November 30

Dear Families,
Today we went to the Tech Lab. (Matilda)
We wrote a new narrative story in writing workshop!
We talked about position words in math. (Dallin)
We went to Music. (Shubham)
We reviewed needs and wants and identified examples of both! (Miriam)
It was a good day!

November 29

Dear Families,
Today we reviewed the hard c and hard g sound in words.
We read the story Farmer in the Hat about a group of kids in a class play. (Isabel)
We worked on ordinal numbers in math. (Robby)
We found PA and DE on our maps to show where Traveling Teddy has been already! (Malcolm)
We went to PE. (Alyssa)
Mrs. DeSanctis came to our class to talk about ways they can handle angry feelings appropriately.

Notes:
School pictures are going home today in folders! Please check folders/backpacks!
We cleaned out our writing workshop folders today so you will see a lot of your child's narrative stories in their folders. You can keep these :)

November 28

Dear Families,
This week our spelling words have long a sounds. (Chance)
In math we are talking about number order! (Travis)
We went to Art. (Jack)
We are talking about wants and needs! (Nick)
It was a great day back!

*Please see this week's newsletter by clicking on November's Weekly Newsletter tab above!

November 21

Dear Families,
Thank you for your help in making our Fall Gathering a success! We had fun singing and spending some time with you this morning!
I will see some of you tomorrow at our conference! Please look over our conference schedule for your time!
Have a great holiday with your family!

Reminders:
Remember no school until Monday, Nov. 28!
Book orders due Monday, Nov. 28th if you are ordering.

November 18

Dear Families,
Today was a busy day so I am writing our email!
We went to the Tech Lab this morning.
We took our Spelling and Math tests today!
We practiced counting syllables in words!
We practiced our Fall Gathering songs today at Hootenanny!

Reminders:
*I sent a conference schedule in folders to families I am seeing on Tuesday!
*Our Fall Gathering is Monday! Thank you for your help with snacks! Please wear aqua NPE shirts or a blue shirt!

November 17

Dear Families,
Today we reviewed th, sh, and all words.
Our writing partners helped us revise our favorite story. (Julien)
We reviewed shapes and patterns!
We went to PE. (Griffin)
We earned our 5th star today and voted on having pajama day tomorrow! (Jasmin)
Please check the weather to make sure your child will be comfortable in their pajamas!

Reminders:
*I will see some of you today at our conference! I will send a schedule tomorrow to families I will see next Tuesday 11/22 as a reminder.
*Thank you for all the can foods you are sending for our NPE food drive! We appreciate your generosity! Tomorrow is the last day to donate can foods!
*Thank you for sending in Fall Gathering snacks! We are looking forward to seeing you on Monday as we celebrate. Wear blue or NPE shirts!

November 16

Dear Families,
Today we did a story sort on the story A Big Fish for Max. (Addie)
In writing workshop, we used our checklists to help us revise our stories. (Timmy)
We practiced making patterns using solid shapes. (Journi)
We went to art! (Magda)

Reminders/Notes:
*Parent conferences officially start tomorrow! I sent families a paper copy of our schedule as a reminder if I am seeing you tomorrow! I will see the rest of you next Tuesday! (I will give you Traveling Teddy, a fun education project, at our conference! Our kids are super excited about their Traveling Teddy!)
*I am sending a new letter home about RAZ kids, our online reading program, from Mr. Heinle. I know a lot of you have already been using it but I still thought this information could be helpful! If you have not used RAZ kids yet, I hope you will. It is an amazing program that the kids are enjoying in class. 
*If you bought a NPE shirt, please have your child wear it to our Fall Gathering on Monday, 11/21. If you did not, please have your child wear a blue shirt.

November 15

Dear Families,
Today we read the non-fiction story Walk Around a City and discussed how to use the table of contents. 
We are starting to revise our stories in writing workshop. (Justin)
In math we talked about making patterns! (Julien)
We went to library. (Robby)
We talked about what we are thankful for and made a place-mat for our Fall Gathering! (Miriam)

Reminder:
Parent conferences are this Thursday (11/17) and next Tuesday (11/22)! 

November 14

Dear Families,
This week, we will read stories, sing songs, and discuss what families do together.
Our new spelling words are sh and th words. (Travis)
We read the story No Turkey for Thanksgiving to see how the author wrote her story to make it special. We are seeing that authors do a lot of special things (craft moves) that we can do in the stories we write! 
In Math, we talked about shapes we see around us. (Justin)
We went to music. (Isabel)
We talked about the first Thanksgiving. (Magda)

Reminders:
Please read this weeks newsletter. It is under the October's Weekly Newsletters tab above.
Please return slips about our Fall Gathering if you still have it.

