10/29 to 11/2

Happy Monday!

Thank you to all families that participated in our Grand-friends event. It is always a lot of fun to show grandparents around the school! 

Fall conference sign up was sent last week.

On October 31st, we will host a Fall Scoot. The whole school is participating and there will be games, snacks, and crafts for the students. Students can also wear orange and black.

Reminder: Veteran's Day RSVP is due November 1st. Please let us know if you are able to make it! It is also the last chance for third and fourth grade students to enter a piece of writing that they would like to read at the event. Lastly, if you are interested in volunteering your time to help us with our Veteran's Day preparations please contact Sheri Krueger at  kruegers@kaukaunasd.org 

Upcoming Events:

10/30: Yoga: students can wear comfy clothes
10/31: Fall Scoot
10/31: Wear orange and black

11/1: Veteran’s Day RSVP Due

11/1: Picture Retake Day

11/8: Fall Conferences

11/13: Fall Conferences

11/16: Early Release for students

Reading: This week in reading we are continuing our word detective unit. We will be using our knowledge of letters, sounds, and words to read. We will look at beginning of words, watch out for special endings, look at vowel teams, and use word parts we know to read new words.

Writing: This week in writing we are working on teaching our readers how to do something. We will learn how to plan a book with our partners, start using "bossy" language, and work on gaining our readers attention at the beginning of our book! This week we are also writing a How-To Book as a class, to teach the school something new!

Math: The students have been working hard at solving subtraction and addition story problems in many ways and finding the most efficient way to solve it. This week we will relate addition and subtraction, learn about the vertical form, and start preparing for this Unit 2 test. This week in math you will get a homework sheet sent home on Thursday. We will start to send sheets home on Wednesdays for students to work on. You do not need to return it to school, we use this homework as a tool to show families what we are working on in school.

Science: This week in science we are going to start exploring space! We are going to build on what we learned on our field trip and start our unit with a close reading and asking ourselves some questions we have about space.

Word Work: This week in word work we are continuing our work with tapping out CVC words. We are also working on scooping up parts in our stories to sound fluent.

Questions to ask:

• What books are you reading this week?
• What are you teaching in your How-To book in writing?
• Are you writing a book as a class this week? What is the book about?
• Did you get math homework this week? Should we look at it together?
• What are you learning about space this week? What are some things you hope to learn about space?

10/22 to 10/24

Hello,

Field trip this week! You will not need to pack a lunch. We will be leaving after our normal lunch time to head to Barlow Planetarium.

There will be a lot of writing coming home tonight (Monday). We published a small moment story and kept it at school but the remaining stories we sent home today for you to look at! Enjoy!

The sign up for fall conferences will be sent out tomorrow.

Here are a few links if you are able to help out for Fall Conferences:

Fall 2018 Teacher Conference Meals

Fall 2018 Book Fair

Specials:

Monday: Art

Tuesday: Gym and Music

Wednesday: Gym and Music

Upcoming Events:
10/22-10/24: Red Ribbon Week
10/22: Wear Comfy Clothes
10/23: Wear Crazy Socks
10/23: Field Trip
10/23: Family Night: Goodies, Games, and Grandparents
10/24: Wear Red
10/24: Scholastic Orders Due!
10/25-10/26: No School
10/31: Last Day for Socks!
11/1: Veteran’s Day RSVP Due

Reading: In reading this week we will scoop our words to make our reading smooth now that we have spent some time recognizing snap words.  We will learn that word detectives can break words into parts as they read, trying a word in different ways until it makes sense or sounds right.

Writing: This week in writing we are starting a new unit on How-To Books. We will be looking through How-To books and seeing what we notice and start writing our own.

Math: In math this week we are continuing to learn new strategies to solve subtraction problems. We will be learning what is efficient for us to use and try that with equations and story problems.

Science: This week we are starting our space unit! We will be going to the Barlow Planetarium to kick off our learning!

10/15 to 10/19

Hello,

Wow! We have some busy weeks ahead for first grade! Thank you for your organization with paperwork that has come home.

Specials Schedule:
Monday: Gym and Music
Tuesday: Gym and Music
Wednesday: Gym and Music
Thursday: Library Check-Out and STEAM
Friday: Library Skills and Gym

Here are a few links if you are able to volunteer for Fall Conferences:

Fall 2018 Teacher Conference Meals

Fall 2018 Book Fair

Upcoming Events:
10/16: Field Trip Slip Due
10/19: Grandparent Event from 2-3 PM
10/23: Field Trip
10/23: Family Night: Goodies, Games, and Grandparents
10/24: Scholastic Orders Due
10/25-10/26: No School
11/1: Veteran’s Day RSVP Due

Reading: Have you heard?  We have been receiving notes from the Secret Service Detective Agency.  They need our help to become word detectives.  We have received missions each day to help with our word solving strategies. This week we will use snap words to help us in our books. Students will ask themselves, “Does this mystery word remind me of another word I know?” and then think of similar snap word to help figure out the word.

Writing: This week we are finishing up our small moment books.  We are revising and using checklists.  We will make our books ready for the library at the end of the week by adding covers and coloring our pictures.

