This has been a productive week in first grade! Since we have completed our Reading Street unit on communities, we have been spending lots of time sharing how different communities live and work together. These kiddos are experts when it comes to communities! I am proud of how much they know. They have chosen their favorite story from the Reading Street unit and wrote about why they liked it. Many children focused on how the characters in the fiction stories, such as Max and Ruby: A Big Fish for Max helped each other. Other students wrote about the nonfiction text, Who Works Here. They wrote that they liked learning about the jobs of different community helpers. Tomorrow, the children will be writing letters to teach someone else all about being part of a school community.
I know that many of you are probably trying to plan ahead for Valentine's Day. First graders love giving Valentines to their classmates. I will send home a note soon with information about this special activity, but I wanted to get some important information to you now. If your child is going to hand out Valentines, they must bring one for each child in the class, 23 in all. Also, please do not send Valentines that have candy in them. I know that many Valentines come prepackaged with candy, but due to our school's "No food sharing" policy, we need to refrain from using these Valentines.
It has been so wonderful to finally have outdoor recess this week! It makes a world of difference for the children to be able to get some fresh air and exercise each day. Please remember to continue sending your child to school with "winter gear", warm coats, hats, and mittens. Remember, we go out as long as the temperature is 30 degrees or warmer, and not raining, so the children need appropriate outdoor gear. Our recess is actually in the morning (11:35), so we often have not yet reached the forecasted high temperature for the day.
Keep reading with your children every day. The more they read regularly (even on non-school days), the better they will read. New library books were checked out today. Please remember that library day is every Wednesday. Our little ones can be quite disappointed if they don't get to choose a new book because they did not return theirs on time.
If you can donate a bottle of liquid hand soap, or a bottle of hand sanitizer to our classroom, we would really appreciate it!