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News From First Grade |
October, 2009
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First Graders Had Fun At Fire Station Thanks to the many parent volunteers, our grade had a wonderful learning experience at the historic Roland Park fire house. The 11/2 mile round trip walk invigorated our young learners who passed in front of Eddie’s wearing the fire safety vests made from paper bags donated by the grocery store. All classes had sessions with the firefighters where they observed equipment, listened to the firefighters, asked questions, and learned about fire safety. The children were reminded to ask their parents to check smoke alarms and have a family escape plan and meeting place. Thank you for reinforcing these lessons at home! |
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Math Matters Calendar: We use calendar skills all year. Help your child by regularly referring to a calendar as you make plans. Ask your child questions such as, “What month?” or “If today is the 5th, what day of the week?” A fun game: use a calendar page. Your child puts stickers on boxes as you give clues such as, find the 2nd Sunday or find the day after the 14th. Number Sense: We deepen number concepts by representing numbers in many ways: word, numeral, tallies, dot arrays, ten frames, and base ten blocks. Addition and Subtraction: We tell joining & separating stories using objects, pictures, dominoes and number sentences to find the sum or difference. We show both operations horizontally and vertically. We are learning strategies such as counting, counting on from the larger number, counting back from the larger number, using fingers, putting a number “in our head” and counting from there, using tallies to keep track, using a ten frame or multiple ten frames, using number line, using a calendar and using a hundred chart. We are focusing on language that indicates which operation to use: parts, addend, total, join, give, more, come, plus, put together, in all, altogether (+); leave, went/take away, minus, subtract, are left, missing, remaining, subtrahend, minuend (-). |
Upcoming Events Science Unit on Living Things: We will be differentiating living, non-living, and once-living things. We will compare plants and animals focusing on their needs, parts & functions, and life cycles. Materials needed: magazines for cutting out pictures and making comparison charts; potatoes & oat bran for mealworms. Halloween Parade: The K-2 students will participate in this school tradition on Friday, 10/30. Students are encouraged to dress as a character from a book. Costumes must be mask-less and weapon-free. We will return to the classroom for a healthy snack and stories. Cooler Weather: Please update change of clothes. Remember, navy sweaters for inside the classroom. We try to go outside twice a day, so please send your child to school dressed appropriately for spending time outside. Remind your child to bring home outerwear each day. |
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Reading At the beginning of first grade students skills vary widely. Students are placed in instructional reading groups where they will be challenged but not frustrated. Students are regularly evaluated; adjustments are made to keep them progressing. The first goal is to recognize sound-symbol correspondence, blend sounds into words, and read words the fast way, sometimes called “sight-reading”. Sometimes children get stuck initiating sounds, especially when blends (br, st,) are involved. Saying, “Get your mouth ready” can be helpful. The next step is to read sentences fluently rather than robotically which occurs when a child is decoding. We don’t want the robotic voice to become a habit. After decoding a sentence we’ll “read it the way we talk.” Sometimes we employ dramatic skills and pretend we’re the character or a storyteller. These skills can be practiced at home with familiar books. Remember, while a child is decoding, all their energy is going into that work. Only after they have automaticity (which takes MUCH practice) can they focus on understanding and expression. |
Curricular Connections to Field Trip Social Studies: We are learning about our community and community helpers. On our walk we recognized our local grocery store and public library. We discussed many ways firefighters help us: putting out fires, rescuing people, responding to medical emergencies, and checking up on us during fire drills to make sure we can get out of our school safely. The fire fighters reinforced many lessons we learned during fire safety week: never play with matches; stop, drop, and roll if your clothes catch on fire; call 911 in an emergency; and crawl through smoke since there is more oxygen closer to the floor. Many children raised their hands when asked if they wanted to become firefighters. They were given clear instructions about how to prepare for such a job: keep rooms neat and belongings put away (firefighters always need to know where their equipment is and access it quickly); help out in the kitchen (firefighters cook for themselves); do well in school (firefighters need to pass tests and solve problems); eat well and exercise (firefighters need to be in good shape). These are great motivators for getting your children to help at home! Science: We tied discussions of firefighters many job qualifications to our healthy habits unit. Language: We described what we saw at the fire station using descriptive words. We wrote journal entries about our trip. Literature: We have read fire safety related non-fiction and fiction books. Healthy Habits Remember to wash water bottles. Keep in mind that your child is coughing & sneezing onto shirtsleeves.
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Writing Often writing skills lag behind reading skills so we try to write a lot in first grade! The children write daily in many settings. They have weekend journals they write in every Monday. The primary writing journals are used to respond to prompts based on their reading lesson or something we have done as a class in math, social studies, and science. We use the writing process (for now it is: Think, Picture, Write) to express ideas about stories we’ve heard or want to tell. In group writing where I am their scribe for ideas they share out loud. In all of this we say words, isolate sounds and write the letters of the sounds we hear. We are applying many skills from reading and spelling lessons. |
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Thanks for Volunteers Many parents have been in to help out at recess and lunch, monitoring the after-lunch bathroom visits, and assisting with dismissal. Parents have sent in supplies of bandaids, soap, hand sanitizer, paper towels, tissues, and disinfecting wipes. Parents who have come in have also helped to organize writing folders, assist with student work displays, and prepare materials for instruction. Thank you for your generous gift of time and energy! |
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