Weekly wrap up 1/24/14

Thank you for the many beautiful Tet decorations that have been donated.  Our classroom is going to look so wonderful for the festival!  All families are welcome to attend the Tet festival on February 7 at 8:45am.  It is a big event at Ethan Allen and I recommend arriving early to find parking, your best bet is to park in the neighborhood nearby.  A flyer went home in Friday Folders for scholars who are interested in participating in the cultural fashion show.  If your child changed their mind and wants a flyer please let me know, I have extras.  The fashion show is not only for Vietnamese clothing, all cultures are welcome to share their traditional dress and help us learn more about the diversity of our scholars.  If your child participates in the fashion show, please send a change of clothes so they do not dirty their nice clothes during recess or lunch.

There are many nasty colds going around the school right now.  Please remember that if your child is sick they should concentrate on getting healthy.  Any work they miss can be made up later.  If your child is ill and you would like me to send work home with them, please contact me, I am happy to prepare work for them.  I understand as a parent that it can be difficult to find childcare for a sick child, but when your child comes to school very ill they aren't able to focus and are infecting others.  I would prefer they take a day to get healthy rather than suffer through a school day with a miserable cold and/or stomach flu.  Of course, a little sniffle isn't a big deal, but a fever, vomiting, or other serious symptoms are not things that a first grader can endure at school.

This week in math we have been continuing to work on geometry, including both plane and 3-dimensional figures.  Our math test will be next week.  In reading we have been focusing on cause and effect, monitoring and clarifying, distinguishing among different types of sentences (statements, questions, exclamations), understanding contractions, as well as blending and reading long vowel words.  To help your child at home, a long vowel sounds like the letter's name.  For example, the "a" in "cat" is a short vowel.  The "a" in "cake" is a long vowel.  A final e (usually) signals that the first vowel will make its long sound.

 In writing we have moved on from descriptive writing to narratives.  Currently we are working on autobiographical narratives, and our first topic was to write about our best day of winter so far.  Below you can see how I modeled the writing process.  Each scholar follows the same process; their thinking maps and drafts with revisions are stapled below their final draft to show how their writing evolves.

Our habit of a scholar was Intellectual Risk-Taking.  In Social Studies wrapped up our "Celebrating Cultures" unit by discussing immigrants and how they contribute to our country.  Many scholars we proud to share that they or their parents are immigrants.  We just started discussing our next unit about goods, services, and money.  Once this social studies unit concludes this week we will be launching right into Science.  Believe it or not, next Friday marks the halfway point of the school year!