February/March News from Room

202!
Classroom News

On Friday, February 26
from 10:00-11:00, we
are hosting a come
read with your child
morning! Included in
this hour will be a quick
informational session
about comprehension
strategies. If you would
like to attend (one adult
per student please!),
please RSVP to either
Mrs. Hollenbeck or Mrs.
Carr no later than
Thursday, Feb. 25th.
Were looking forward
to seeing you!

Important Dates

Book Orders
Book orders are due on
Wednesday, March 2nd.
We are sending home
both March clubs: See
Saw and 1 Graders. If
you are interested in
purchasing books, please
send in the order form
and either exact cash or a
check made payable to
Scholastic Book Clubs.
If you would rather
purchase the books
online (using a credit
card), you may do so at
www.scholastic.com. Our

Fri. Feb. 26th:

Parent Reading
Session (see
Classroom News
section for
details)
Wed. Mar. 2nd:
Book orders due
Thurs. Mar. 10:
Learning With a
Loved One
Grade 1 (2:002:40). Details to
come!
Fri. Mar. 11:
School Dance
(6:00-8:00)
Thurs. Mar. 17:
Early Dismissal
(Teacher
professional dev.)
Fri. Mar. 27: No
School (Good
Friday)

st

Homework

Homework is given on a
nightly basis. Your child
needs to read each
night with an adult or
older sibling for about
15-20 minutes; this can

February &
March Birthdays
Lucy: February 1st
Riley: February 4th
Jacob: March 10th

My Thoughts
We are currently
working in Unit 7 of
Fundations. A parent
letter highlighting the
covered content was
sent home to you last
week. Please take a
few minutes to read it
over and talk about
these things with your
child. Fundations is a
phonics-based
program. If your
language at home
mirrors our language
in the classroom, your
child will have a better
grasp of the English
language as well as a
leg-up with his/her
reading ability and
skills. To access Unit 7
(and all other units
covered), please visit
our classroom blog:
http://mrshollenbecks
outhwest.weebly.com.

class code is FMW84.

include the book(s)

being sent home as well
as RAZ Kids, library
books, etc. The reading
log needs to be checked
and initialed nightly. The
more your child reads,
the better he/she will
become at reading!

What Have We Been Doing?

Math

We are finishing up the

unit on Operations and
Algebraic Thinking 0-20
(a January-February
unit). Last week, the
students worked on
story problems. This
week, Mrs. Carr is
teaching them how to
find the missing
number in number
sentences such as
these:
2 + 3 = ___ + 1
1 + 7 = 10 - ___
4 + ___ = 9 - 3
An example of a story
problem that theyve
solved is this:
Breanna had 10
crayons. She gave
Cadence 4 crayons.
How many crayons
does Breanna have
left?
Starting in early March,
we will be moving into
our next math unit:
Geometry! Students
will be learning about
2-D and 3-D shapes
and, toward the end of
the unit, will be building
3-D shapes with
toothpicks and minimarshmallows!

Fundations
Right now, we are working
in Unit 7 in Fundations.
Student are learning
about new glued
sounds: /ang/, /ing/, /ong/,
and /ung/. Words with
these glued sounds
include: bang, sang, wing,
ring, song, long, lung, and
hung. Please visit my
blog for further
information as well as a
link to all the Trick Words
learned so far as well as
links to ALL of the parent
letters (Units 1-7).
Science
Spring is coming! During
the month of March, I
would like to get a jumpstart on the planting
season and start some
seeds in the classroom.
Would you be willing to
donate any small peat
pots and/or starter soil for
this project? Please email
me!

Writing
Mrs. Carr just finished up
her mini-unit on opinion
writing and I just began
a piece of persuasive
writing. Persuasive
writing is like a
restaurant review or a
review on a new car.
The students selected
the topic they would like
to write about (review!).
Topics include a review
of:
Fuji
SWs hot lunches
Fundations
BMX bikes
Minecraft
The Goodnight
Show
Dodge Durango
I explained to the class
that some people watch
movies or eat in
restaurants and then
write published reviews.
Its their job! They get
paid to do it!

Reading
Social Studies
Mrs. Carr will be reading
the story Chrysanthemum
by Kevin Henkes to the
class and doing a lesson
on feelings. When you
hurt someone, they never
quite heal back to normal
always watch what you
say to people!

Mrs. Carr and I are both

taking reading groups.
This means that each
child gets seen more
during the week and
each group has 3-4
students instead of 5-6!
We are continuing to
focus on sight word
recognition, building
fluency, and
comprehension
strategies. Goal for the
end of the year (mid-

May) is to be reading
independently on a level
18.

I hope that you have found this newsletter to be informative! Please feel free to
contact me via phone message, note, or email. Thank you!

Sarah Hollenbeck

shollenbeck@torrington.org * (860) 489-2311 ext. 3598

Blog: http://mrshollenbecksouthwest.weebly.com