Weekly Update

Happy Friday!

I couldn't resist this meme after our first snow days.  My boys were surely grateful for the extra sleep, and I was grateful for extra coffee in my pajamas!

Here's a little information and a friendly tip for you...Teachers watch the forecast religiously in the winter.  Most of us follow a gentleman on Facebook who has a page called "Jay's Wintry Mix".  If you're on Facebook, consider liking/following his page. His hobby is weather forecasting (especially in the winter) with a strong emphasis on Loudoun County.  If you want to really know what's happening with winter weather, follow Jay.  He analyzes model runs, historical data, and weather trends to let us know what's happening with the weather.  He gets the forecast right more often than any news/weather outlet you'll find, and the comments on his page can be downright hilarious.  :)

Meantime, we are trying to settle back into our normal classroom routines.  As much as I love to spend endless days in my workout clothes over Winter Break, I have to admit it feels really good to see the kids (they always grow so much over a break!), begin to reestablish procedures, and get back to business!

In other news...

Mid-Year Literacy Testing
Over the next month, I will administer the mid-year Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA).  Remember, the DRA tests a student's ability to decode words, read fluently, and retell / comprehend a story.  In preparation for our mid-year testing, please ensure your child is reading each night at home.  Please use the discussion guidelines on your child's weekly homework sheet to talk about his/her nightly reading.

Box Tops for Education:
Box Tops for Education are due next Friday, January 12th.  If you lost the collection sheet, please send Box Tops to school in a plastic bag labeled with your child's name.

Materials Collections for STEAM Expo:
I'll be sending a flyer home next week about supplies the 1st grade classes need for Pinebrook's annual STEAM Expo.  During STEAM Expo, we spend a school day exploring various topics through the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.  To make the day possible, we are collecting the following supplies:  cardboard, straws, tape, popsicle and craft sticks, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, index cards, pipe cleaners, construction paper, and cardstock. If you are able to donate any of these items, please send them to school with your child.  You may collect and send supplies through February.  Thank you!

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will talk about good reader strategies to use when exploring non-fiction texts.  We will practice retelling fiction stories.
• Writing:  We will write stories with a beginning, middle, and end while focusing on editing our writing for capital letters, punctuation, spacing, and properly spelled sight words.
• Math:  We will finish our Subtraction unit.  We will begin our Fact Families unit.  A fact family is made up of 2 addition sentences and 2 subtraction sentences.  All 4 math facts are related (thus the term fact "family") because each fact uses the same 3 digits.  For example, the fact family for 2, 3, and 5 looks like this:
• 2 + 3 = 5
• 3 + 2 = 5
• 5 - 2 = 3
• 5 - 3 = 2
• Science:  We will talk about winter changes and how animals prepare for winter.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

It's going to be cold this weekend!  Time to make soup in the slow cooker, and curl up on the couch with a blanket and coffee.  I hope you have a relaxing weekend planned after the intensity of the holidays.