Clifford’s Classroom Connection September 13, 2013

1. Clifford’s Classroom Connection September 13, 2013 Important Notes • Starting next week,students will bring home a baggie filled with books they have read in their guided reading group. The students should reread these books to someone each night as part of their 15 minutes of reading. • Scholastic book orders are due Monday, September 23rd. • You can reach me at kclifford@barrington220.org or • 847-756-2770 What We’re Learning! Another fantastic week in first grade! We met with our 3rd grade buddy class and had our buddies read aloud to us. We’ll be doing a lot more fun activities with our 3rd grade buddies throughout the year! In math, we used number bonds to learn about the relationship between numbers. We practiced separating whole numbers into parts and representing the whole and parts in a number bond. We used number balances to help us visually understand the balanced relationship between parts and a whole. Next week, we will review number bonds and take the chapter 2 test on Thursday. In writing, we are continuing to study how good writers write personal narratives. We learned that good writers write about small moments rather than large topics. For example, a good writer doesn’t write about his entire summer in a story. Instead, the writer would focus on one moment from his summer – the time he jumped off the high dive for the first time, capturing lightning bugs in a jar with his cousins, etc. We are also learning how to talk about which step our story is on in the story writing process – thinking, planning, writing, or revising. Students are practicing sticking with a story to take it through all of the steps in the story writing process. In reading, we started our literacy stations. The students are practicing how to read the station schedule and move independently between stations. Next week, they will begin their guided reading groups. The students will be bringing home a baggie filled with books they have read in their guided reading group. Students should reread these books each night to someone as a part of their 15 minutes of reading. Upcoming Events September 18 – Happy Birthday, David! September 19 – Happy Birthday, Ashley! September 20 – No School