1. First Grade Homework & Classroom News:
August 21st- 25th
Word families
Words that end in these patterns:
-at (bat)
-am (jam)
-ack (back)
-ip (rip)
-in (win)
-en (hen)
-et (get)
-op (stop)
-ot (hot)
-us (bus)
-un (fun)
Homework Menu:
Choose one appetizer and one main course to do for homework every night. If you are still hungry for practice, help yourself to some dessert!
Appetizer (5 minutes)
Practice any of the listed Daily Math skills
Write some word family words in a fun way
Main Course(15 minutes)
Read a “just-right book” to a stuffed animal or a family member for 13 minutes. Spend 2 minutes retelling what you read.
Dessert (10 minutes)
Go on to the class website and explore some of the ELA and Math games linked on the Web Resources page.
Daily Math skills:
Counting to and from any number within 120
draw dots to represent numbers from 0-20
Counting handfuls of items (cereal, pennies, paper clips)
Add together two groups of items to find sums (4 cheerios plus 3 cheerios gives us 7 cheerios)
Practice writing numbers from 1-120
STEM focus and Words of the week
Questions: Why is a solar eclipse such a big deal?
Challenges: Design and build a structure that is strong and rigid.
Words to know: Solar, eclipse, totality, shadow, strong, weak. Flexible, rigid.

2. A note from the teachers…
Homework and Newsletter
August 21st-25th
A note from the teachers…
Our solar eclipse celebration was a great success thanks to great listening from our students and amazing parent volunteers! It was an incredible experience and we are thankful to have shared it with you all. This week we will be jumping into the first grade standards and our project based learning with short vowel word families, deepening reading comprehension through oral retells, and reviewing some basic addition skills. When you are reading at home, please encourage your child to retell afterwards with as many details as they remember. Sometimes it helps to give them transition words like “first, next, after that, then, and in the end.“ Being able to give strong retells after reading is generally an indicator of later reading success.  As always, feel free to contact us with questions or comments through or our class dojo. Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Swartz and Mrs. Watson.
Upcoming Events:
Monday, August 28th- K-2 parent information night 6-7:30pm (no students)
Star Students:
Mrs. Watson’s class: Atalie has been super helpful and a class leader, she is always willing to help a friend (or teacher) in need! James has been so attentive to his work and always does his best!
Mrs. Swartz’s class: Dazlyn has been very helpful to her teacher and kind to her friends! Trey has been especially attentive at the small group table and has been working so hard to learn new things!
Special Birthdays:
8/20-Blake (Mrs. Swartz) 8/22-Aurora (Mrs. Watson)

3. After reading a story, use these transition words to retell as much as you remember. 