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Curriculum Night Our first grade Curriculum Night will be on Monday. We will begin at 6:00 in the cafeteria. Please plan on attending, as we will be covering what your child will be learning in first grade. This meeting is for parents only, please. After the presentation, you will be given the opportunity to come back to the classroom to sign up for November Parent-Teacher conferences.
Math Home Links Books will come home on MONDAY. (I originally said they would be coming home this week and I am sorry for any confusion.) They are math homework activities that need to be completed and returned by Friday. Each Home Link activity reinforces concepts we have been working on at school. You will receive a more detailed letter on Monday regarding the procedure I will follow for sending home and returning Home Links.
Bi-Weekly Reports As a way to increase my communication with you about your child, I will start sending home bi-weekly progress reports next week. This will give you an indication of your child’s work habits and behavior in the classroom. They will need to be signed by you so that I know you have seen it. Check for them next Friday!
Monthly Homework If your child completed at least 3 activities per week from the September monthly calendar that was in your Welcome to First Grade Information Packet, have him/her return it to me by the 30th. I only need the calendar check sheet and the journal sheets. Monthly homework is entirely optional, but it is a great way to spend a few short learning moments with your child each day, and it helps reinforce what we are learning in the classroom. The October monthly homework and family project are being sent home today.
Reading Our Guided Reading lessons this past week revolved around the big books Greedy Cat is Hungry and What Does Greedy Cat Like? We practiced using the reading strategy “Using Picture Clues” to help with tricky words. We also used the strategy “Getting your mouth ready by making the first sound of the tricky word.” Sometimes, if we make the first sound of a tricky word when are reading it in a sentence, our brains know what makes sense and the word pops out of our mouths!
In Self-Selected Reading, we continued reading books from our classroom library. Next week I will begin helping individual children choose “just right” books.
Working With Words Our word work continues to revolve around the children’s names. One of the fun activities we do is see how many words we can make from each child’s name. Why not try this activity at home using the names of your family members? You can use magnetic letters or cut-up letters.
Writing We have been doing a lot of writing throughout the school day. After interviewing the Star of the Day, the children write at least one sentence telling something they learned about that classmate. We also write class books based on books we have read as a class. This week’s books were : I Am Greedy Cat and Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall! Our more formal Writing Workshop will begin in a couple of weeks.
Math We worked on tallying this week. Please review with your child that the fifth tally mark is made with a slash. We also played Top-It with a partner.
Social Studies This week, we explored timelines and drew and labeled a timeline of our school day. We also learned about what was on the site of Workman Elementary before the school was built. On Monday, Mr. Tom Workman will visit and read a story to the children.
The De-Bug System As a way of helping children be problem-solvers, Workman Elementary has adopted The De-Bug System. This is a 5-step plan that children may use if they have a problem with a classmate. The steps are:
The reasons for coming to an adult immediately would be if someone is hurting them, someone else, or the school. This system helps the children be effective problem-solvers.
As a class, we have had several discussions about how our actions and words affect others. The children have learned about bucket filling and bucket dipping, and why it is important to be a Bucket Filler. If you don’t know what it means to be a Bucket Filler, ask your child…our first graders are experts on the topic!
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