November 11

Dear Families,
Today we read some poems about animals and talked about some common features of poems. (Addie)
We worked more on our narrative stories in writing workshop!
We used solid shapes in math. (Dallin)
We went to PE! (Alyssa)
We practiced singing some of our fall songs during  Hootenanny! (Timmy)

Reminders:
*Please send your Fall Gathering slips at your earliest convenience so I can see if you will be able to send in the snack highlighted on your form.
*Check folders for a neat art project (SilverGraphics) you can do at home with your child. If you are interested in this project instructions are provided.
*Book orders are going home today. If you are interested in ordering books, orders are due 11/28!
*We had a lot of conversations about school expectations regarding behavior this week. I really appreciate extra conversations at home about the importance of making good choices and how our choices can impact our learning.

November 10

Dear Families,
Today we read a story called Animal Park. It was about wild animals that live in Africa. (Journi)
We reviewed rhyming words and words that have final blends.
We are working on making our stories special like authors in writing workshop! (Chance)
We got to make a picture with different shapes in math. (Nick)
We talked about some important US symbols that make our country a great place to live! (Matilda)

Reminder:

• Please return your Fall Gathering slip is you still have it :)
• Conferences are coming up! Please save the date!

November 9

Dear Families,
This morning we went to the Tech Lab. (Malcolm)
We talked about final blends in words.
Today in math we used shapes to make other shapes and pictures. (Elvis)
We went to library. (Jasmin)
We talked about veterans today! (Jack)
Have a great evening!

Reminder:
Please return slips about our Fall Gathering!

November 7

Dear Families,
Our new spelling words have the short u sound! (Magda)
We will talk about exclamatory sentences (!) this week! (Timmy)
We edited our sentences in our stories to make sure they had capitals at the beginning and ending marks.
We talked more about 3D shapes. (Isabel)
We talked about the election process. (Griffin)
We were excited to learn that grown ups get to vote every 4 years! (We did not discuss what candidate our families are voting for tomorrow. We discussed how it was private among our families and how we should be respectful regardless of the outcome.)

Notes/Reminders:

• No school tomorrow! Please check our newsletter to see what homework is still assigned on Tuesday.
• Please look for information about our first grade Fall Gathering in folders today. Please return slips so plans can be made accordingly.
• I updated book levels on RAZ kids. (WEB books should also reflect your child's new just right level.) Thank you for all the reading you do with your child at home to help them be successful readers!

November 4

Dear Families,
We took our spelling test this morning!
We read the story Bat Loves The Night. 
We labeled the parts of a bat and compared its body to our body! (Jasmin)
In writing workshop, we reviewed how to use familiar words to spell new words that sound similar.
We practiced writing the numbers 9 and 10 correctly! (Nick)
We talked about solid shapes (3D) in math! (Dallin)
We had PE with another class. (Elvis)
We sang at Hootenanny this afternoon! (Griffin)

Reminders:
*Please double check that there are no conflicts with our scheduled conference time. If there is an issue, please contact me so we can figure something out.
*No school on Tuesday, Nov. 8th,

November 3

Dear Families,
Today we read "Maisie Caught A Toad" and talked about a toads habitat.
We reviewed what a interrogative sentence (?) is and identified interrogative sentences written correctly. (Justin)
We acted out our stories today in writing workshop with our partners!
We went to art. (Malcolm)
We folded paper to make different shapes! 
We even made a paper bat by folding paper in half! (Journi)
We sorted nocturnal and diurnal animals. (Alyssa)

Reminder:
November 8: No School (Teacher In-service Day)

November 2

Dear Families,
Today we reviewed rhyming and building words with beginning consonant blends (cl, sl, sn, sk)!
We read the story Get the Egg and put the story events in the right order. (Chance)
We reviewed how to write the number 8 correctly. (Addie)
In writing workshop, we talked about adding emotion to our stories. (Matilda)
We compared shapes. (Jack)
We went on a nocturnal hunt in the class and talked about their senses! (Julien) Ask your child about this activity. 

Note:
I am starting reading assessments this week. If you see your child's reading level change (WEB books) or hear your child talking about this at home this is why! I will go over all assessment results at our upcoming conference! *I will continue assessing next week too.

November 1

Dear Families,
This morning we went to the Tech Lab. (Robby)
We are starting to log on a lot faster now!
We are talking about different ways we can bring our stories to life in writing workshop.
We talked about flat 2-D shapes in math! (Travis)
We went to music! (Miriam)
We found out some animals are nocturnal (come out at night) and some animals are diurnal (come out in the day). (Shubham)

Note:
*In folders you will find a letter and 3 stars for Veteran's Day. Please return stars when they are "completed". We will talk about Veteran's Day as a class next week!