WOW!  It is hard to believe that we have ended the first nine weeks of First Grade. I am so proud of all of these kiddos!!!  They are working so hard for me and we are enjoying our time together.  Just a few reminders for the next couple of weeks.  Our Primary kiddos can wear a costume tomorrow!  Early release on Wednesday for teacher training at 11:30.  We will begin Parent/Teacher conferences next week.  If you do not get a request form from me and you would like to come in and discuss your kiddos progress please let me know.

Spelling words:  but, what, all, were, when, we, there, can, an, your  I am starting to look for spelling words in their writing now and holding them accountable for spelling them correctly.  They will have a few spelling grades based on their writing this 9 weeks.  This can lower their spelling grades drastically if they are not using their wordwalls.

Math:  We are still focusing on joining sets to 10 (adding) and really trying to make the connection of different ways to get to a number.  We finished shapes last week and will begin subtraction next week.  The main goal is to really get combinations to 10 so they have a solid understanding of numbers to 10 before we start subtraction.  We still have a TON of letter reversals that we are working on too.

Writing:  We are really having to focus on forming letters from top to bottom.  We are really making a lot of letters funky so I’m trying to work on 1-2 letters a week to make that our focus.  We have focused on all the lower case letters that are formed like a c so c, d, g, o, q.  We are now focusing on letters that are formed like b so far we have gotten b and f.  This week we will work on h and k and so on until we have gotten to all the lower case letters.  It is really super important for them to start their letters from top to bottom.  Also still focusing on what makes a story, beg/middle/end, characters, settings, etc…  All kiddos are at a different stage in their writing so I do a lot of individual conferencing with them.

Science/Social Studies:  We will begin American Symbols this week and next week.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns PLEASE feel free to contact me.  I am loving all of these sweet kiddos and I am really enjoying getting to know them and your family through their eyes.