Family Newsletter

 Dear Families,

As many of you have already heard, the schools in our district will be closed on April 8th due to the solar eclipse.  Your child has a set of eclipse glasses for this amazing event inside their Home Folders (or book bags if they did not return their Home Folders). More information about the solar eclipse can also be found in the Wildcat Buzz this week.

Here is our week in review:

Social-Emotional Learning:

• This week, first graders talked about how we can collaborate with others and focus on compromising in writing and choice time.  The students were encouraged to share their ideas and thinking and reach a compromise to find a common solution.  During choice time, the students worked together to make a plan and collaborate during play-time while navigating several stations and choices.

• The students worked with Ms.  Nicole too.   We reviewed the different strategies we have learned for showing self-control and respect.  We focused on the importance of not distracting peers in their learning.   Shouting out, yelling or making loud noises are unexpected behaviors. Allowing others to speak without being interrupted, feeling safe and navigating our school building with safe, calm bodies are choices we should all strive towards mastering.

You Can: 

• You can support your child’s self-control at home too.   Think about how you can facilitate your child’s emerging skills as your child encounters a situation or task that feels challenging or unfamiliar.  Having a solid understanding of these strategies and skills can help our young learners develop better stamina,  self-esteem and sense of control.  Every day for example, we review a special breathing activity for finding those mindful moments.   We also encourage our young learners to find a quiet spot, or use some positive self-talk. In our classroom, we also practice restorative chats and circles as a way to resolve conflicts, repair harm  and create positive relationship-building skills. Ask your child for a favorite, “go-to” strategy.  I am confident your child can teach you some of the skills and strategies we’re learning at school.

Reading:

• This week, first grade readers continued working on fluency and small group work. Miss Addie continued reading the Magic Tree House.  First grade readers were encouraged to develop independent reading skills during times that they are not with a teacher.  This week, first graders learned to navigate some new stations during these independent times.

• First grade readers also practiced reading decodable texts and word lists.  They are encouraged to read every day to develop self-esteem and confidence as readers. Decodable texts are great for practicing these skills since the words can be “sounded out” since they reflect the skills we have been working on in class.

You can:

• You can support your child’s reading at home by encouraging your child to read independently every day.  Not only will your child develop reading skills and reading confidence,  your child will have opportunities to practice self-control and problem-solving skills.

Writing:

• This week, first grade writers learned what fiction and nonfiction books are. We worked on learning how to figure out which books are fiction and which are nonfiction. We created an anchor chart to define those two genres and even participated in a book sort in small groups! 

You Can:

• Are you reading a wide variety of books at home?   Consider having conversations about different types of books with your child.   Ask your child to explain what makes one book a fictional story while another book is nonfiction.   Go on a book hunt in your bookcase  or at the library.   Collect a few of each genre and compare.

Math:

• This week, first grade mathematicians continued working on problem-solving strategies when working with their math partners and making independent work choices. In our classroom, we say “Let’s compromise” to get ready for our problem-solving steps.The students have practiced choosing between a variety of strategies to solve problems while staying focused on math learning.  They are getting very comfortable with choosing between “rock-paper-scissors-shoot”, “eeny-meeny-miney-moe”, “the 3 firsts rule” and “being a flexible and kind friend”.   Ask your child to explain more.

• First grade mathematicians continued working on the mathematical concepts of equality.  They also had the opportunity to show their understanding in our end-of-the unit assessment.  Next week, we’re diving into adding three numbers and more place value concepts.  Stay tuned.

You can:

• You can support your child’s developing understanding of problem-solving by encouraging your child to compromise at home too. Consider using our steps (or even better, create your own that fit your family) and encourage your child to compromise when two parties disagree.  Perhaps you are getting ready to play a boardgame but there is a disagreement about which board game to play.  Use the strategies to compromise.  There are countless situations during the day at home when children (and adults) compromise.  Celebrate and praise your child when he/she is showing self-regulation and a willingness to let somebody else decide the task or the outcome.  

News and Reminders:

• Ms. Addie will start her solo weeks on Monday.  She will be the lead teacher for the next couple of weeks and I will be a supporting teacher in the classroom.  We are so proud of Ms. Addie and excited for her.  We are confident she will do great!

• The is no school on Monday, April 8th (solar eclipse)

• There is no school on April 10th (Eid al Fitr Holiday)

• There is no school April 22-26 (Spring break)

• Please see this message from the WCS Theater:

WCS Theater Presents:

THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family, features an original story and it's every father's nightmare: Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family– a man her parents have never met.

