Clifford’s Classroom Connection September 6, 2013

1. Clifford’s Classroom Connection September 6, 2013 Important Notes • Spelling will start next week. The students will take a pretest on Monday and come home with a list of words to study. In addition to the activities we complete in class, students should also be working with the words at home. The spelling post test will be on Friday. Please let me know if you have any questions. • Spills and accidents happen! If possible, please send your child to school with an extra change of clothes that can stay in his/her cubby in case of an accident or spill. • Our class has P.E. every Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. If possible, please have your child wear his/her gym shoes to school on Friday morning so we can transition to P.E. right away. • You can reach me at kclifford@barrington220.org or • 847-756-2775 What We’re Learning! It was an exciting week in first grade! On Tuesday, we learned about the seven continents, rivers, and mountains when we visited the Earth Dome. How many people can say they’ve been “inside” the earth?! On Friday, we had our first fire drill of the year. We learned what we need to do to be safe in case of a fire. In math, we reviewed Chapter 1: Numbers to 10 and took the chapter test. We started our study of number bonds in chapter 2. We are learning different ways to compose and decompose numbers. Number bonds will help us better understand addition and its properties. In writing, we continued to work on our personal narrative stories. We learned to revise our work and add details by asking the 5W + 1H questions (who, what, why, when, where, how). We also learned how to record all of the sounds we hear in words by sounding out each part of the word slowly and writing each sound we hear. Ask you child to show you how to “say it, slide it, hear it, write it”! In reading, we continued to learn about additional reading stations. We practiced read to self, read to someone, and word work. The students selected their own books for their book bins using the “5 finger rule”. In Making Meaning, we are learning about being a reading community. We practiced how to take responsibility for ourselves and discuss our thoughts with a partner. We started our self portraits this week. We learned how to “whisper write” when drawing so if we need to erase it won’t leave a mark. We also focused on adding true details to create a realistic portrait. The portraits are looking fantastic and I can’t wait to see how they turn out! Upcoming Events September 10 – Happy Birthday, Anna! September 10 – Roslyn Road Family Picnic 6-8 p.m.