Monday, September 26th

Here we are again on a rainy Monday. I don't know about the rest of you, but this morning was a little chaotic with the strong winds and heavy rain. The poor kids looked like they had just taken a bath as they walked in this morning...and I can't say I looked any different myself! All in all, we had a pretty smooth morning. We did have a practice severe weather drill this morning and our class did a great job- they were quiet in the hallways and maintained composure throughout the entire process. Way to go 1st graders!!!


Reading- We continue to study main topic and key details. Today we completed a Show What You Know together and really discussed the meaning of main topic. We will continue to study this concept this week. Our phonics this week focuses on short /e/ words and -ed endings. The students will be learning a new phonics chant to go along with -ed endings. Our shared reading and sight words this week are the same as last week since we really only got to study the words for three days and that just wasn't enough! You will find that the word necklaces are getting harder and harder for some students. I am really pulling from  a variety of lists- some words are sight words and some are words found in a text that  we will be reading in small group. It really depends on what your student needs!


Math- Still working on subtraction facts to 10. We complete a math daily sheet everyday to assess what we learned in the lesson. I make sure to grade these as students finish so as to keep you updated on what they need to review at home for their Murphy Math Log. Once again, we played Subtraction Hide and Seek in groups. We will be staying with subtraction for a while...such an important skill!


Science- We are coming to a close to our science unit this week. This year we have learned so much about living and nonliving things. This week we are focusing on animal life cycles and how they are alike and different. Students will be observing the monarch chrysalis that we now house in our classroom. Students will also continue to work on their Diary of a Bee book. It is interesting to look at the similarities and differences among the two life cycles.


Updates/Reminders:

1.)    Stonewall Reading Night is TONIGHT! I strongly encourage you to come as this will be an amazing experience for your student. Unfortunately I will not be at the reading night because of a silly little thing called grad school L. Anyways, festivities will be from 6-8.

2.)    FIELD TRIP MONEY IS DUE TOMORROW! All field trip money must be in tomorrow! Also, students need to bring their lunches on Thursday. If this is not possible, they will be able to purchase a box lunch. If you want your student to get a box lunch- e-mail me and let me know! We have to have this information asap.

3.)    Stone Award- We had two students from our room as the Stone Award Winners today- Caroline and Landen. For those of you new to Stonewall, the Stone Award is a special award given to those students going above and beyond on a daily basis. If you are a parent of a Stone Award Winner you are invited to come and eat with your child the day following the announcement (tomorrow in this case). Our lunch is from 11:25-11:50!

4.)    Spelling- Pretests were sent home today…please look over missed words and use the pretest to help you with your studying at home.

5.)    Kentucky Kids Day is tomorrow. Students may wear hats to school in honor of this special day.