First Grade Home to School Connections
Week
of February 2n CONGRATULATIONS
to the Patriots on their Super Bowl win!
This
week I will send home a list of Classmates.
We are focusing on these two
skills as we read during guiding reading. When I send home your child’s F and P
level, I will include their Fluency rate of words read per minute along with
their comprehension level. Periodically I will be sending home a passage for
your child to read. To improve their
fluency play beat the clock. Read it
several times and try to beat your timed rate.
We also will be continuing with reading passages to check students’
comprehension.
Fluency is
the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression. Fluency is
important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and
comprehension. When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words
automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what
they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their
reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking. Readers who have not yet
developed fluency read slowly, word by word. Their oral reading is choppy.
Because
fluent readers do not have to concentrate on decoding the words, they can focus
their attention on what the text means. They can make connections among the
ideas in the text and their background knowledge. In other words, fluent
readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time. Less fluent readers,
however, must focus their attention on figuring out the words, leaving them
little attention for understanding the meaning of text. (Reading Rocket)
Comprehension
Comprehension
is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to
accurately understand written material, children need to be able to (1) decode
what they read; (2) make connections between what they read and what they
already know; and (3) think deeply about what they have read. One big part of
comprehension is having a sufficient vocabulary, or knowing the meanings of
enough words.
Readers who
have strong comprehension are able to draw conclusions about what they read –
what is important, what is a fact, what caused an event to happen, which
characters are funny. Thus comprehension involves combining reading with
thinking and reasoning.(Reading Rocket)
Our new unit is Unit 9…Closed
Syllables
Essential Question: What is
a closed syllable?
1.
Closed syllables can only have one vowel.
2.
The vowel is followed by one or more
consonants (closed in)
3.
The vowel sound is short. To indicate the short vowel, the vowel is
marked with a breve.
Essential
Question: What is a vowel team?
*****
Please let me know if you need a copy sent home. Trick Words… -see-between- site
with unit pack. Create FLAH CARDS at home.
Spelling Words:
Fundations: vowel teams ee
VOWEL RULE: When
two vowels go walking the first one does the talking. It shouts out its name. It is a
long vowel. For example:
sweet…sweeeet
….Spelling words are
differentiated… Students will have
different lists **Do your homework using
the Fundations paper.
***Practice identifying and spelling trick
words. They appear frequently in reading
and students need to spell them correctly in their writing. Try to use trick
words in your spelling sentences too. A Fundations word Wall is available to
you on my website. Run it off and keep
it available for your child when they are doing their homework.
Writing
We are
continuing with non-fiction writing of teacher books.
In our teacher book writing we will include an introduction
to our topic, facts about our topic and then a closing statement about our
topic.
_____________________________________________________
We are
graphing postcards from all around the US and using our compass rose to locate
the different states (N-S-E-W) using RI as our starting point. The children are
so exciting about receiving a postcard from family or friends.
