Dear Parents,
The first grade students have learned so much already and we’ve only just begun! Please take the time to read what the first graders are learning in and out of the classroom.
Small Moments
Personal Narrative Writing has been the focus of Writer’s Workshop this month. The Small MomentsUnit is derived from an actual occurrence in our lives that is meaningful to us, emphasizing certain qualities of good writing including: detail, dialogue, setting, sequence and answering the reader’s questions. Above all, this unit is helping to teach the students how to focus (“Zoom-In”) and write with a sense of story. As students work to write a Personal Narrative, they ask: “How do authors tell a “small moment” story?”
Writers are learning how to define a small moment and stretch it out to make the moment feel important and interesting. Writers plan a story and touch each page as they determine what happens first, next, and last. Writers use their senses, their feelings and inner thoughts as they write and share small moment stories.
First Grade students have practiced making their writing more accessible for their readers. They have looked specifically at features such as their handwriting, spaces between words and punctuation.
Students also continue to try to stretch out sounds to make words and use what they know to make their writing more readable.
The students are also learning how to use resources in the classroom to build a repertoire for spelling tricky words. Word Study, Word Wall and Snap Word Chart also help students write their thoughts and create stories.
Students are reminded to make sure their writing is focused and that they can make a whole story by zooming in on the most important part of an event. Rereading is encouraged to make sure what is written makes sense and is easy for other people to read.
As students continue to write, they will learn the following:
Reader’s Learn To Use Strategies
In Reader’s Workshop, the children have learned to use different strategies to figure out tricky words. They learned how to use tools to help them with independent reading. Some of these tools are: using pictures as clues, rereading to make sense of the story, sounding out the initial/final sounds, blending through the entire word, asking questions while reading and more!
While reading with your child each night, we encourage you to ask, “What strategies are you using to figure out that word?” This is a good way to get the children to think about their thinking (metacognition) and get parents involved in the process. Readers will continue to practice using strategies taught to figure out words. Just Right Books will help students think and talk about books and grow ideas.
As students continue to use strategies, we will encourage the reader to put emphasis on retelling as they begin to understand: the Characteristics of Good Retelling such as “who” (the character), “where” (the setting), “what” (the plot) and continue to read with fluency and understanding.
Wonderful Questions
The children in first grade this year at {school} have a lot to be excited about. The students have already ventured out into their school neighborhood to visit the library. And, throughout the year, they will work to become experts as they try to figure out answers to their “Wonderful Questions.”
This year, the children will come to know all about their school neighborhood. In fact, when we ventured out into the neighborhood on the field trip to the library, along the way they thought of more “Wonderful Questions” to ask the people they encountered. We asked children’s librarian questions about the various facets of the library, including its architecture, and learned that Frank Ghery designed it. We also read books about our neighborhood, which our young “experts” will use as a resource to find answers to some of their questions.
Library
Here are just a few examples of the students’ wonderful questions: “Why is Hollywood famous?” “How are there so many mountains in Hollywood?” and “Why was Hollywood invented?” Although the children might not have their questions answered all in one day, they are learning how to become researchers and are learning how to ask the questions that good researchers do.
Number Sense, Patterns and Geometry
Hands on experiences are helping us to answer the question, “What must I do/know to become a great Mathematician?” We have learned about Grouping and Grouping Strategies, been introduced to and worked with Base Ten Rods and Units, Compared and Ordered whole numbers to 100 by using symbols =,<,>, and worked with Patterns on the Number Chart. Presently, we are becoming Shape Detectors as we work with plane and solid geometric shapes.
As a daily warm-up, the children will continue to practice addition facts. This is a partner activity where a buddy holds the cards and the children read and memorize the addition sentence. Also, the children will learn the concept of addition and subtraction, first, by telling “joining” and “separating” stories. They tell their stories using a storyboard and manipulatives. Students also come to know the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction facts.
“No Homework” Activities to do with your child:
Do: “Mental Math” Word Problems….”_______is greater than __________” or “_______is an amount that is less than ____”. “Two groups of ten, and 5 extra ones = ______________.”
Do: (Phonemic Awareness) Rhyming…Parent says three words (two words rhyme.) Student repeats only the two words that rhyme.
Do: (Phonemic Awareness) Onset/Rime … “Isolate the onset” …Parent says two words that begin with the same letter sound (onset). Student repeats words and isolates (says separately) the beginning sound. For example: “Fan and Far.”
Children's Library
