Mrs. Smith’s First Grade News January 22-26, 2018 Reminders and Events Word Study words are in your child’s folder. We will have a spelling test on Friday, January 26. Student holiday, Jan. 29 Please send your child with a coat appropriate for the temperature. We will have outside recess whenever the weather allows. Please send your child with a snack each day. Reading and Writing We are learning about biographies this week. We will read about the author Cynthia Rylant through an author study. We will read her fiction stories and talk about collections of books with the same characters: Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby and Poppleton. Sight words are in your child’s folder for this week. These words are added to our Word Wall. We are continuing to work towards writing a five sentence paragraph. We are reviewing the expectations of beginning sentences with capitals, and ending with the correct end mark. Students are encouraged to use our class Word Wall, their word study notebooks and books to help with correct spelling. Science Theme: Winter Adaptations We will talk about animal adaptations during winter and learn about hibernation and migration. Him o In math, we are working on addition and subtraction facts to 20 and story problems. We are learning about making equal equations and comparing numbers that are greater or less. In reading groups, we are focusing on building fluency to increase comprehension. We are learning to reread sentences if we miss words, and to read like we are talking to a friend. Reading with expression helps build comprehension skills.