I can’t thank you all enough for your encouraging words and reaching out to support your child. It makes coming to work every day all the more joyful! It’s honestly just been such a lovely school year with your child!
We did a ton this week! The weather definitely got colder. Please make sure your child brings a coat, gloves, and a hat to school every day when it’s cold outside. Play outside is so important, but I want to make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.
In math this week we worked on writing related addition and subtraction sentences that belong in fact families. Students really worked on coming up with two addition and two subtraction sentences that had related numbers in them (for example, 3 +4=7, 4+3=7, 7–3=4, 7-4=3). Students got the concept of switching the addends around in addition to find the total, but they struggled with putting the total at the beginning of subtraction to find the difference. We’re going to continue working on that. In reading, we’re really focusing on reading books in our groups that are at our reading levels. Students are really enjoying the fiction and nonfiction books that go together. We’re working on writing paragraphs on topic that have an opening and closing sentence. First graders tend to leave punctuation marks out of their sentences, so I’ve been really trying to get them to include those at the end of their sentences. We started a new science unit on the sun moon and stars. We are all really excited to learn about this. We’re going to investigate and learn about whether the sun moves, or the Earth moves. So far, the majority of us thinks the sun moves.
Reminders
CONFERENCES: Family conferences are scheduled for October 18 from 7:30 am-6:00 pm. I would like to meet with every family and touch base with you all. Here is a link to a sign-up genius so you can find a time that works best for your family. Thank you for your flexibility and making time to come meet with me about your child. I would love to have your child there, so we can celebrate together all the wonderful things they’re doing at school. Follow this link to sign up for a conference time: e-mail [email protected]
FALL PARTY/PARADE: Our costume parade will be on 10/31 at 2:15 pm. Family members should line the blacktop area leading from the west side of the building to the main office entrance. Everyone can wear a costume, but no adult masks please. We will be having a classroom party beforehand (at around 12:30). I’ll send out more information about that next week. Look for an e-mails from Katie Sheahan and Cindy Wright. They are the classroom parents and will be coordinating and planning the party for our classroom. If you want to help out, we would love your help!
CULTURES/HOLIDAYS: One of Colorado’s first grade standards is that students need to be able to identify similarities and differences between themselves and others and discuss common and unique characteristics of different cultures using multiple sources of information. Students also need to be able to know the difference between a map and a globe. I like to do an ongoing social studies unit throughout the school year where students get to learn about the continents and different countries within those continents. It’s fun to also highlight our own heritage and talk about what we celebrate at home that has to do with our cultural history. I’m starting to design my lessons, but I’d love your input. Do you or your child have immediate family from a different country? Do you or your child speak another language that I can highlight? What holidays and traditions does your family celebrate at home? Please e-mail me back and let me know. I’d love to have students have ownership of their learning and get excited about learning through being experts on the different countries and cultures we’ll start learning about and being able to share with students their culture. So send me an email reply to this e-mail and let me know your child’s cultural background!
BOOK FAIR: The book fair is next week (Monday, Oct 15th – Wednesday, Oct 17th: 7:00-7:40 am & 2:50-3:45 pm), and Thursday, Oct 18th: All day during parent teacher conferences. It is located in the Hallway between the Cafeteria and Gym. ONLINE SHOPPING IS ALSO AVAILABLE OCT 6TH-21ST. Visit scholastic.com/fair to find our school.
I-STATION/I-READY: If your child could use some extra support in reading and math, these are both great options for your child to utilize. I sent home logins last week. If you lost it, let me know and I’ll send you home with a new one. I-ready can only be accessed through the internet. I believe there is an app that can be downloaded for i-station. If you’re looking for either website, follow this link: Educational games
SHIRT ORDER FORMS: Inspire shirt order forms went home last week and are due back by October 15. If you put the form and check in your child’s blue folder, I will collect it and turn it in for you. If you need a new form, let me know. I will stick a new one in your child’s folder.
OCTOBER READING LOG: October Reading information and reading logs were re-stuffed in your child’s blue folder. You can put books your read to your child along with books your child reads to you in the reading log!
UPCOMING EVENTS
10/15 to 10/18 Book Fair
Monday, 10/15 @ 5pm Denver Green School Presentation in the Inspire Cafetorium
Monday, 10/15 @ 5pm SPF Meeting
Wednesday, 10/17 @ 5:00 pm School Tour
Wednesday, 10/17 @ 6 PM PTO Meeting
Thursday, 10/18 No School; Family Conferences
Friday, 10/19 No School; Professional Development Day
10/22-10/23 No School: Non-Student Contact Days
Wednesday, 10/24 Picture Retake Day
Tuesday, 10/30 @ 12:30 PM Kaiser Permanente Performance: Invisible Feelings
Wednesday, 10/31 @ 2:15 PM Fall Festival Costume Parade (Celebration beforehand).
Thursday, 11/15 Fall Family Luncheon
Thanks for sharing your child with me!
Warmly,
Mrs. Cranfill