Highlights from the End of October

Hello families,
I will be out tomorrow, Friday, for my monthly UVM class so I'm sending out our weekly news a day early. The Fox Kits have been showing so much HEART and demonstrating their learning all week!

In math we are starting to wrap up our first unit so we are practicing all the skills mixed together: representing numbers in an organized way, comparing two sums, solving story problems (addition, subtraction, combinations), adding on the number line. Next week we will have our first unit test, or a "show me what you know." 

We also finished formal instruction in handwriting for the lowercase letters. We have been practicing matching letters to sounds, writing the alphabet in order, and writing letters neatly and the right size using our handwriting lines. Some are tall letters, going all the way from the ground line to the sky line (b, d, f, h, k, l, t). Some are small letters, fitting between the ground and the plane line (a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z). The rest are drop down letters, going from the plane line down to the worm line (g, j, p, q, y). Today we had  a"show me what you know" about how well they can use proper formation of these letters.

Reading groups are in full swing and first graders are getting so timely in their transitions and routines! Today we also learned 1 more way we can practice reading during readers workshop: listen to reading! Each week we will have a different audio book available for pairs to listen to. This is a great way to access higher level texts that most first graders cannot read on their own yet. We all practiced this with a class favorite: Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes!

We read two Halloween books this week and did some writing about them too: Pete the Cat - Five Little Pumpkins and Big Pumpkin. Here's a link to Big Pumpkin if you want to read it at home!

Dates to Remember:

• No School, Friday 11/9
• 12:15 dismissal, Wednesday 11/14
• Family Conferences, 8am-8pm Monday 11/19 (More info to come! -- No School for students due to conferences all day.)
• Thanksgiving Break - No School Tuesday 11/20 - Friday 11/23
• Monday 11/26, School resumes

Have a great weekend!
❤ Mrs. Fox