Mrs Pinski’s Newsletter.

Friday, October 17th, 2008

Dear Parents,
Next week will be our transition week as Amy Fenner spends a week with us.  It will give the children a chance to get to know her while she co-teaches with me to ensure a smooth transition.  I will be writing report cards before I go on leave.

Writing

In Writer’s Workshop we have been working on elaborating and the expectation is that the children write more than one sentence.  We are working on stretching out words to hear more sounds and using capitals at the beginning and punctuation at the end of sentences. 

Reading

I have been doing whole class lessons on metacognition.  Yes, your first grader knows this word and should know what it means (‘thinking about thinking’ is the definition used in class)!  I have explained that good readers do things while they hear a story or read one for themselves.  They make connections (text-to-text and personal ones), they make pictures in their mind, they predict or guess what happens next and they wonder about things.  These strategies will help your child develop good comprehension skills. 
        Some of you have asked if you should be reading to your child at home or having them read to you.  It can be hard to find appropriate texts if your child is reading at a beginning of first grade level but there is still a lot of value in you reading to them.  You are modeling good fluency and intonation and can also develop retelling and comprehension skills.  Ask your child to identify the main character, the problem and solution in the story or make a connection.  Also ask them what is their favorite part and why or which part of the story they think is most important and why (the latter is higher level).  There’s not necessarily a ‘right’ answer to some of these questions but first graders need practice with these concepts.

Math

We are working on Topic 3, which I plan to finish by the end of the month.  So far we’ve reviewed time to the hour and are working on money; specifically pennies, nickels and dimes.  It is important that your child not only recognize and assign value to these coins but also understand that 1 dime = 2 nickels or 10 pennies, etc.

Reminders

10/21/08  Our class visits the book fair 10:10-10:35 a.m.
10/31/08 My anticipated last day.
11/3/08 Mrs. Fenner’s first day.
11/4/08 Election Day – no school for children.

Have a great weekend and
a happy and safe Halloween!