Word Study: This week in word study we are working on the high frequency words: so, we, it, and, and up. We are also learning how to tap out CVC words and keep building our letter sound knowledge.

Math: Teachers had some wonderful math professional development last week that we can’t wait to incorporate into our rooms. This week in math we will be talking about efficient strategies for solving addition problems, learn a few ways to solve subtraction problems, and find an efficient way to solve those problems.

Social Studies: It is our last week of studying families. This week we will be studying how to interview someone.  We will be practicing and compiling the questions that we will be using during our interviews with family members on Friday.

If you would like your child to share some specific things they are working on in school this week, here are a few questions you could ask!

• What small moment story are you going to publish? Is that the one you are hanging in the hall?
• What missions did you get in reading this week? Did you get your word detective badges yet? (We will get them on Wednesday!)
• What strategy do you use to solve addition/subtraction problems? Can you show me?
• Miss Wittmann said you are learning to tap out words! How do you tap out the word red?
• What interview questions are you going to ask grandma or grandpa on Friday?

Let me know if you find this helpful! And let me know if you have any questions for me.

Thanks,

Miss Wittmann

10/8 to 10/12

We are busy in first grade! This week we are sharing important news!  
We have a busy couple of weeks and want to make sure that you’ve seen
all the notes coming home. Thank you for all of your organization with that!

Field Trip-October 23

We will be going on a field trip on October 23rd to the Barlow Planetarium.  
Forms are coming home today. Please send back by October 16th.

Yoga-October 12

This year our class will be participating in yoga once a month led by Kristin
McEneany a mother of a first grader.  Our first session will be this Friday.
Please send in a beach towel this week to be left in your child's locker to be used during yoga.  

Grandparent Event-October 19

On Friday October 19th we are inviting a grandparent or family member
in to be interviewed by your first grader and to complete a small project.  
If someone in your family is planning to join your student please send back the
pink slip so that we have a count.

Bike Helmets-Starting this week

First graders are beginning their bike unit in gym class.  If they have a helmet
at home they can bring their own to use.  If not, there are helmets at school to use.

Walk to School Day- October 10

We are meeting at the Recyclist starting at 7:15 and walking to school
starting at 7:30.  Join if you can!

Family Night- October 23

Family night will be from 6-7 p.m.  Grandparents and grandfriends are invited to
play games with their New Directions grandchildren. There will be a variety of games
and some snacks served.  RSVP is due back October 16th.

Veterans Day Concert- November 19

Forms were sent home last week for our first Veteran’s Day Event.
RSVP is due back November 1st.

Book Orders- October 24

Book order forms were sent home last week if you are interested!
You can order with the paper copy or online at: https://clubs.scholastic.com/
Our class code is QJMYM

Socktober- October 31
This month we will be collecting socks for those in need! The dealine is October 31st.
Thanks!

Important Dates

10/10: National Walk to School Day

10/11: Roller Skating Fun at Skate City

10/19: Grandparent/Family Interviews 2:00

10/23: Field Trip to Barlow Planetarium

10/23: Family Night: Goodies, Games, and Grandparents
10/24: Book Orders Due

10/25-10/26: No School
11/1: Veteran's Day RSVP Due

10/1 to 10/5

Hello,

Thank you to all the families that were able to make it to our first family night! I hope you
found it to be helpful. This week there will be a survey sent out to give feedback. Thank
you for your time with that!

This October students at New Directions will CREATE Kindness as they collect socks for
Kid President’s Socktober sock drive.  Look for more information to come home with your
child on October 4.  Check out the link below for more information on Socktober!

http://soulpancake.com/socktober/

We look forward to making a difference as a school!

This week is Homecoming week for Kaukauna! Here are the dress up days for the remainder
of the week:

Monday: PJ/Comfy Day
Tuesday: Superhero Day
Wednesday: NDLC Wear Day
Thursday: Sports Team Day
Friday: Kaukauna Spirit Day

Upcoming Events:
10/3: Homecoming Parade
10/10: National Walk to School Day
10/11: Roller Skating Fun at Skate City
10/23: Family Night: Goodies, Games, and Grandparents
10/25-10/26: No School

Reading: In reading this week we are strengthening up our reading partnerships. We will give
book introductions to our partners, help each other solve tough words (but not telling them
what the word is!), doing something at the end of our books with our partner, and celebrate
the end of our first unit by seeing what we can do and setting new goals for ourselves.

Writing: This week in writing we will teach that writers use words they know to spell new
and challenging words.  We will also do some editing to our first stories of the year.  To end
the week we will set new goals and fancy up a piece of writing.

Word Study: In word study we have been going over letter formation and letter sounds. 
We introduce two new letters a day.   This week we will focus on these words in our
reading and writing: the, I, to, a, is. 

Math: In math this week we will begin our fact with minus one.  We will also start a new
unit on addition and subtraction.  We will make sense of equations by drawing pictures
and using tools to help us.  By the end of the week will move towards using circle drawings
to represent equations.  We will also study the = sign this week.  

Social Studies: This week we will continue to learn about families. We will be working in
centers that are focused on families.  They include reading books about families, looking
at pictures from long ago and comparing to today, a technology center, and making a
collage with pictures that represent your family.   

Pajama Day!