Library

Our IA last week was library. We learned how to check out our own books, how to find things in the library and we worked on a Reader's Theater piece about Pete the Cat and Brown Bear. This week students will go in small groups to the library to check out books. At first they will go on specific days with Ms. Wendy accompanying them - check your email a photo that shows the day of the week your child will visit the library. Later, when they have mastered library checkout, they will be able to go on their own whenever they need to exchange their books. Students can always return books early if they have finished with them.

Important Dates
8/28 Fieldwork to Ms. Zina's garden
9/7 Labor Day ~ No School
9/22-9/23 ~ Fall Voyage
9/24 Day of Rest for 1st grade
9/25 No School ~ Professional Development Day for Teachers
10/2 Boot Camp
10/3-10/18 Fall Break
10/19 No School ~ Teacher Work Day

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Practice counting by 2s and 5s.

Monday Morning Motivation

If your child should need a little help with his or her Monday morning motivation to get out of bed and come to school (hopefully they don't need extra motivation but you never know), please show them the photo below of things I ordered for our classroom that came in the mail yesterday. It's pretty exciting!

Social Skills

As we begin our time in first grade we have been reviewing and learning new social skills. It takes a long time to really develop some of these skills so we will work on this all year long. Pictured below are a few of the books we have read to help start crew conversations about how to get along with each other better.

IA (Integrated Arts class)
Our IA next week is Sustainability.

The Garden

As some of you know, we plant the school garden in first grade. The garden that was planted at the end of last school year is doing well (with many thanks to Ms. Marla). We hope to work with the second graders to harvest the things growing in the garden and make something yummy to eat in a few weeks. Later in the year, we will be the ones who will plant the garden. We are also all looking forward to visiting Ms. Zina's and Mr. Leo's garden later this month to see all of their beautiful plants and beehives. (We will view the beehives from a safe distance since we won't all have beekeepers gear to wear.)

Making Books

People love to make things and we are using this love to engage our crew in writing by having them make books. We are all the authors of our own stories and get to choose what ideas and tools we use. We are looking at lots of different books to see how published authors make books and we are getting many new ideas. Ask your child about the book he or she is currently writing.

Reading

We are beginning to think about why we read and all of the different ways we can read. My goal is to show the crew just how much fun reading stories can be. They are already very eager to listen to stories, look at books and read. We have been exploring some of the books in our room - both print and digital. We sometimes read books on our iPads or computers. Ask your child to tell you about his or her favorite book or favorite way to read.