📚Reading
We will talk about the good habits reading partners have before, during, and after reading a book together. We will practice giving book introductions to our partners. We will also practice helping our partners when they are stuck on a hard word by reminding them to slide through the sounds rather than telling them the tricky word. We will talk about how to “grow ideas” together as we read. We can talk about what we are noticing, what we are wondering, and make connections to other books as we read. Asking our partners, “What do you think?” helps keep the conversation going.
✍🏾 Writing
This week, we will continue working on writing tiny seed stories. Tiny seed stories are small moment stories that focus on the little stories inside a bigger “watermelon” story. For example, “My Day At School” is a watermelon story, whereas “The Fun Recess Time” would be a small moment or seed story. Inside one big watermelon story are lots of tiny seed stories we can write. We are working on beginning and ending our stories close to the main event. To inspire us, we will read Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon—a wonderful book about a boy who initially struggles to think of story ideas until he realizes that stories are all around him.
🔢 Math
This week, we will play number games, solve story problems, and share our strategies for combining or adding numbers. You can find directions and online versions of all the games we play during math time (see links above). Your child will be bringing home a set of number cards that they can use to play games at home. Ask them to teach you how to play Double Compare!
🌍 Social Studies
This week we will be talking more about our school community. How do people in a school get along and work together? What are rules, and why do we need them? In order for everyone to be able to learn and play together, we have certain rules to follow as well as specific roles and responsibilities. What rules do we need for our classroom?
❤️ Social & Emotional Learning
In this week’s lesson, we will discuss what we’ve learned about distractions and the importance of paying attention. We will also talk about how it takes time to learn something new. If we want to get good at something, we must do two things: practice and keep trying.
Spot "Seed" Story Ideas: Be on the lookout for "seed" story ideas at home! Just like Ralph’s teacher says in Ralph Tells a Story, "Stories are everywhere!" When something silly, exciting, or surprising happens, remind your child, "You could write about that at school!”
Play "Double Compare": Look out for the card deck coming home in your child's folder this week and have them teach you how to play Double Compare!
“Grow ideas” while Reading: When reading with your child, talk about what you are noticing and wondering as you read.
Talk About Persistence: Share a story with your child about something that was hard for you to learn at first, and how practice helped you get better over time.
📚Reading
During Reading Workshop, we will focus on strategies for solving tricky words. When we "slide through the sounds" in a word, we are learning to watch out for digraphs—two letters that combine to make one sound, like sh or ch. We are also practicing different partner reading routines, including "seesaw" reading (taking turns), "copycat" reading (one person echoing the other), and "choral" reading (reading aloud together at the same time).
✍🏾 Writing
We were so excited to start writing down our stories last week! Writers find story ideas by thinking of a person they know, a place they go, or a thing they do. This week, we will practice "stretching out" words when spelling unfamiliar words so we can hear and record the beginning, middle, and ending sounds as we finish stories we started last week and start new ones.
🔤 Word Study
We will continue reviewing consonant and short vowel sounds while practicing proper lowercase letter formation. We are focusing on isolating and listening closely to the initial, medial, and final sounds in short words.
🔢 Math
This week, we will play several addition games—including Roll and Record, Five-in-a-Row, Double Compare, and Double Compare Dots—to practice finding the total of two quantities. We will discuss strategies first graders use when combining numbers: "counting all" (starting at 1), "counting on" from a number, or using known facts (like using 3 + 3 = 6 to solve 3 + 4). We will also solve addition story problems Our focus is on visualizing and retelling the action in the story and clearly communicating the strategy we use to solve the problem.
🌍 Social Studies
We will continue exploring our school community by discussing the roles and responsibilities of different people here at Schofield—including Dr. Guzzi, teachers, and students. We will also brainstorm what classroom jobs we need to help us learn and keep our classroom running smoothly.
❤️ Social & Emotional Learning
This week, we will learn that a distraction is something that takes our attention away from something else. We will learn different ways to manage distractions, such as reminding ourselves to focus, turning away from the distraction, changing places, or politely asking someone to stop a distracting behavior.
Spot Story Ideas Together: When something funny or unexpected happens at home (putting on two different socks or spotting a cool bird outside), point it out to your child and say, "That would make a great small moment story!"
Which Sound Doesn't Belong?: Play a quick sound game on the go! Give your child three words (e.g., bat, bag, dog) and ask questions like: "Which two words start with the /b/ sound?" or "Which word has a different middle sound (or ending sound)?"
"Start With, Get To" Counting Game: Pick any starting number and a target number (e.g., "Start with 4 and get to 12" or "Start with 15 and get to 8"). As your child counts, ask them: "Are you counting forwards or backwards? How do you know?"
Try Partner Reading: Try one of our classroom partner reading styles at home. Take turns "seesaw" reading pages or try "choral" reading a sentence aloud together.
📚Reading
During Reading Workshop, we will continue practicing the habits of strong readers—taking a "sneak peek," sliding through sounds to decode tricky words, and rereading. When we reread a book, two things happen: our reading voice sounds smoother (like talking), and we can think more deeply about what is happening in the story. We will also discuss how good readers push themselves to build stamina by reading a little more each day.
✍🏾 Writing
Last week, we learned that writers find story ideas by thinking of a person they know, a place they go, or a thing they do. This week, we will focus on how writers plan out their stories before sketching and writing them down. Our focus in this narrative unit is on writing independently, telling stories with a beginning, middle, and end, and including sufficient details.
