June is here!!

We are gearing up for a very busy month. We will plant in the school garden with the other first grades under Mr. Treat's guidance. We will finally head to Webb Mountain on June 13th. We will participate in Jump Rope for Heart. We will have Field Day on June 17th and we will meet our new second grade teachers on June 19th!!! All along still learning and getting ready for second grade. This will be an exciting month. This is what we are working on!! The children are learning to add 2 digit numbers with sums greater than 10 in the ones place. This looks a little different then the way we learned it but not quite! Ask your child to teach you before you give them instructions on their homework this week. We will also be discussing coins. Each reading group has read a Henry and Mudge book and they are all working on some activities related to the book. When this book comes home in their reading bags, please encourage your child to read it aloud to work on their fluency. Each child will be writing a review of the book they read to culminate our writing unit on opinion writing and writing reviews. Science has been really exciting this month! The children planted lima beans and observed them for a few weeks. They will be taking them home today. We also had caterpillars in our classroom that are now chrysalis. Hopefully we will have butterflies in a few weeks. We have been discussing the life cycle of a butterfly and the children will also learn about the life cycle of frogs. Please encourage your children to read at home - school is not over yet! This will set them up for summer reading success. Have a great week, Jaime Crenwick

May flowers!!!

Well, we have had an interesting week in Room 15. Many of these kiddos have been sick with the stomach bugs. The last few days we have only had 10 children in our classroom. I assure you that I have cleaned the classroom as best as I can and I am constantly telling the children to wash their hands and keep their hands out of their mouths. Hopefully by Friday everyone will be better to enjoy our trip to Webb Mountain. Some information about Webb Mountain . . . *please have your child dress in long pants and sturdy shoes *please pack a lunch and snack that day *we will be eating lunch in the classroom when we return around 11:30 We also had a visit from High Touch/ High Tech, a hands on mobile science program. The lesson enriched our study of plants. We are currently observing lima beans in our classroom. We have wrapped up our unit on time and geometry in math. Please continue to discuss the clock with your child at home. Also, review 2-D and 3-D shapes with your children as well. The children have been busy writing opinion pieces in Writer's Workshop. During the next bend in this unit, the children will write reviews of restaurants and movies! Ask them about this important work that they have been doing. Last week we explored our unit in Social Studies called Me on the Map! The children had so much fun finding their street on a map of Monroe. They also did a wonderful project that helped them identify their place in this great big world. I will send these home soon. Remember that it is not too late to be a Mystery Reader. Almost everyone in the class has had a special person read but there are a few who have not so please let me know if you are interested. As always, thank you for everything you do! Have a great day!

Last Week of April?!

I was talking to a few parents last night and we were remarking about how quickly this year has gone by. It truly has been a year full of a lot of learning and growing. The First Grade Show was a huge success. The students sang so well and were so happy to see you all there. Thank you to all who came to Math Night. The kids had a lot of fun showing their parents how quickly they can compute math facts and even challenged their parents to solve number bonds! In Math, the children are exploring geometry and moving on to fractions. This is in preparation to learn about the clock and telling time. We have moved on to a new unit in writing. The children are starting to write reviews and put their opinions into written form. In Science, we have began our unit on living and non-living things. We explored the playground and looked for objects. We classified them as living and non-living. Ask your child what makes something a living thing. We are looking forward to our visit to Webb Mountain on May 16th. Have a wonderful last day of April!

March goes out like a lamb . . .

I can't believe that we just finished our last full week in March. This last half of the year is flying by. Your children have grown so much over the last few months - they are readers, mathematicians, authors and illustrators. They are tying their shoes and losing their teeth. First grade is such an amazing year for growth. It is a pleasure to be along on this ride with you! Monday will be our Celebration of Reading and Tuesday we will get to visit the book fair for a preview day. Wednesday and Thursday there will be 12:20 dismissals for conferences. I have touched base with most of you and will see some next week. Please let me know if you or a family member would like to come in for Mystery Reader. Most of the students have had someone from their family visit our classroom and it has been exciting for the children. In Math the children are adding 2 digit numbers. I know that this looks very different from the way we did it in school but the children have to be fluent at decomposing numbers and this will help. They will be much better prepared for second grade math by having seen this strategy. I know that most of them cannot do this independently but we just began it this week and we will continue practicing it. We are working with words that have ir, er and ur in them. Ask your children about the game, I Have Who Has. The children are so busy writing their non-fiction chapter books. They are loving the process and are very engaged during Writer's Workshop. We will start new WYNN groups next week to address math fact computation and fluency. Most of the students are very accurate in their math facts but need to increase their speed. For those children that need enrichment, they will be put in a group to fit their needs. Enjoy the warmer weather. Get outside and play! READ, READ, READ!