Welcome to first grade
CHECK OUT WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING! ITS PRETTY AWESOME.
Our first newsletter of the school year- Welcome! Normally, in our newsletters you will find a description of what we have been doing within each of our units for the past two weeks, as well as future projects or tests within the units. This past week, though, our main focus was practicing routines and going over behavior expectations here in first grade. We like to start off slowly with our units to make sure that our routines and expectations are really ingrained in us in order for the year to go smoothly and successfully!
Kickboard Update! Mrs. Brace and the PBIS school based behavior committee are working to reset usernames and password logins for your child. We should have access to these shortly, so keep an eye out for information coming home about your child's new username and password so you can easily access Kickboard at home. Let me know if you have any questions concerning this! Thanks for your patience! In Reading... Our reading curriculum will start fresh on Monday. Our first focuses on the comprehension skill: This past week we were introduced to the different rotations for our reading block time. These rotations include word family work, where students work with a specific spelling pattern to transfer phonics instruction to writing, read to self, listen to reading, and journal writing. During our reading block time, the first graders are expected to be independently working on a rotations, while I am meeting with small reading groups to work on a specific skill that helps to enhance fluency and comprehension. The books that you will find in your child's book bags, are the books that we work on in our small group setting. They are not required to be read at home for their family reading time HW, but they are a great option for your child to read by him/herself because they are books that we have been practicing that week and will help build upon their fluency. In Math... Our first math unit is already underway! Module 1 focuses on "Sums and Differences to 10." Topic A of Module 1 continues to develop students number sense within 10 by practicing "put together" (addition) situations. The biggest focus in topic A is using a number bond to see parts and a total. We practice being able to find the missing part to make 10- specifically using numbers 6,7,8, and 9. During our math block, there is usually a problem set worksheet that is a set of problems used to practice the skill taught in that lesson. You may notice that your child is coming home with unfinished problem sets- don't worry! Many times we do not have time to complete the whole worksheet so I'll assign a set of problem on the worksheet for the class to do, depending on where I see the class is with the material. As a class, they are not required to finish these worksheets at home as "homework," but if there is time, or hey, maybe your child wants to do some math at home, the leftover problems on this sheet are a great way to reinforce the skills learned that day! In Writing... We have not officially started our writing curriculum yet. We will start this on Monday as well. Our first unit is "Small Moments." In this unit, we start to write stories about ourselves that are "small." Starting off as writers, we tend to get very excited and want to write about everything in our minds at the time;) But, this unit has us brainstorm a story about ourselves, then take that "big" story and bring it down to one small moment that we want to write about. For example: my summer is a "big" story, while that one weekend we went camping in Salida is a "small moment." This helps us practice sequence and description. This past week, we were introduced to writing folders and we practiced where to successfully set ourselves up during our writing time to be independent and successful writers. We also talked about slowing down to be neat and organized. In Inquiry... Our first inquiry unit is a Social Studies Unit: "Who We Are." The theme of this unit is "Good Citizens." This unit is an inquiry into the nature of self- beliefs and values (personal, physical, mental, social, and spiritual health), human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures, and rights and responsibilities- what it means to be human. We like to start the year with this unit because it is the perfect way to make connections to our classroom, school, community, and the world around us. Important Dates! Monday, September 2nd: Labor Day, No School Wednesday, September 4th: Picture Day! Thursday, September 5th: Back to School BBQ at Carter Park, 4:00-6:00. Wednesday, September 11th: testing day- no school for students, please arrive just for your scheduled testing time! These testing times will be sent out this week.
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Hi, families!
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