Families,

It is basically May and I cannot believe that some of us have started a final countdown! This last full month of school will be very busy and we have some exciting adventures up ahead for first grade! Take a peek at what we will be doing this week:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Please R.S.V.P. to Alward’s First Annual Literacy Night if you are able to attend. We would like to have a rough estimate of families attending by Monday, April 30th.
• A note about our spring field trip will be coming home on Wednesday. Be on the lookout for more information to come!
• Our book fair will be May 7th-May 11th.
• Alward’s First Annual Literacy Night will be on Tuesday, April 8th from 6-7:45.
• Our next Early Release Day is Friday, May 11th.
• Scholastic book orders will be due Wednesday, May 16th.
• There will be NO SCHOOL on Monday, May 28th for Memorial Day.

Reading: We will still be using our topic bags and will work on solving tricky words by thinking of our topic, how many syllables are in the word, using the pictures, and working on our fluency as good readers.

Writing: We will be finishing up our first informational texts by adding what our animal eats and where it lives. Students will then have the chance to write another informational text and completing the writing process on their own.

Math: We will continue practicing telling and writing time and begin to look at different properties of shapes (squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles).

Science: We will finish up learning about a butterfly’s life cycle and spend a day learning about a frog’s life cycle.

Families,

I can’t say I ever thought we’d have a snow day in April, but Michigan weather can always surprise us! Fingers crossed that it’s all done and we can finally enjoy the spring we deserve. Even though it was a short week we were able to get a lot accomplished and these kiddos rocked their address test! Here is a look at what we will be doing next week:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Our 1st grade Reading Counts goal has moved down to 8 books instead of 12 books. Hopefully this helps more readers reach their goal and feel successful with their reading!
• Scholastic orders are due online by 4p.m. on Wednesday, April 25th.
• Popcorn Friday will be on Friday, April 27th.
• Please R.S.V.P. to Alward’s First Annual Literacy Night if you can come! We would like to have an estimate of how many families by Monday, April 30th.

Reading: We will compare and contrast books about the same topic, gather information to determine the big idea, learn new vocabulary, and use what we know to figure out tricky words.

Writing: We will begin writing the first pages in our informational text. This will include a page about fun facts, the animal’s body parts, the animal’s body covering, and what the animal eats.

Math: We will begin a new unit in math and will learn how to tell time by the hour and half hour.

Science: We will learn about a butterfly’s life cycle.

Enjoy the warmer weather this weekend!

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

Our first week back was a success! There were some sleepy faces the first few days but we were able to get back in our groove and kick off a new reading and writing unit! Here is a look at what’s coming up:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Alward’s First Annual Family Genius Night is Monday, April 16th from 6-8p.m. I hope to see you there!
• Scholastic book orders are due by 4p.m. on Wednesday, April 25th.
• Popcorn Friday will be Friday, April 27th.
• Our Reading Counts goal for the Spring has changed to 8 books by May 8th. If your child reaches their goal, they will get a free pass at the dunk tank that will be at our Literacy Night on May 8th (more information to come soon). I will be one of the teachers in the dunk tank so encourage your child to reach their goal to send me into the water!

Reading: We will continue reading books about the same topic and make connections between fiction and non-fiction, find interesting facts, make text to self connections, and compare and contrast our books.

Writing: Now that we have decided what animal we will be an expert on, we will being writing our informational text by coming up with our facts, sharing details with our partner, creating our table of contents, and including fun facts!

Math: We will finish up unit 6 with a few days of reviewing comparison bars and data collection and then take our test on Wednesday.

Social Studies: We will focus more on maps and learn how to identify water and land on maps and how to make a map with a key. We will also take our address test so be sure to practice at home!

Stay warm this weekend,

Miss Reisdorff