Last week, we had a special visitor. Our Adopt-a-Cop, Officer Marc, came for his first visit. Each first grade class in River Edge 'adopts' a police officer as a way for students to develop a positive relationship with a police officer in their community. Officer Marc will come in every once in a while to chat and teach the students ways to keep safe. The student love when he visits.
Star Lab : On Monday, we're be visiting the Star Lab with Mrs. Crawford! Last time we were in Discovery Lab, the students created their own constellations and constellation stories (with the help of fifth grade buddies). The students' constellations will be projected in the Star Lab and the students will read their constellation stories.
Half Way Day : Tuesday is the halfway point of the school year! First grade students celebrate this monumental occasion by doing a fun activity with each first grade teacher. They'll have a chance to spend time in each first grade classroom.
Reading : The students have been doing a great job creating text-to-self connections as they read. When you read with you child at home, ask him/her if he/she had any connections. This week, we're going to start talking about text-to-text connections. This is when the book you are reading reminds you about another book you have read.
Writing : We're going to publishing party for our how-to writing unit this week. The students are very excited, as they'll be sharing their hard work with Ms. Kim's kindergarten class. This week, we will also get back into the swing of writing small moment, personal narratives.
Math : We had our second set of parent volunteers on Friday, and they were a big help! We worked on finally getting our number scrolls taped together so that the students can work on them independently from now on. We also learned a new math game, which will go into your child's binder this week.
This week, in math, we're going to continue our investigation of math facts. Little by little, the students are building layers of understanding about math facts. While mastery of math facts is a goal in the future, we are focusing on developing the students' background thinking and understanding of these facts now.
Social Studies : We're going to continue learning about Mexico this week. We'll talk about products that Mexico makes and traditional Mexican foods.
Odds and Ends : We have a lot of February birthdays! If you are planning on bringing in a birthday snack for your child's birthday, please contact me to make arrangements so that we don't have two snacks in one day. (It's always a good idea to do this even if your child's birthday is not in February.) Thanks!