Friday, February 27^th, 2009

 Dear First Grade Families,

            This week during shared reading time we learned to read the story A Color of his Own by Lio Lionni. We completed a story map, added words to our word wall, wrote a class book, voted on our favorite color chameleon from the story, and completed a Venn diagram to compare real chameleons with the chameleons from the story.

            In math this week we learned about equivalent names, fact families, we learned to use fact triangles to practice addition and subtraction, we learned to use the facts table, we practiced measuring in centimeters and we compared different lengths. Last week, the Unit five checking progress was taken.  Students were given the chance to fix their mistakes in order to reinforce the concepts that were taught. Graded tests came home today.

            We continue to work on our health unit. This week we talked all about feelings. On Tuesday, Mr. Torrey, a Manistee police officer and first grade parent, came in to talk to us about some safety issues.  He talked about using the buddy system so your child is never alone when they are playing, he talked about what to do in the event of an emergency, he talked about strangers, he discussed drugs, and he taught them about proper places for loving touches.

            Also on Tuesday, we had two Dental Hygienists from High-Tech Dental come in and talk to us about keeping our teeth healthy.  They gave us all a goodie bag.

           Your child’s animal research project is due Monday, March 2^nd.  Please be sure your child brings in their homemade animal and their report based on the research they found.  Next week we will begin putting the information into a book to be read at our Young Author’s Night in April.

            My maternity leave begins on April 7^th.  My last day at school is March 27^th.  Therefore, I would like to make time to have one last conference with you and give out the third marking period report card.  I have enclosed a schedule.  Please look it over and choose a time that works best for you.  Please call or e-mail me the day and time you would like.  My phone number here at school is 889-5521.  My e-mail address is klyman@manistee.org.

            March is reading month and we have many fun things planned.  Our main classroom activity is to read as much as possible.  I sent home information on our special reading activity.  Please be sure your child is reading and turning in their reading slips to receive a scoop of ice cream on their bulletin board cone each week.

            Questions to ask your child this week are the following:

1. Can you use the following words in a sentence? Thing, after, why, thought, by, other, side

2. Can you make a fact family with the following 3 numbers? 3, 4, 7

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lyman