also learned how to survey other people, compile the data into a chart with tally marks, and make a bar graph using this data.  Next, we'll be learning about 2-D and 3-D shapes.

Science - We have begun a unit on Balls and Ramps.  During this unit, we will explore and observe the characteristics of different kinds of balls (ping pong balls, bouncy balls, foam balls, etc.)  We will ask questions and record our observations in our scientific notebooks.  We will eventually use ramps, tubes, and a variety of other materials to make predictions about how different kinds of balls move in space.

If you have questions about anything, please let me know!

Mrs. Happel