🔤 Word Study
We will continue reviewing consonant and short vowel sounds while practicing proper letter formation for lowercase letters. We are also practicing writing our names using standard case—starting with a capital letter followed by lowercase letters.
🔢 Math
This week, we will count objects in mystery boxes, discuss strategies for counting accurately, and play a new game called One or Two More. We will also learn a new activity called Quick Images. Students view a dot arrangement for a few seconds and then share what they noticed. We will talk about the groupings that children saw that helped them remember the images. Visualizing the dots in small groups also makes it easier to find the total number of dots. This is another math routine that we will do in various forms throughout the year.
🌍 Social Studies
This week, we will think about the question, "What is a community?" We will explore how a community is a place where people live, work, and play together, comparing different types of communities. Students will also discuss the communities they belong to—such as their family, our classroom, and our school—and reflect on ways they help out at home. Additionally, we will complete a school work habits checklist, thinking about things we do (like whole body listening, following directions, etc.) without any reminders, and which things we still need to work on doing more independently.
❤️ Social & Emotional Learning
This week, we are discussing the importance of paying attention. Paying attention helps us learn and keeps us safe in different situations, like playing on the playground or crossing the street. We will talk about how paying attention looks different depending on the setting—like listening during a lesson versus playing a game at recess. Click here for an overview of our first Second Step unit on Growth Mindset and Goal Setting.
Practice Oral Storytelling: Ask your child to tell you a quick story about something that happened during their day (like making a snack, playing at the park, or finding a cool leaf). Encourage them to tell it out loud, using their fingers to keep track of the details ("What happened first? What happened next? What happened last?").
Play "Quick Images" with Dice: Roll a die (or a pair of dice) or pull out a domino. Before counting every dot, ask your child: "How did your eyes see those dots grouped together?"
Family Helper Chat: Ask your child to share one way they helped out in our classroom this week, and talk about one special way they can help out your family at home.
We have been very busy learning our classroom routines and getting to know each other through name games and community-building activities! Each day, we interview our daily line leader as a way to learn more about them (asking about favorite foods, pets, and activities). We have also been reading our favorite books aloud. This week, we will also talk and write about our personal hopes and dreams for the school year.
📚Reading
During Reading Workshop, we will focus on good reading habits. First, readers take a "sneak peek" before beginning a book to think about what the book will be about. Another habit we will review is using phonics to solve tricky words—when readers get stuck, they use the letters to decode by "sliding" through all the sounds. We will continue building our bank of good reading habits next week!
✍🏾 Writing
We will begin Writing Workshop this week. We will learn that writers find story ideas by thinking of a person they know, a place they go, or a thing they do. We can write about anything—big or small—that happens in our lives (like jumping in a puddle, playing with a sibling, or searching for a lost shoe). Students will practice brainstorming, rehearsing, and orally sharing their personal stories with one another.
Together, we will also write shared stories about events that have happened in first grade so far—like seeing a red-tailed hawk take off from the field during our fire drill on Friday! These class stories will serve as anchor texts that we can build upon throughout our first narrative unit.
Later in the week, we will make our very first birthday book! This year, we will create a special birthday book for each person in our class (saving summer birthdays to celebrate together in June).
🔤 Word Study
We will begin our Fundations lessons this week. Fundations is a multisensory, systematic phonics program that provides explicit instruction in decoding, handwriting, and spelling. We will review the key words and picture prompts that help us remember consonant and short vowel sounds, and we will begin practicing correct letter formation for lowercase letters.
🔢 Math
This week, our math work focuses on two big ideas: building a growth mindset and practicing counting. First, we are learning that our brains grow through hard work and by trying challenging problems, focusing on the power of saying, "I can't do it... yet!" When we make mistakes, our brains grow more than when we get everything right.
We will continue exploring a variety of hands-on materials—like pattern blocks, cubes, Geoblocks, and Power Polygons—and discussing their similarities and differences. We will also count and record the number of objects in some mystery boxes, focusing on counting accurately, comparing our data, and sharing our counting strategies. Finally, we will introduce two counting routines that will recur in different forms throughout the year: "Start with, Get to" (practicing forward counting sequences) and "Build It" (identifying and representing numbers up to 20 on ten-frames).
Resource: Click here for more information about Unit 1 and related activities you can do at home: Unit 1 Family Letter
🌍 Social Studies
We will begin our first unit on Communities, guided by the questions: "What is a community?" and "How are communities similar and different?" This week, students will draw a picture of a community they belong to as an introductory activity.
❤️ Social & Emotional Learning
This week, we will learn how to use our classroom "Chill Zone." This is a comfortable spot in our room with calming tools (books, a sparkle jar, feelings mirrors, and mazes). We will talk about how everyone experiences a full spectrum of feelings, and how taking time to care for those feelings helps us rejoin learning with our classmates. Everyone will get a chance to try out using the Chill Zone this week.
Take a "Sneak Peek": Before reading a story at home, pause and look at the cover and illustrations together. Ask your child, "What do you think this book is going to be about?"
Count a Collection: Grab a handful or small pile of everyday household items—like Legos, pretzels, coins, or buttons—and have your child count them. Ask them how they are keeping track to make sure they count accurately.
Write Cards & Letters: Making cards or writing letters to family members and friends is a great way to practice writing at home.