Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
What a gorgeous weekend so far!  I hope you and your family had lots of outdoor time.  Vermont certainly is beautiful in the fall.

Next week, I am starting parent-teacher conferences.  I look forward to seeing you again and share about your child's day at ABS.  Your child is welcome to attend.  If you prefer to meet with me alone, that is fine too.  If you did not yet sign up, please contact me so we can find a time/date for you.  Thank you!

Reading:
The students continued receiving instruction in reading in our "Book Clubs", our guided reading groups.  They have done an outstanding job getting used to our rotations between groups and increasing their own independent reading stamina during these classes.  Last week, the students also received their sight word booklets.  These booklets contain high frequency words, many of which cannot be "sounded out", so it is imperative that the students learn to recognize these words automatically to improve reading fluency, comprehension and confidence.  We will integrate these words into our reading instruction at school.  I have also linked them on the wiki, if you would like to print them for additional practice at home.  They are linked here for your convenience (scroll down to Trick Words) but you can access them anytime on the wiki under "Word Study".

Writing:
The students continued adding details to their words and pictures in our writer's workshop.  These classes typically begin with a brief mini-lesson, highlighting a particular objective for the day.  It is followed by independent writing practice so the students can apply this new learning.  During this time, I also confer with students in small groups, or individually.  We usually end the class with a few students sharing.  This sharing demonstrates the application of the new skills taught. The students love to share their writing!
Our focus last week was also on developing confidence to write the words down even though the spelling might be wrong.  Young learners sometimes "get stuck" as writers if they are not sure how to spell a particular word.  They can be hard on themselves and simply stop writing.  We are learning that it is important to have a "growth mindset" in writing.  As writers, we try something and we always do our best.  It is okay if it is not perfect, but it is not okay not to try!  The students are doing a terrific job trying!  They love writing their ideas down independently.

Math:
First grade mathematicians continued work on subitizing as well as partners to 5 and ten last week.  They also learned many new games for practicing and learning about ten and some more.  We are exploring the differences between -teen numbers and -ty numbers (ie thirteen is ten and three more, while thirty is three groups of ten).
The students also continued math story problem solving.  The students are presented with a scenario that they have to solve using models, mathematical representations and equations.  They also learn how to clearly, and efficiently label their drawings and systematically showing each step.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

• Student Picture Re-take date is October 16th.  Please let me know if your child needs to retake his/her pictures.
• Harmony House is going to the Flynn Theater on October 25th.  The bus leaves around 9am and will be back around 11:30-12.
• There is no school for students on October 18th due to conferences.