Applying New Skills!

Wow, the first week of October is already done! We have been busy this week applying a lot of new skills into our every day routines! We have fully implemented our Daily 5 stations and are doing a great job at finding our stations and getting to work right away. Some friends are still struggling at times with signing in to the chromebooks but with a little more time and continued practice they will become pros!

We have wrapped up a couple of units this week and have had a fun time applying the knowledge and skills we have learned in a variety of ways. In math, we have finished our first unit where we focused on adding and subtracting within 10. We have learned and practiced a few strategies to help us with adding, subtracting and counting on to add during our daily lessons. We have also been able to practice these skills in our new math activities. When done with independent math work, students are able to choose from a variety of independent and partner games where they further practice those skills. Our friends have learned a new math card game as well, called garbage. This is a great game to help with subtilizing, ordering numbers and counting on.

During Reading Knowledge this week, we also wrapped up our first unit on Fables and Folktales. We have had many discussions about the components of fables and folktales. We have learned that they are fiction stories told over and over from a long time ago. We have learned that fables often contain a moral, or lesson. Ask you child about some of the morals our stories have taught us! We have also learned that fables and folktales often have animals in the stories that display personification. Personification is when an animal in a story displays characteristics of a human. This week during Genius Hour (you'll hear more about this next week), we were able to apply our knowledge of personification in a fun way. Our friends used an app on the ipads called Chatterpix and were able to make an object (stuffed animal, shoe, truck, hand, etc.) "come to life" and talk like a human would. It was a ton of fun and they had a blast making their short little clips. You can see them all in the video below!

Of course we had to watch our project together as a class. Everyone thought it was quite funny!

We have moved on in knowledge to a unit all about the network of systems that makes up the human body. This week we learned about the skeletal system. After our lesson, we had a fun brain break and sang/danced to this song:

Don't forget that next week we have two early dismissal days, Wednesday (1:15) and Thursday (12:10). I can't wait to meet you all on Thursday and discuss with you what has been happening in the classroom so far this year and how your child is showing growth!

We have been hard at work learning all about families and what makes families special and unique in Social Studies. Today, we spent time making flip books for our journals that tell all about what families are, what they can do and who are in our families.

There are a couple of upcoming dates that were not added to your child's October calendar in their folder. You can read about them below. Check out our homepage to see ALL important October dates here!

* Box Tops - the PTO will be collecting box tops again this year. Our first turn in date will be October 19th. Please save and send in your box tops. Every box top helps earn money for your child's classroom! Our PTO likes to provide incentives to the class who turns in the most box tops!

*Book Order - Aside from the book fair, which will be open next week, you have an opportunity to purchase scholastic books from the book flyers sent home last week (you can also look and find books online). These orders are due no later than October 31st. Please make sure to send in a check (not cash) for your order OR you can use our class code MCDVY and purchase them online. These books make great gifts (dare I say Christmas gifts?! I know it seems early but it is right around the corner). What better way to help spread some cheer than to give a child the gift of reading!

*BOO GRAMS - our first grade tradition at Forest View is to sell BOO GRAMS. Boo Grams are little candy-grams that can be purchased for 25 cents/each and sent to other students or staff at school. BOO GRAMS will be sold on October 25th, 26th, 29th, and 30th. The only way that this is possible is to have parent volunteers willing to come in, set up shop and help students buy their boo grams, attach the sweet treats, and get them sorted for teachers. We are looking for 1 or 2 volunteers each day from both first grade classes from 11:15 - 12:45. Please let me know if you are available and willing to help us out! This is a tremendous opportunity to raise a lot of money for our first grade classrooms. This is a great fundraiser and in the last two years we have been able to purchase a variety of materials for our first graders to extend their learning!