Update - March 30, 2014

Thank you for helping us celebrate our writing on March 21^st. We really enjoyed sharing our work with you. The children brought home their final chapter book for our non fiction unit .  This was our “published” piece of writing. You will notice that we did not correct all spelling and grammar but a lot of work was done in class with the help of a teacher.  Their red folder contains the writing they did as part of this unit. Some of these books were completed and others were not.  This is part of our writing process and not every piece of writing will be completed as we learn about different key elements of the writing genre. We are starting our next unit in writing workshop which is “Opinion Writing”. We will be writing “reviews” to learn about this type of writing.

In Math, we have been working on 2 digit addition and the children have been making great progress with this.  Our next unit is 2 digit subtraction. The children who have mastered their math facts are finding this work to be much easier than those who have not. Starting again this week, we will be taking fact quizzes 2 or 3 times a week and charting progress.  Fact fluency plays a critical role in your child’s success in math and their readiness for the work ahead.  They should be able to give the correct answer to the math fact within 3 seconds if they are fluent.  We need to learn our addition and subtraction facts up to a sum of 10 by the end of first grade.  Please continue working on fact fluency with your child as part of their homework at least 3 times each week.  I will be sending home information this week about your child’s progress with their math facts. 

Please continue sending in boots for recess during the spring until the playground dries out.  Thank you for helping keep our classroom clean.  Hats and mittens are also needed on windy days. 

I am so proud of our class for all the work they have been dong lately.  This time of year is when we are seeing an increase in independence and stamina and start to work more like second graders. It is terrific seeing them take on this challenge and being so proud of themselves when they are successful with something that’s hard to do.  As we say each day in class “Be Brave!” I hope you are enjoying your weekend.