This week in First grade...

September 17th – 21st

We just completed our 3rd week of school!  Next week is another exciting week and in

all the first grade classrooms we will learn…..

Math:

We will finish up our unit on place value with building sets of 10’s and

1’s using manipulatives. We will also look at sets and determine the

value. There are several games we will play to reinforce arranging

numbers from least to greatest and comparing numbers more and

less than. An assessment will be given at the end of the week to

make sure your child understands this unit. Place value is a concept

we will continue to reinforce and practice throughout the year.

We will also continue our CGI problem solving and move more into

sharing and comparing our answers with our classmates. We will begin

making our “Math Strategies” chart that will be used every day in our

classroom.

Writing Workshop:

This week we will focus on the concept of translating sounds into print.

Some words in our writing we already know because we use them a lot

(like the kindergarten word wall words). For unknown spelling words,

we will learn how to stretch out the words, listening carefully to the

sounds and writing the sounds as we hear them. This helps your child

to quickly get their ideas down on paper so they can move on and

not get caught up on the spelling of one or more words. We will also

discuss how to use our writing tools like the first grade word wall list

and our personal alphabet charts.

It has been delightful to watch my students sit in the Author’s Chair

and proudly read and show their completed writing assignments!

Reading Workshop:

This week we will learn that strong readers can read the pictures

as well as words. When we read the words, we follow along with our

fingers, slow down and think about what we are reading. We will also

learn the value in revisiting familiar books, books that we enjoyed

before, but still can go back and re-read it. Each time we re-read a

book, we will notice new details, and surprises. We will also learn to

use our voices in different ways, such as sad, excited or creepy to

learn to read with expression. We will revisit and enjoy a variety of

great children’s authors such as Cynthia Rylant, Mo Willems, and Tomie

DePaola.

Science Workshop:

We practiced using our 5 senses to observe the properties of matter. Next week we will be

celebrating our freedom in social studies by learning the meaning of

the word “symbol”, as well as lots of important facts and history that

go along with them. This unit is packed full of national symbols and

learning. You will want to visit our hallway toward the end of the week

and next week to see all the art work displayed to celebrate Freedom

Week in first grade!


Reminders:

The students may bring a water bottle to class.


Thursday: Library Day