Google Doc Link to Poster:

Ticket Sale Link: https://willistoncentral.seatyourself.biz

Have a great weekend,

Maria

Family Newsletter

 Dear Families,

It was so nice to be back in the classroom again this week.  Thank you Ms. Addie for helping us out at the beginning of the week when I was still away.  It seemed like the students had a fantastic week off from school with extra family time, sports, board games, books and trips.  

Here is our week in review:

Social-Emotional Learning:

• Coming back from a week off can be challenging for our young learners so this week, we revisited and practiced school and classroom expectations.  The students practiced what it means to be safe, kind and responsible in different settings and they did such an outstanding job that we filled the classroom buzzy jar again!  This time, we celebrated with extra recess and spent a good chunk of time outside in the sun together, running, playing with bubbles and drawing with chalk.  We hope to go outside more often but since the fields are pretty muddy and wet, we are asking that parents make sure they check their children’s backpacks every day and return an extra set of pants and socks if a pair went home muddy.  Thank you for helping us spend more time outside and more comfortable time indoors learning together!

• The entire school community provided additional opportunities for our students to practice safe, kind and responsible choices this week too in some special SEL activities provided in the cafeteria.  The students made cards to spread kindness and they had a special lunch today called “Mix it up”, when they were encouraged to sit with new peers to get to know new friends.

• We also started using a “Worry Jar” in our classroom this week.  Ms. Addie read the book “Ruby has a worry” by Tom Percival and the students discussed the different types of worries that they might experience.  They shared worries about a loose tooth, nightmares, or going to a new place.  As we know, we all experience big and small worries.  Sometimes those worries can interfere with our learning and relationships with other people.  Our classroom “Worry Jar” provides the students with a place (the jar) to put their “worries” in.  The students draw or write their worry down on a slip of paper and put it inside the worry jar.  It helps them move on and return to their learning knowing that the worry has been noted.  We check in and discuss worries together or one-on-one.  

You Can: 

• You might want to try a worry jar at home too.  Consider using a small plastic jar or basket and place some small notepads/papers next to it for your child to jot down his/her worries.  Consider modeling to your child that adults worry too.  Talk to your child about how we can manage some worries alone and some worries together.  It is important to show our young learners that adults have worries too.  We worry about the weather, a trip and about other peoples’ feelings too.

Literacy:

• This week, the students had opportunities to read independently, on Lexia, and in small groups.  We focused on building reading stamina and showing responsible choices to others.  We also revisited what it means to be an independent reader, engaged and focused upon our own work.

• This week, Ms. Addie started a new read aloud in our class too.  She is reading the first book in the Magic Tree House series.  While enjoying this book, the students also participated in many discussions around story elements, such as character development/traits, setting and how to retell the story sequentially from the beginning and middle to the end.  When the book was finished, the students wrote about what happened, showing their understanding of the beginning, middle and end of the story.  They were encouraged to add some pictures to match their words.  The students were also encouraged to re-read their own writing as a way to check on their own writing to make sure it made sense, showed proper age-appropriate grammar and ending punctuation.

Math:

• This week, first grade mathematicians continued to build a deeper understanding of equality in math.  They are learning to understand the meaning of the equal sign.  In other words, they are learning how to balance two mathematical expressions to make them equal.  This week, we explored how subtraction and addition symbols can be used to create balancing/equal equations.  They learned that 5+2=7-0 for example.  Ask your child to explain.

• First grade mathematicians also participated in a mid-Winter math assessment which will inform our next steps in terms of place value and missing addends work.  More information will follow as we dig deeper into these concepts.

Jason Chin:

• Here is a letter from Jason Chin to the students of ABS and WCS. As you may recall, we visited WCS before the February break to learn about his books and illustrations.  The students of ABS will have another author visit soon.  On April 4th, the children’s book author Marty Kelley will visit us.  If you and your child want to learn more about this amazing author, click here.

News and Reminders:

• If you didn’t get a chance to sign up for our parent teacher conferences yet, please use this link and follow the instructions, please.  Thank you.  I am looking forward to seeing you all again and sharing about your child’s amazing learning.

• It is Basket Raffle Time again!  This is one of FAP’s biggest fundraisers of the year.  The Big Basket Raffle is on Saturday, March 23rd. The event is held in the WCS cafeteria and old gym.  The event starts at 6:00 (with the first drawing at 6:45).  A Fun Night runs at the same time for students.  Our class theme this year is ‘A Day at the Beach”.  Please read the note from FAP to get some ideas for items to donate.  Thank you for helping this event be a success! Please see this link for information about this amazing fund-raiser.  Here is the link to Fun Night too.

Have a great weekend,

Maria