I want to begin by saying Valentine's Day is second only to the Christmas/ Hannakah holiday
season for first graders; many adults don’t realize the excitement and emotion that comes from
getting mail “just for you” from your peers… but to this (K-2) age it is always very important. I have
had Valentine’s Day fall on a Snow Day and had kids actually cry with worry that Valentine’s
will be canceled…so rest assured it WILL happen!
I try to make it an educational experience; we discuss the mail process and how letters
get delivered etc. We also practice a few “old school” letter writing activities- pretending to write
to a selected character in books they are reading. All students will be expected to include all
other students when sending a valentine- and write their special number on the envelope/card
as this number acts as an “address” in our class. Kids then take turns being “postal worker” to
sort mail into correct mailbox. At the end of the day they will be opened and then home they all go!
A gentle reminder- it is a school rule to never send in candy or food items without prior approval.
If you would like to add something instead of a food treat- a class gift of thick pencils
(see below as these are found online) is another option or another box of Crayola 24 crayons.
Please see me if Valentines’ are a $ hardship as I always have extra in case.
Retelling a story helps children with sequencing events, organizing their thoughts as well
as learning the order of important story elements: (1) a beginning which includes the main
character and setting, (2) the middle which includes the problem or goal (3) and the solution or
summary of facts to show a conclusion. We will be retelling (from memory) the story of
“The Mitten”. This is a story that was read last year in K but it is not as familiar as most folk tales.
Ask your child what they thought was hard and what they thought was easy about the
story telling experience as it is a good reflective exercise about communication skills- speaking
and listening are big challenges at this age. We have visited several K classes to tell our stories,
including "Bony Legs."
We will continue our biography genre with reading aloud the life excerpts of Abe Lincoln,
George Washington and Mia Hamm. In math we have been starting to tell time to ½ hour and hour
as well as adding a mix of pennies, dimes and nickels. Playing a simple game of “Roll to a nickel”
is a great way to help your child learn important money skills. We played this at conferences.Grab
a handful of pennies and a few nickels. Roll a die (or borrow a game spinner) and take out that
amount of pennies. Each and every time a child gets 5 pennies he /she must trade them in for a
nickel. First person to reach 2 nickels calls out “I made a 10!”) and then wins a dime! Play this
until it becomes too easy …and then move it to “rolling for a quarter”….and finally “rolling for 4
quarters to make a dollar”. Adding 10 to any given number- or removing 10 from a large number
are also the focus of Everyday Math right now. Having your child add some mixed coins as well
as reminding them to “look at the little hand first” when determining the correct time will help
cement these skills learned here in class.
Our study of snowflakes has snowballed since the true arrival of some real snow vs. rain. We
recently measured out 5 cups of snow and wondered if it was the same (or =) as 5 cups of water.
Reading a few snow facts and snow science books fueled our study as we created our own
snowflakes starting with a typical hexagon center for our bulletin board. You can check them out
if you are in the school for an activity or during conferences mid- March! Also check out the
snowflakes.com site to make your own cyber-snowflake to send out to the world.
Speaking of snow….a reminder to all who have black snow pants and black boots. Everyone has
these same items. So if your child’s name is not inside- it is impossible to return items to the
correct owner. For example, last year we had a pair of black boots that had no name on them.
I showed them to each and every student, but no one will admit to owning them.
At the end of the day they were the only item left- day in and day out. So..please go over items with
your child (as well as labeling items) so we can return these to their rightful owner. Right now
we have a set of brown gloves that no one will claim...anyone missing these?
Also…each and every Friday is “Fresh Food Friday”. On Fridays kids are encouraged to bring in
fresh fruit or vegetables. We count up the number and send it in to Mr. D….and winning classes
with ALL students having a fresh snack are announced over the PA. My kids are VERY determined
to win -so I promised I would put in a reminder in this letter.
Last but not least, our mini-unit on China will occur after vacation. We will hopefully have some
gluten free fortune cookies ( I am searching for some anyway.If you see some please let me know!),
music a la Internet, money samples, a few artifacts as well as two folktales from China- so we can
compare/ contrast to the customs studied in Russia. The focus animals for these few days will be the
panda, sun bear and moon bear so we can compare/contrast these with our polar bear study this
past month!
As mentioned in the last newsletter, all students who did not make grade level benchmark
targets during the current CBM tests will receive a phone call before vacation so parents can hear
how to support their child further- and be able to ask any questions they have regarding next steps
in the classroom. Please visit my "Do at home" section on the right to see how to support your child
(via the internet) with basic skills covered in Reading Street, Raz.kids reading,math and even our
snowflake unit!
I’m hoping that this letter finds you toasty warm, smiling and ready for the big Valentine season
here in first grade. A big thank you for supporting your child and our classroom goals!
See you soon!
- Michelle
