ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS
It is hard to believe that next week is already Spring Break!  When we return we will only have a little more than nine weeks left in the school year!  We had a great week last week and we are ready for a nice break before we come back and finish 1st grade strong!
Our superstar this week was Vihaan. It was fun to learn more about him and his family.

We also had Raiya’s mom come and read to us as our parent reader on Friday!

IN YOUR CHILD’S BACKPACK:    
Throughout the year, we work hard to monitor and assess our students to determine areas for continued focus.  Three times each year, our Intervention Department administers reading and math screening to help the school staff best target instruction.  This year, for the middle-of-the-year assessments that the students took in January, the State of Texas mandated that all first graders also take several assessments that will identify children at risk for a reading disability, specifically dyslexia.  We received the data late this week that was compiled by our interventionist, and your child’s results are coming home in his/her backpack today.  Please do not panic if you see individual areas considered at risk.  It is information that we utilize to guide instruction and is only one data point in a collection of data that we use when monitoring students.  If there is a history in your family of members having difficulty learning to read (i.e., dyslexia), please let me know.  It is something that definitely runs in families and early identification is helpful for accommodating students.

 

SPRING BREAK READING:    
For Spring Break, the students do not have a reader’s response sheet to complete.  However, please encourage your child to find opportunities to enjoy a good book!  We will jump right back in on March 25, so it is vital that they maintain practice.  Thanks for your help!


CALLAHAN’S GENERAL STORE: 
On Monday, April 1st, we will visit Callahan’s General Store.  This important learning experience will coincide with our Spring Project Based Learning (PBL) assignment.  We look forward to introducing the students to an exciting problem after Spring Break which will require their help.  If you have not returned your child’s permission slip and/or money, please do so by March 27th.  The transportation fee for each child is $6.00.  Just as with the first field trip, please send in exact cash or a check made out to CCE.
We will be able to accept all the parents who want to volunteer for this field trip as long as you are an approved RRISD volunteer.  We ask that you provide your own transportation; carpooling with other first grade parents would be great!  Please remember, no siblings are allowed to accompany you. If you would like to volunteer for this field trip, please email me and let me know.

 

PARENT HELP NEEDED:
For this upcoming PBL assignment, we need parent help.  Once we launch the project, we will get more specific details out to you, but we need a few parents willing to help cut wood and assemble a piece of equipment for each class.  Some of the wood cutting may need to happen before our build day at your house due to heaviness of tools.  The building time will take place during school hours on Friday, April 12th.  Email me if you are available to help out on this date.  Thanks so much!
HERE’S A PEEK INTO OUR WEEK:
READING AND WRITING:
-Introduction to contractions
-Begin a new research project tied to science
-Continue to develop our accuracy, fluency, and comprehension through the stories we read
MATH:
– Understanding the inverse relationship of addition and subtraction
-Use objects and pictorial models to solve subtraction
SCIENCE:
-Wrap up our unit on plants
-Introduce another egg-citing unit in life science!  More coming soon!
HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK
1. Read 10-15 minutes every day. Record in the student planner about the main idea of the story.
SUPER STAR!
This week, we do not have a star of the week scheduled due to our break.  We look forward to learning more about our special classmate the first week of April!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

March 18-22: Spring Break
March 25: School Resumes
March 27: Field Trip permission slips and transportation fees due for Callahan’s General Store
March 29: Parent Reader (Jade’s family)
April 1: First Grade Field Trip to Callahan’s General Store

 

Wishing you a relaxing and fun-filled Spring Break!