Reading

For reading we have been working on identifying story elements. You can discuss story elements with your child. They include: the title and author of the story, the setting: when or where the story takes place, the characters: who the main characters in the story are, the problem or problems in the story and the solution. Which tells how the problem(s) are solved. By this point your child should be able to answer those story element questions. It reflects their ability to recall information and determines their level of comprehension. As your child progresses in their reading level, comprehension will become a bigger focus. That's why it's important now to help your child with understanding their reading. Fluency is a big indicator as to whether or not your child will comprehend what they read. Fluency deals with how smooth your child reads and the rate or speed they read. Phrasing and expression also play an important role in fluency.

Math

Parents for math we have been learning about shapes. Your children have been asked to bring in objects for our Shapes Museum. We have been reviewing the basic shapes and learning more about 3-D shapes like the cylinder, sphere and rectangular prism. All materials submitted to the museum will be returned in a few weeks. Thank you for your support!

Foss Science

We began our new Foss Science unit. It's called Pebbles, Sand and Silt. We have studied three different kinds of rocks. We did rock rubbings and tried to write with the rocks. We also sorted rocks by their attributes. We washed the rocks in water and then sorted them again. Ask your child about what we did.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher conferences will be held on November 12th and 13th. I will send out a confirmation of the date and time for your child. Any questions please call or email me. Thank you!

Accelerated Reader Program

Many students in our class have been participating in the AR Program. Many library books and some guided reading books have AR tests. After students have read the books a few times they take tests on our classroom computers. These tests ask questions to see how well the children read the books. Most tests are either 5 or 10 questions in length. The teacher monitors their progress to make sure they are passing the tests they take. If your child is reading on a Level H or higher they are participating in this program.
If you have any questions feel free to email Mrs. Gower at tgower@wasd.org.

Book-It

Parents this will be the last month for the Book-It Program. We will collect the book logs on Tuesday, March 31st and give out the last Pizza Hut coupons for those students that met their March reading goal. The students that met their goals for all six months will receive a certificate from Mr. Gonsar!

Social Studies Update

Social Studies update: We just finished learning about our National Symbols, Landmarks, Holidays and Heros. An activity to do at home would be to try and find symbols or pictures of landmarks that are national symbols. Our next unit of study will be to learn about the past. We will look at transportation, technology, schools and communities in Unit 4.

March Events

March has been packed full of reading activities. To start the month we had Puppy Pals night at school. We had eight service dogs come to our school for the first graders to read to. We had a nice turn out and a lot of fun! Thank you to all who participated. We just finished a week of Read Across America activities. We had dress up days and had a guest reader as well as reading buddies from across different grade levels. This month we'll be learning about St. Patrick's Day and spring.