Book Collections

As you may know, I bring in various book collections from the public library to share with the crew. I hope that over time they will all find some books, authors or series that they love. I haven't been very good at sharing what these collections are with you this year and knowing some of these titles might be helpful when you are at the library with your child looking for good books. So below are some recent collections.

We just finished looking at the Katie Woo series of books. Katie Woo is a series of early chapter books about a first grade girl who has many of the same adventures and problems that our crew has - being bossy, losing a tooth, going camping, having the flu and more. To learn more about the Katie Woo series of books, click here.

We also just finished looking at books by author/illustrator Marla Frazee. Her illustrations are so detailed that you can spend a long time just noticing little things in each picture. They are also great stories.

This week we are taking a look at one of my very favorite series of books - the Henry and Mudge series. This series about the adventures of a boy and his dog are so sweet and have lots of appeal to first graders (and their teacher).

This week we are also looking at books by the illustrator Jim LaMarche. His illustrations are soft and beautiful and make you linger on each page. Again, the stories that go with the illustrations are great, too. You should take a look.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.5 Fact Routines Practice

Website Recommendations

Today, I want to recommend two websites to you that you might find fun to explore with your child. One is Wonderopolis - a site that asks and answers an interesting question each day. It is fun to browse through the wide variety of questions. There are often short videos that accompany each answer. Click on the picture to visit the website.

The other is Bedtime Math. This site tells a short story each day and then follows it up with three levels of math problems for wee ones, little kids and big kids. The idea is to read the story as a bedtime story and then complete the math problems that go along with the story - a great way to do a little reading and a little math each day. Click on the picture to visit the site.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.7 Practicing with Fact Triangles

Important Dates
2/12/14 All School Meeting - 9am  - led by our crew
2/13/14 Valentine's Day party - 2:45 pm - everyone is invited
2/14/14 No School ~ Professional Development Day for Teachers
2/17/14 No School ~ President's Day
2/27/14 Winter Voyage to Douglas County Outdoor Education Center
2/28/14 Day of Rest 

Sight Words

Our new sight words are: after, back, more, off, over
 
Previous words include: and, like, for, day, her, are, going, my, look, of, have, do, me, they, saw, get, first, down, here, when, all, about, because, made, has

We are working on learning to spell these words correctly. We can read them, now we must learn to write them. These are great words to point out to your child when they are reading or to have them practice spelling at home, too.

Homework
No homework for the weekend. Enjoy some good books with your child.

IA
Our IA (Integrated Arts) next week is Art. Be sure to check out Ms. Pam's blog, Renaissance Art, for more information.

Life is Art

The Life is Art fundraiser is coming! Today we worked on our crew project that will be one of the auctioned items at the event. More information about Life is Art can be found at the following links:

Life is Art Artists' Edition
Life is Art Annual Fundraiser

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.4 Family Letter: Fact Triangles

Wonder and Explore

Buttons
Currently at our Wonder and Explore Station, we have a large collection of buttons. The crew is really enjoying sifting and sorting the buttons. We have some muffin tins available if they want to group their finds. A couple of boys (not the ones pictured) love the button collection so much that they have asked if they could buy a couple of the buttons from me. It's the little things that matter so much to first graders.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.3 Fact Families

Library 
We have library tomorrow. Please help your child remember to return his or her books.

Collaboration

Today we collaborated on a chart about collaboration. We had to use all the skills we knew to find ways to work out disagreements and get our job done. Ask your child to tell you all about it. Pictures are below.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.2 Name-Collection Boxes

Envisioning

We started a new unit in reading about envisioning. This means creating pictures in your mind as you read. Most of us do this without thinking about it until a book is about to be turned into a movie and then we often have strong opinions (positive and negative) about the actors chosen to play the main characters. Making pictures or movies in our minds as we read really helps develop our comprehension. It makes us pay more attention to the details as our mind works to create these mental images. To help the crew begin to create these mental images, we will begin reading a "chapter book" that has very few pictures. This will force us to really listen and concentrate on the words being read to follow along with the story. The first book we will read is a very short book called, "Andy Shane and the Very Bossy Delores Starbuckle" (Yes, I know that titles should be underlined but in online writing, underlining means that you are linking to something so common usage is to often to use quotation marks around titles of books.)

While many in our crew are ready to read chapter books on their own, many are not quite there yet. So if your child falls in love with the books we will be reading in class, check it out and see if they can read and UNDERSTAND what they are reading. If so, let them have at it. If not, use these books as part of your nightly read aloud until they are ready. Once I begin reading a few different books that are from different series, the children usually want to dive right into the whole series. Be ready for the sudden change in reading habits. It is a fun time!

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.1 Finding Addition Sums

Important Dates
2/12/14 All School Meeting - 9am  - led by our crew
2/13/14 Valentine's Day party - 2:45 pm - everyone is invited
2/14/14 No School ~ Professional Development Day for Teachers
2/17/14 No School ~ President's Day
2/27/14 Winter Voyage to Douglas County Outdoor Education Center
2/28/14 Day of Rest