Starfish Gazette-January 26, 2014

Dear Starfish Families,

It has been a busy couple of weeks in the starfish classroom! I can't believe we are quickly approaching February!

Did you know the starfish have been working on?

• Learning about magic e words
• Learning about the 3 states of matter: Solid, liquid, and gas
• Building stronger classroom community through our starfish of the week celebrations
• Learned how to put a list of items in ABC order. This takes a lot of 1st grade organization! 
• Learning how numbers are related (we refer to these numbers as fact families). The students are learning to to write addition and subtraction sentences with these number families. 
• Reading non-fiction books and identifying important facts from these texts
• Writing persuasive letters using 3-5 reasons to support the writer's opinion 
• Learning to make our writing have Superhero S.W.A.G (S=starts with a capital, W=written neatly, A=a space between each word, G=given punctuation at the end).
• Learning to read people's facial expressions with our social detectives program
• During OT: we are learning about the Zones for Learning.  We learned new relaxation strategies to best support our learning in the classroom. (A copy of the relaxation book is coming home to you this week.  The kids wanted a copy for their house)
• Read about one of our favorite children's book authors in the Scholastic News: Mo Willems.  Some of his books show great examples of Persuasive Writing!
• Made magic e wands to reinforce the spelling pattern

This week we will:

• Learn how to 'fix up' our persuasive writing 
• Learn more about the 3 states of matter.  We will complete a science experiment to observe melting snow in the classroom
• Continue with our number scrolls.  
• Learn about Kidblogs: a site where kids have their very own kid friendly blog site!
• Explore more IXL on the school's IPADS
• Learn helpful strategies to write in response to their reading 
• Celebrate Maya and Caelum as Starfish of the Week
• Play Place Value Bingo

Hundreds Day Homework

The “Hundredth Day of School” is coming!!!  

Tomorrow will be day 93!  

We are planning a big celebration and this homework assignment is in preparation for the giant event.

Here’s what you need to do:

§  Brainstorm things that you and your family could easily collect in quantities of 100.

§  Choose something from your list and gather 100 of that item.  It may be a collection that you already have or a new collection.  (Stickers, cheerios, raisins, etc.)

§  Design a poster to display your collection.  (Poster paper is supplied for your convenience.)

§  Be sure that you have exactly 100 of your chosen items on your poster.

§  Bring your poster to school on Monday, February 3rd.

Starfish Valentine Shop:

We will be opening a valentine card making shop in the classroom, during the second week in February.  I am asking all students to bring in $1.00 in change.  (Please use a variety of coins-Pennies,Nickels, and Dimes are best.)  The money is due by February 7th and should arrive in a sandwich bag with the student’s name written on the outside.  They can purchase cards, envelopes, stickers, etc for loved ones.  The money collected will be donated to the SPCA and will be a fun way to reinforce coin recognition and value.  Thank you!

Valentine Monster Boxes: 

Inspired by:

We are making monster valentine boxes.  Please bring in one shoe box for your child to decorate for Valentine's Day.  Please bring in the shoe box by Friday, February 7th.  (Please contact me if you need help finding a shoe box). 

Wish List:

1. We are looking for donations for our Valentine's Writing Center coming up in February.  This can include envelopes, stickers, old cards, etc.

2. Cans of Tuna for End 68 Hours of Hunger Drive

To Promote a School-Home Connection, here are some questions you can ask your child...

1. Who do you like to sit near at lunch?

2. What have you been playing during indoor recess?

3. What project are you working on in art class?

4. Can you name 6 different shapes?

5. What is your favorite learning app on the IPAD to use at school?

6. Who has been the starfish of the week?  What did you learn about them?

7. What is a fact family?  Can you draw me one?

8. What is your favorite song in the poem and song journal?

9. Can you tell me about your favorite brain break?

10.  What is a transition?  

Upcoming Dates:

1. Wednesday, January 29th: School Early Release at 12:50

2. Friday, January 31st: Progress Reports will be sent home

3. Friday, February 7th: Scholastic News Book Orders are due