Welcome back! It's been awhile since our last blog post. Please take some time to review some friendly reminders and check out what's been going on in our classroom!
Valentines Day Information!
Valentine's Day is approaching! Our Valentine's Day classroom party will be on February 14th in the afternoon. We welcome Valentines to be passed out as long as your child has a Valentine for each student in our class so that feelings are not hurt. We have 20 students in our class. There is a class list linked on our website, however addressing individual valentines is not necessary. Feel free to have your child simply fill out the "from" line. You may also choose to include a small item with your child's Valentines. If this is the case please note that only non-food items such as pencils, tattoos, stickers etc. are allowed. Candy, snacks or any other food item will be sent home with your child. Many of our students have medically based dietary restrictions and some students follow specific family chosen diets such as vegetarian, low cal/sugar, etc. Monitoring the individual needs and requests is nearly impossible so we appreciate your support and understanding with this issue. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me.
Student Council is hosting another spirit day, on January 27th - Color Day! 1st graders are encouraged to wear the color red to show their school spirit.
The PTO & Student Council have joined together to host a Movie Night on January 27th at 6:00pm for our 1st and 2nd graders! They will be showing The Secret Life of Pets for an admission cost of $5. Additional snacks and drinks are available for purchase. Parent pick-up will be at 7:45. For additional details please see the flyer in the Virtual Backpack.
The PTO will be hosting Family Night at the Chicago Wolves Game on February 4th. If you are interested in attending, ticket orders are due no later than January 20th. Please see the PTO Blog for more information.
Writing
Since returning from winter break, students have been focusing on narrative writing. We've discussed how narratives are stories and they can either be personal stories or make believe. We currently have been working on imaginative narratives. Our goals while working on narrative writing are to stay on topic while having sequenced events using temporal words that signify a clear beginning, middle, and end. We encourage students to include details that tell more about each event to make their stories clear to the reader. We are also working on including a closing that is related back to the "heart" or topic of their story. Students have been introduced to revising and editing as part of the writing process. It is our goal that students have capitals, punctuation, and grade level appropriate spelling in their writing.
Reading
Students have started two new stories, Arbor Day Square and The Family Tree. After reading these stories we are working using details from the text to not only name the characters and setting, but to describe them to someone who has not read the story. We have also been working on finding connections between two individuals and their experiences while reading these texts. Students are striving to use key details from the texts to identify the main topic and central message as well.
Math
Students have finished up Unit 3 this week which focused on telling time to the hour, identifying even and odd numbers, adding and subtracting within 20 and number stories with up to 3 addends. Students are building their fact fluency as well. Don't forget to use xtramath.com for extra practice!
We will begin Unit 4 this week where students will build on their knowledge of time time to the hour by now telling time to the half hour. Students will also build their understanding of place value in Unit 4. They will practice counting by 1's, 5's and 10's as well as read and write numbers up to 120. Students will learn and understand place value of 2 digit numbers by representing numbers with tens and ones and showing expanded form (For example: 28 = 20+8 / 2 tens and 8 ones). Students will also use skip counting to be introduced to counting coins and showing their value up to $1.00. We will begin with dimes and pennies (10's and 1's) and then add nickels (5's). Quarters will not be introduced until the following unit.
What can we do at home?
**Number Grid Race - Print the number grid as your game board. Partners take turn rolling a die and hopping along the number grid. You must read the number you land on. The first to reach 120 wins!
**Coin Grab - Place a pile of coins in the center of the table. Each partner grabs a handful and counts their totals. The person with the highest value wins!
**Penny-Dice Roll - Partners take turns rolling a dice and picking up pennies for each amount (5 on the dice = 5 pennies) Players can trade pennies in for nickels and dimes. The first person to a dollar wins!
Social Studies
In the next few weeks students will study and learn about important Americans. We recently discussed Martin Luther King Jr.'s role and influence to our country. We will also learn more about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and the impact they had on our county.
Science
We have just finished learning about light and shadows and have begun our investigations about sound. This week students worked together to investigate how vibration causes sound. They worked in teams to create and perform in garage bands! We will wrap up our unit on sound by exploring how we can use light and sound to send messages. 
January 16 - NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 27 - Spirit Day (Color Day) - 1st graders wear red!
January 27 - 1st/2nd Grade PTO Movie Night - 6pm
January 31 - Special Lunch - Culvers
January 31 - Early Release - 2pm Dismissal
