Weekly Update, October 24 - 28

Hello Spooky First Graders and Scary First Grade Parents!

Reminders and Updates:
* Our Halloween party is this Friday in the morning. We will have our normal activities for the first part of the morning and then the party is from 9:00 - 11:20. The Halloween parade is from 2:15 - 2:45. Kids will wear their costumes all day. Parents are invited to the party and the parade!
* Our spelling test will be on Thursday in the afternoon.  Let's Spell will be sent home on Wednesday.

It's Halloween week and the kids are SO excited for our party on Friday! This week is going to be such a fun week learning all about pumpkins, doing Halloween centers and Halloween math activities!

This week we are doing a science and guided reading unit on pumpkins! Today we learned the characteristics of pumpkins. Many of the kids were surprised to know that a pumpkin is a fruit. Kids - be sure to tell your parents why a pumpkin is a fruit! We also learned the 6 stages in the life cycle of a pumpkin. Kids - do you remember them all? After the guided reading lesson we began our fact pumpkin. The kids made a pumpkin out of orange construction paper and divided it into 4 sections. Today they wrote something they learned about pumpkins. Each day the children will write on their pumpkin. Tomorrow will be messy and fun! We will learn about pumpkin seeds, estimate the number of seeds in a pumpkin and then count them by 10s with table groups. On Wednesday we will learn about the uses for pumpkin seeds and each child will plant pumpkin seeds. On Thursday we will learn about the history of Jack-O-Lanterns and Halloween. The kids will create their own Jack-O-Lantern on the back of their fact pumpkins.

The kids had a great time in centers today!  The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to the story "Alice and Greta," a story about 2 witches. They made a broom out of construction paper and wrote their favorite part of the story and what it would be like to be a witch.
2. Science - Apple Bobbing! The kids made prediction about what kind of tub would be best to apple bob in, and what kind of apples would be the easiest to get. After they made their predictions, they got to bob for apples! This center was a big hit and all the kids are looking forward to this one!
3. Writing - The kids are writing about the 5 Ws of Halloween:
Who - is going with you?
What - are you going to be?
Where - are you going trick or treating?
When - are you going trick or treating?
Why - did you pick your costume?
This center got the kids thinking about Halloween and it got them really excited!
4. Math - Pumpkin Measuring: Estimate and check. The kids estimated the height, weight, circumference and number of creases on a pumpkin. After they recorded their prediction, they checked.
5. Reading - The kids did a Halloween word sort. They also read Halloween books and took turns “playing teacher” by reading to each other.

In reading we are continuing to work on independently using strategies. We are learning to read with expression. Be sure to listen for this in your child’s reading! Our making words focus is on words with short e and u sounds.

We have new spelling words this week. The kids have Rainbow Words for homework and they are due tomorrow. This week we are doing Halloween words instead of a word family.

We began chapter 6 in math today, a unit on counting up and patterning. We will continue to review counting on and doubles, and these skills will be a big help with patterning in counting up. We have also introduced timed addition tests. The kids are working on both their speed and accuracy. The long term goal is for the kids to be able to solve the problems in 3 seconds. Flash cards are a great and fun way to help improve both speed and accuracy.

Stay tuned for a blog posting on Friday with a recap of our Halloween party!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston