Spring Update

Reading:
First graders have also become experts at identifying cause and effect in fiction text. They are naturals at this comprehension skill! We also have been working on alphabetizing words. You may ask your child to put things in alphabetical order at home. We talked about how to alphabetize when the first letters of two words are the same; they amazed me at how quickly they mastered this concept. We have also spent a lot of time reading and exploring non-fiction text. We have learned what headings, captions, glossarys, and table of contents are. We have also learned how they can help a reader comprehend the text more! Most recently, we learned what a fact and an opinion is. We also learned some clue words that can sometimes help us identify if a statement is a fact or opinion. The kids were able to realize that, “My dog does great tricks” is an opinion, and that the word “great” is what makes it an opinion. They have truly grown so much as readers these past couple months!

Writing: 
Students are continuing to write Realistic Fiction stories. They are creating characters, generating a problem that the characters get into, and then finding a way to get their characters out of trouble. They are making these books into series, where they are creating multiple stories about the same character. They have also been writing about their families. Be on the lookout-you will be receiving a very special Family Book in the next few weeks!  

Math: 
This month the first graders are continuing to develop their understanding of numbers to 120. They are estimating, counting, comparing, adding and subtracting two-digit quantities using different models. We are using the story of Hansel and Gretel to demonstrate numbers on a number line. Encourage your children to practice making 10s and 5s in creative ways. 

Inquiry: 
We are starting a new unit on Plants and Animals. Students planted ryegrass and alfalfa seeds. We will observe the plants grow and make observations in our Science Journals. 

Conference Update

We have gotten lots of requests for additional Spring Conferences. 

We are opening up additional time slots. If you have not signed up for a conference yet, a new sign up is posted. Please click on the link for more details.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4baca829a5fa7-spring

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

iRead Update

Thank you for your ongoing support with iRead!


Please turn in iRead forms by tomorrow (Wednesday, February 7).

Spring Conferences

Thank you to the parents who signed up online for Parent Teacher Conferences. This year Spring parent/teacher conferences are taking place on March 28th 4-8 pm and March 29th 8 am-12:00 pm. Report cards will be mailed home prior to conferences. We are looking forward to our time together in March.

We understand that these conference slots have already been filled. If you did not sign up for a conference and would like to meet with the first grade team, please email us so we can set up additional time slots. Conferences are 15 minutes. 

Thanks!

New Year Update

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season with your friends and family. We are so excited to be back at school!

Now that we have returned to school for the long winter months ahead, we want to make sure we remind you of a few things your child should have at school.

The children go outside for recess every day in the winter unless it is extremely cold. Your child should have snowpants and boots for recess, as well as hats and gloves.

It is a good idea to leave an extra pair of pants and socks in your child's locker for the winter as they often come in from recess with wet socks or pants and need to change them.

In addition, they will need to have gym shoes for gym every day. This is a good time to either practice tying shoes or send your child to school with shoes that do not need to be tied. They are changing from boots to shoes upon arriving at school, and again after lunch/recess, and they need to be able to do this independently. With your help with these things, the winter weeks ahead should go more smoothly.

We are excited to introduce an individualized communication log! Once a month, you will be receiving a google doc with an update of your children's academic and learning progress. We will still continue to be updating our blog, Seesaw, and Twitter.