Welcome to Room 112!

Welcome to the 2021 - 2022 school year!  I am excited to be working with you and your first grader this year.  This is my 31st year of teaching  and my 28th year teaching first grade at Hawthorne Elementary.  My favorite part about teaching first grade is the incredible amount of growth I see within each child from the beginning of the year to the end.  Here's to a wonderful year of growing! 

If you would like to explore D205's first-grade curriculum a little more, click on this link...  https://sites.google.com/elmhurst205.org/205curriculumforparents/home

1st Grade Learning This Week...

Sight Words -  couldn't, you're, they're, great, light

If your child does not know how to read these words in a snap, please make some flashcards and practice them at home until he/she does.

Phonics - We learned about contractions this week!  We will continue to practice how to make a contraction, how to break apart a contraction, and where to add the apostrophe next week.

Reading -  We wrapped up our life cycle unit this week by looking at a plant's life cycle.  We also reviewed all of the questions that the kids had at the beginning of the life cycle unit to make sure we answered each on during our studies.

Writing -  This week we wrote about our weekends.  We are working hard to remember all of these important things as we write:  capital letters, punctuation, finger spaces between all words, correct spelling of ALL first grade sight words, and careful stretching out of all other words, recording all of the sounds heard.  We continue to practice taking our time in order to add as many details as possible to our writing and to increase our writing stamina for second grade.  We will continue to reinforce these things until the end of the school year, so we are prepared for second grade writing. 

We continue to improve upon our opinion writing skills during writing workshop time.  We continually review all of the important parts of an opinion writing piece.  Your child finished up his/her best pet / bedtime opinion writing this week.  We will move along to writing reviews next week.

Math -  We continued to practice several strategies for adding two 2-digit numbers this week.  We used quick tens & ones and number bonds, but we learned two new ways to solve using these same tools.  Your children are becoming experts at adding two, 2-digit numbers!  We will focus on solving several different types of number stories next week.  

Science - This week our Mystery Science unit had us exploring light.  We discussed things that completely show light through (transparent), somewhat show light through (translucent) and do not show light through (opaque).  Your child had to sort several items into these three categories in a small group.  We created our very own "stained-glass window", noticing how much more beautiful they were when light shone through them!  We also learned how hard it is to see in the absence of light with our black box experiment.  Ask your child to explain this experiment to you.

Remember to...

*  write me a note if your child's after-school routine changes on any given day

* write me a note if you wish to have your child come home for lunch on a given day

*  take mail out of red folder to read/look over with your child each day

*  remind your child to return his/her library books every Wednesday

*  help your child prepare and bring a joke to school each Thursday

*  help your child find and bring 1 item to school each Friday for Show & Tell

*  have your child read each night (20 - 30 minutes or more)

*  practice tying shoes with your child so he/she is ready for the shoe tying challenge later this year

*  label all your child's personal items (coats, boots, lunchbox, snow pants,) with his/her name