friend, we showed it to our

friend who then had to act

out the sentence. This was a

VERY fun activity for the

students!

Math:

In math, we

are work-

ing on

graphing.

This week

we worked

on counting

and creating tallies.

We then used this new skill

to do surveys (i.e. What is

your favorite weather?) Af-

ter completing our surveys,

we made pictographs and

bar graphs.

Next week, we will continue

to practice reading and un-

derstanding bar graphs.

In the Morning……………..

1st Grade Newsletter

Language Arts:

This week we have been reading the story, “Pam and

Sam” by Nancy Tafuri. Pam and Sam are friends

who like to play together, but they both cannot do

the same things (i.e. Pam can jump, but Sam can’t.)

We are also reading a cute story about three baby

birds who learn to fly.

In center activities, we are working on identifying

high frequency vocabulary words through a variety

of hands-on activities. The students enjoy acting out

sentences with stuffed animals (i.e. My gray cat can

run and jump.)

We are also learning to read and follow written di-

rections (i.e. Color two flowers red.)

Next week, we will read a story about friends who

like to jump—but one of their friends can not jump.

He has something surprising that he can do!

In writing, we are working on understanding the dif-

ferences between letters, words, and sentences. We

are also learning that sentences are composed of two

parts (who and what do?). We did a writing activity

where the students had to write sentences about their

friends (i.e. Jett runs. Nevaeh jumps. Dorina hides.

Elijah sleeps.) After writing a sentence about a

Dates to Remember:

November 8 - No School/

Parent Teacher Conferences

November 9 - Pancake

Breakfast (8-11am)/Arts &

Crafts Festival (9am-3pm)

November 14 - Swimming

November 19 - Hispanic

Family Night 6pm

November 25 - Board Meet-

ing 6pm

November 27-29 - No

School/Thanksgiving Break

December 3 - PTG Meeting

6pm

December 12 - Swimming

December 16 - Board Meet-

ing 6pm

December 20 - ASL Winter

Festival 1:30pm

December 23 - January 1 -

No School/Winter Break

11/07/13

Volume 1, Issue 2

PE (Kelley Cole)

In science, we have been learning about weather. We

learned about three different kinds of clouds: stratus,

cirrus, and cumulus clouds. We hung up a rain gauge

and have checked it several times. It had snow in it

yesterday!! We have also started to learn that when

air moves—it is wind. We used bubbles to show the

direction the wind was blowing. We will next use pin-

wheels and the anemometer to measure wind

speed.

In technology class, the stu-

dents have been working on

logging into the computers

with their user names and

passwords. They have also

been playing games to learn

where the different letters are

on the keyboard.

Science (Kelly): Social Studies (Kelly):

ASL (Kelly Kryzska):

The students viewed

the story "Go Away,

Big Green Monster" by

Ed Emberley in ASL.

Then they practiced

describing the mon-

ster’s face. They

worked on stating the

noun before signing the

adjective or verb.

Page 2 1st Grade Newsletter

In the Afternoons…………

Ar t (Lisa Johnson): October was the month for "Bully Awareness". There-

fore, all the students at MDS- including the first grad-

ers - drew an "anti-bully" poster. Their posters focused

on activities that "good friends

do together" (i.e. sharing dolls,

playing nicely together, etc.).

They used oil pastels and a wa-

tercolor technique to make their

art. They turned out beautifully,

with vivid colors!

The 1st graders also made ador-

able feathered owls using egg

cartons.

In social studies we have started a unit called “Our

Neighborhood.” We used Google Earth to find our houses.

This was VERY exciting! We also discussed different

kinds of houses

(townhouse, apart-

ment, and house). In

addition, we dis-

cussed that houses

can be made of dif-

ferent

materi-

als (i.e.

brick,

wood, or

stone).

Technology (Erik Queen) K-1 students have transitioned to stations in PE. We

are working on balance, coordination, forward and log

rolls, jumping, and cardio-based activities. The next

swimming day is Thursday, November 14th. Parents

(especially dads!) are needed for locker room supervi-

sion. Let Kelley know if you're available!