Welcome to first grade! We are having a great start to our year! The students are learning routines and expectations and having so much fun getting to know their new teachers and classmates. We are currently rotating as hometown groups as we travel to all three teachers' rooms. Very soon we will be mixing all three first grade classrooms to establish our first round of blocks. We will be changing these groups based on students interests and needs several times throughout the year.
Reading
We have learned the three ways to read a book, (read the pictures, read the words, retell the story). We have been reviewing sight words, practicing oral phonemic awareness, and learning how to pick a good fit book. In the next few weeks we will be launching our guided reading rotations. Shortly after Curriculum Night, you can expect to start seeing differentiated sight word lists sent home in their take home folder. This will be explained in further detail on Curriculum Night.
Writing
Students have been busy writing about themselves in their journals and beginning their First Grade Memory Book. Students have used sentence prompts to describe what they like, their families, hobbies, etc. They have learned how to use the Word Wall to spell sight words correctly. Soon you will start receiving samples of their writing through the Seesaw app. We will launch Lucy Calkin's Writer's Workshop. The first Unit of Study will teach students how to write about a small moment (narrative). Students will also be using Words Their Way, which differentiates spelling and phonics skills using word sorts.
Math
During the first week of school, students learned how to create a picture graph by using symbols to represent how we get to school. This week we began our Fact Fixers program which will help all students build their addition and subtraction knowledge base. Ask your students about 7, 4, 11 and 8, 8, 16! We began comparing numbers using the language less, same, and more. Students have been playing different games to reinforce these concepts. We also launched our Math Journals where students will create an interactive notebook and write about math.
We can't wait to see you at Curriculum Night, September 6th at 6:30!
