Starfish Gazette- January 8, 2018

Hello Families,

We are excited to begin Starfish of the Week next week.  An information sheet and schedule went home in your child's blue folder last week. If you child's week happens to be a 4 day week, we will consolidate the activities to make them all fit! Please email if you have any questions regarding your child's special week. 

Upcoming Starfish of the Week:

Week of January 15- Elizabeth

Week of January 22: Hugh 

Week of January 29: Charlie

Here is a glimpse of what we are working on:

• Made New Years resolutions
• Learned about the Power of 'YET' - Brainstormed things we can't do YET but hope to get better at in 2018
• Learned about why baby animals are so cute!
• Played "Door 24" an iReady game app
• Began a new unit on Place value- we are working on understanding that two digit of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. 
• Started working on our number scrolls- this is a fun and helpful way for first graders to understand patterns within numbers and practice numeral numbers (all the way into the three digit and four digit numbers)
• Received our first mission from the Super Secret Detective Agency: We are on a mission to become super strong word detectives (more info coming soon)
• Began learning about the Sun, Moon, and Earth
• Learning about the letter y as a vowel
• Started a sentence dictation weekly practice book

Here are some questions you can ask your child...

1. What do baby animals have in common?
2. Who's birthday did we celebrate last week?  What other Starfish have birthdays in January?
3. Can you tell me how you played Telephone during morning meeting?
4. What are some of the science words your class added to your 'Space Word Wall'?
5. What's your favorite thing to do during Free Choice?
6. Why is the first month of the year called January?
7. What was your first mission during reader's workshop today?
8. What non-fiction book are you working on during writer's workshop?
9. What poem and songs did you add to your poem and song journal this week? What song is your favorite?
10. Who do you sit next to in our new circle spot?

Important Dates/Notes:

• NO SCHOOL Monday January 15th
• January 18- Mary Preble will be visiting our school.  She is a local artist and author.  She will read us us her story, talk about her artwork, and give us an art demonstration.  There is an order form in your child's folder if your family is interested in purchasing her book.  
• Moon journals are coming home in your child's blue folder today (please help your child observe and record 2-3 times a week for the month of January.  Please feel free to record your observations even on cloudy evenings.  We know it is easy to look up the phases of the moon online and it may be a fun component to checking the name of the phase, but we encourage your family to enjoy the experience of becoming observers of the night sky.  Please remember to leave the moon journals on the 'Return to School side of the blue folder' each day.  We will be pulling the journals out during the week of share our observations and recordings.

*helpful hint: It may be easier for your family to observe in the morning before school- please find what works for your family.  

We are looking for....

Extra Marbles for our marble maze! If you have any marbles at home, we would love to have them for Free Choice Time