April 17th, 2009 Ms.

Martin’s First Grade Room 105

Volume 1, Issue 2

Citizens of the Week The Scoop

We have had another great week in First grade. On Monday we enjoyed
Congratulations to Lauren sharing with one another what we did over Spring
and Shyanne for demon- break. Our character focus this week was Respect.
strating excellent RESPECT Congratulations goes out to Lauren and Shyanne for
this week. Way to go! showing excellent respect this week. What a great a
example! This week’s writer of the week goes to
Nehemiah for stretching out his story. Nehemiah’s
original story about playing with his dog was only one
sentence. His revised story includes much more de-
tail and he hasn’t even got to the part where he starts to play with his dog.
We’ll have to wait to see how the author tells
us more details of what it’s like when he plays
with his dog. Look for more stories from this
author, Nehemiah. Our Author of the Month
is Dr. Seuss. Students have been learning a lot
about this author, including his life and early
work. We learned how much of Dr. Seuss’s
childhood inspired his writing. Authors truly do
write from their own experience. Students
have also been settling down into our daily routine which includes daily stu-
dent jobs at the end of the day. Pictured above is Kayden vacuuming our
carpet at the end of the day. Students certainly deserve a round of ap-
plause for all their hard work, maybe even a “truck driver applause” (ask
your child about that one).

Upcoming Events Writer’s Spotlight

• Spelling test April 23rd
Playing with my dog
• No school Friday April 24th
By: Nehemiah Balsley
• Return Guest Reader sign up In the wood I see deer and
sheet birds, but what I am really look-
ing for is a stick. I am looking
for a stick that is thick so that
my dog can see it when we play
fetch.
 Writing Reading
This week in writing Students began their unit on per- For phonics this week we focused on the letter “y” and
sonal narratives. During the next several weeks stu- the long E sound and the i sound it makes as in “by”
dents will be writing their own published piece of writ- and “fuzzy”. We started a new program in our class
ing, and will travel through the process of writing called “guest readers”. Stu-
from first draft to editing, final draft and finally pub- dents will be inviting their
lishing. Students focused on using their authority lists parents, grandparents, or
to generate ideas from their lives to write about. family friend to our class-
Students learned how room to be a guest reader.
authors take the small Students made their own
moments of their lives invitations for their family
and stretch out the and friends. Invitations
story by adding detail went home with students on
Lauren enjoying sitting on
and voice to their writ- Wednesday. I am sending her Dad’s lap while he reads
ing. We will continue to home a schedule for our to our class as Lauren’s

focus on these skills guest readers please fill in a guest reader.

through out this writing piece. When students have time that would be best for
finished writing and publishing their writing piece, we you and return it to school on Monday with your child.
will hold an Authors celebration in our classroom for
parents and friends to listen to their child share their
writing. You won’t want to miss it, more information
will be sent home as it gets closer.
Math
Writer’s Quote of the Week This week in math we have continued to work on
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me telling time. Students have been learning to tell
the glint of light on broken glass…” time to the hour and the 1/2 hour. Students en-
joyed working in teams, to see who could tell time
….Anton Chekhov
the fastest. Students worked very well together
and even decided amongst themselves what their
team name would be. The teams were called
Team Rock band
Spelling Team Motorcycle
I hope all of you have been able to have a chance Team Lizzie McGuire
to visit our interactive spelling website. If you Team Band
haven’t had a chance, I strongly recommend the
site. Your child can play spelling games, and prac-
tice their spelling. Every week the our class spell-
ing words are posted on the site.
Please visit the site and search by teacher name—
Angela Martin.

Page 2
First Grade News