Mrs. Ward, Second Grade Teacher
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Science, Science, Science!

4/18/2017

 
Dear Team Ward Parents,

Spring is in full swing and that means a lot of plant and animal science for Team Ward!  These are the questions we're studying:
-How are parents and offspring alike and different?
-How do the behaviors of parents and offspring help the offspring grow and survive?
-How to structures of organisms help them survive?
-How do humans mimic the structures and functions of organisms to solve problems?

We're beginning the unit by growing mystery seeds and studying them as they grow.  Our goal is to figure out what they are by observing the characteristics of each young plant.  We're also observing a mother eagle and her eaglets in Decorah, IA on a live cam.  The students have asked that I share the website with you so they might be able see the action after school and on weekends.  It is: explore.org/live-cams/player/decorah-eagles-north-nest.  

As a part of the unit we'll be studying various animals, learning about parent-offspring relationships and the specific structures of plants and animals that help them survive.  This will be integrated with our informational writing unit in May when the students choose an animal to research.  Then they will write a non-fiction chapter book about what they learned.  Should be great!

Happy Spring!

Family Traditions

3/24/2017

 
Team Ward enjoyed learning about family traditions together.  Thank you to the families who volunteered to come teach us about their special traditions.  The children loved having special visitors and learned a lot!  Each child also created a special project in class describing his/her own holiday traditions.  

100th Day!

2/11/2017

 
We had so much fun celebrating the 100th day of school.  We made crowns and did class activities like doing 100 jumping jacks, collectively reading 100 books, doing 100 math problems, making pictures of ourselves at 100 years old, and explaining what we would do with 100 dollars!  
​

January news

1/17/2017

 
Hello Team Ward!

Thanks for taking the time to check our class news!  

Last week we started a new unit in writer's workshop on personal narratives.  Our goal is for first to be able to tell a story from their lives with a beginning, middle, and end, and some details along the way.  I will be inviting the children to try new things to "bring their stories to life," like inserting dialogue, using feeling words, and describing specific actions.

Please continue to review and practice spelling words that are sent home on Mondays.  Extra practice with sorting, reading, and writing the words at home has great benefits!  

Children should continue to read one or two good-fit books nightly.  Please listen to your child read out loud and fill in the reading log for your child.  If you notice a book is a bit slow or choppy on the first read, encourage him/her to read it again until it sounds smooth and expressive.  If you notice your child is reading too fast, remind him/her to slow down.  Thanks for your support!

In math we are working on addition strategies and developing better fact fluency.  This means we would like the children to be able to recall math facts up to 10 quickly and easily.  I sent home flashcards last week so that children to practice at home.  

We just wrapped up our science unit on sound and light.  The really enjoyed this unit and learned a lot in the process!   

As always, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  Thanks again for your continued support!

Mrs. Ward

November happenings

11/30/2016

 
Thank you all for taking the time to meet with me during parent-teacher conferences.  I enjoyed sharing about your child's experience in first grade so far.  I continue to be amazed by this group of learners each and every day:-)

November was another busy month!  We learned about maps in social studies and even made our own pretend neighborhood maps.  We may have some future urban planners on our hands ;)  Team Ward also studied plane and 3-dimensional shapes in math and learned numerous reading strategies (and added the corresponding cards to our collections!).  We also continued weekly lessons in our social emotional curriculum, learning about feelings and how to recognize them by reading people's body language.  

In December we will start our second science unit on sound and light.  This is a very engaging, hands-on unit that is both educational and fun for all students.  I will send home a home-school connection letter which details our study a bit more.  Our next math unit is all about measurement, using standard and non-standard units (blocks, paper clips, etc.)  

Thanks for your continued support with listening to your child read good-fit books and fill in the daily reading log.  I have been meeting with different students each day to check on their "book shopping" and I am hoping that many students will start breaking away from those comfortable books from last trimester.  It's hard to let go of those favorite books, but we'll be looking for some new favorites this trimeser:)

Lastly, the students were sad to say goodbye to a friend in our class who moved away earlier this week.  Surprisingly we had a new student join us the next day!   Team Ward has been extremely supportive, helping to teach the classroom routines and procedures.  

Thanks again for all of your support.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Happy December!

Time flies

11/1/2016

 
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It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun!  Team Ward had a great October full of new learning experience and ended with fun Halloween festivities.  Here is a brief update of Team Ward happenings.
-Wrote reviews of our favorite things in our opinion unit
-Started Team Literacy, our small group literacy model for first grade
-Filled in many reading logs!!
-Started using iPads!!
-Finished "All About Me" posters and class books
-Learned about Number Bonds and how to use them for addition and subtraction
-Learned about Fact families and made Halloween themed fact family haunted houses
-Continued collecting data about hours of daylight and discussed changes from month to month

​Happy November!


Great week!

9/25/2016

 
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Dear Team Ward families,


Last week was a great one for us! We learned many new routines, like choosing good-fit books to bring home each day, doing reading workshop choices, sorting spelling words, and building stamina for read to self (independent reading) and read to someone (partner reading). This class is doing amazingly well at all of the above, and I promise I'm not just telling you what you want to hear. They are such a great group of learners!


We also finished our second math chapter and will be starting chapter 3 this week. Expect to see an optional "Extra Practice" packet in your child's HOOT folder very soon. Even if your child does not do the packet, it's helpful for parents to see the concepts we're learning and the formatting/vocabulary of the math problems.


Thanks for your support at home listening to your first grader read each night. And thank you for filling out the reading log! Please remember that if you have any concerns about the books your child is bringing home, contact me to discuss. Children are always welcome to bring home a book two nights in a row if they need more time to finish. Feel free to jot that down on the log. Thanks so much!


Mrs. Ward

Welcome to First Grade!

8/14/2016

 
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Hello and welcome to our FIRST GRADE TEAM!

My name is Mrs. Ward and I am so excited about being your teacher. It’s going to be a fun year full of lots of learning and new adventures in Room 28! I can’t wait to meet you and all of your classmates. We will be a great team!

I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. I grew up in Chicago and went to college at Northwestern (Go Cats!). I live with my husband and three children in Evanston. I have 11 year-old twins named Owen and Lauren and an 8 year-old son named Justin. We also have a dog named Maisy. We have a lot of fun at our house!

Here are some of my favorite things:-) 

Favorite animal: Elephant 
Favorite color: Purple 
Favorite season: Summer 
Favorite sport to play: Tennis
Favorite holiday: Thanksgiving
Favorite food: Thai Noodles 

Favorite candy: Gummy bears
Favorite board game: Ticket to Ride
Favorite book: Amos and Boris
Favorite grade: First


I look forward to meeting you at our Open House on Friday, August 26th. Maybe you can tell me about some of your favorite things too! If you have your school supplies ready, you can bring them in that day.

This is going to be a great school year. See you soon!!

​Mrs. Ward 



Diabetes Walk & Upcoming Dates

4/30/2016

 
We had a great time doing the Walk for Diabetes on Friday!  Our students kept up a great pace the whole way and had fun doing it!  

Upcoming Important Dates:

Thursday, May 5 - Portfolio Day!  Please meet us in the gym at 1:40 to watch our musical performance. We will then proceed to the classroom at 2:15 for students to share their 1st grade portfolios with you. If you have not already returned the form indicating an adult will be able to attend, please do so on Monday.


Friday, May 6 - Ms. Wu's last day :( If your child would like to make a card for Ms. Wu, please send it to school on Friday.

March update

3/25/2016

 
Enjoy the pictures from Rivershire, World Read Aloud Week, and More!
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