Curriculum This Week 9/8/25-9/12/25
Reading: During reading, we will continue to talk about the good habits that readers have--taking a sneak peek, sliding through the sounds to decode hard words, and rereading. When we reread a book, two things happen. Rereading makes our reading voice sound smoother (like talking) and also helps us think more about what’s happening in the book. We will also talk about how good readers push themselves to become stronger readers by reading more and 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 talk about 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 the consonant and short vowel sounds, as well as practicing the correct letter formations for lowercase letters. We are working on writing our names using correct letter formations and standard letter case (begin with a capital letter, all other letters lowercase).
Math: This week, we will count objects in mystery boxes, discuss strategies for counting accurately, and play a new number game called One or Two More. We will also learn a new activity called Quick Images. Students are shown a dot picture for two seconds and then asked what they remember seeing. We will talk about the groupings they 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? A community is a place where people live, work, and play together. We will learn about several types of communities and how these communities are similar to and different from each other.
Social Emotional Learning: We will learn how to use the classroom “Chill Zone” this week. This is a comfortable corner in the classroom with calming tools (books, sparkle jar, feelings mirrors, and mazes). We all have a spectrum of feelings. We need to take care of those feelings so we can rejoin the learning with our classmates. Everyone will get a chance to try out using the “Chill Zone” this week.
Curriculum This Week 9/2/25-9/5/25
Each week, this update will let you know about our upcoming activities and curriculum. We have been very busy learning the classroom routines and getting to know each other through name games and other community-building activities. Each day, we interview the line leader as a way to get to know each other better. Students ask questions about favorite foods, pets, and activities. This week, we will also talk and write about our hopes and dreams for the school year.
Reading: This week, we will talk about how readers have good habits. Readers take a “sneak peek” before beginning a book to think about what the book will be about. Your child can practice this when you are reading books together at home. Another habit we will review this week is readers use phonics to solve hard words. When readers get stuck on a hard word, they use the letters to solve it by sliding through all the sounds. We will talk about more good reading habits next week.
Writing: We will begin Writing Workshop this week. We will be learning what writers do. We can write about anything—big or little—that happens in our lives such as jumping in a puddle, playing with a sibling, searching for a lost shoe, etc. This week, we will rehearse and write some stories together about things that have happened in first grade so far. These stories become texts that we can return to and build upon throughout this first narrative unit.
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 skills. We will review the key words and pictures that help us remember the consonant and short vowel sounds. We will also begin practicing the correct letter formations for lowercase letters.
Math: This week, our focus is on two big ideas: building a growth mindset and practicing counting.
-We are learning that our brains grow through hard work and trying challenging problems. We will talk about the power of the word “yet”—“I can’t read chapter books yet,” or “I can’t solve this problem yet.” What a difference that one word makes! When we make mistakes, our brains grow more than when we get everything right.
-This week, we will do a counting activity called “Start with, Get to”. This routine will be repeated with variations throughout the year. Right now, we are practicing the forward counting sequence by “starting with” 1 and “getting to” a larger number.
-We will continue exploring different mathematical materials such as pattern blocks, cubes, Geoblocks, and Power Polygons. We will talk about the similarities and differences between the materials.
-We will count and record the number of objects in some mystery boxes. We will focus on counting accurately, comparing our data, and sharing our strategies for counting a set of objects.
-We will also learn another classroom routine (Build It) that will recur in different forms throughout the year. This activity focuses on identifying, counting, and representing numbers to 20 on two ten frames. A ten-frame is a 2x5 array of boxes.
For more information about our first math unit (Unit 1) and related activities you can do at home, click here.
Social Studies: We will begin our first social studies unit, focusing on communities. Our guiding questions are, “What is a community?” and “How are communities similar and different?” This week, we will draw a picture of a community that we belong to as a pre-assessment activity.