Weekly Updates

Past updates

📚 Curriculum This Week (10/26 – 10/30/26)

📖 Reading 

When readers finish a book, they make sure they understand and can talk about what they have read. One way we do this is by retelling the story across our fingers—naming the characters, setting, and main events in order. This week, we will practice retelling a story across our fingers with our partners. We will also wrap up our unit on good reading habits by celebrating a habit we have mastered and setting a personal goal for a reading behavior we want to practice more.

✍🏾 Writing

 We are using our fingers to plan our stories in Writing Workshop as well! Planning across our fingers helps us organize details and ensure our stories have a clear beginning, middle, and end before we write. This week, we are also practicing how to improve our work by looking at our drafts with "fresh eyes"—thinking about questions a reader might have and revising our work by adding details to make our stories clearer.

🔤 Word Study 

We continue to focus on spelling words with digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ck). We will also learn how to determine which spelling option to use for the /k/ sound—learning when a word uses c, k, or ck.

🔢 Math

 Our work with 2-D shapes continues! This week, we are exploring how to fill the same shape outline using different combinations of pattern blocks. We will focus on decomposing shapes in different ways and seeing how shapes can be combined to make other shapes. We will experiment with filling outlines using both smaller and larger quantities of blocks, discussing how using smaller shapes increases the total block count.

🍂 Science

 This week, we will design an investigation to track shadows. We will sort our class "Wonder Wall" questions into ones we can test at school versus those we cannot. We will head outside later in the week to investigate our question.

❤️ Social & Emotional Learning 

We are launching a new unit on Emotion Management. This week, we will practice reading body language and context clues—looking at the person’s face and body, thinking about what’s going on in the situation—to determine how they might be feeling. Click on the link above for an overview of the unit themes.

💡 Things to Do at Home

• Go on a Shape Hunt: While driving or at the grocery store, point out 2-D shapes like triangles, squares, and rectangles (e.g., street signs, windows, or floor tiles). Ask your child: "Is that a triangle? How many sides and corners does it have?"

• Talk about "Author Craft Moves": When reading a book, talk about the craft moves the author uses. Ask things like, "How did the author make that page sound exciting?" or "Where did the author add actions, feelings, or dialogue?"  

• Make Characters “Think” and “Talk”: Create a "magic reading wand" by drawing a speech bubble and a thought bubble on sticky notes. When reading together, hold up a bubble and ask: "What do you think the character is thinking here? What else might they say on this page?"

📚 Curriculum This Week (10/19-10/23/26)

📖 Reading 

During Reading Workshop, we are learning about a character's point of view by studying their feelings and imagining how they experience events in a story. We are also focusing on how punctuation guides our reading voice—helping us notice when an author wants us to read with an excited voice (!) or raise our voice at the end of a question (?). We will continue to practice making inferences together as we read.

✍🏾 Writing

 In Writing Workshop, we are focusing on spelling, punctuation, and showing character feelings. We are learning to apply what we know about letters and sounds—spelling familiar words quickly and segmenting unfamiliar words sound-by-sound. We are also practicing adding punctuation as we draft rather than waiting until revision, and using both words and illustrations to show how our characters feel.

🔤 Word Study We are starting a new unit on digraphs—two letters that make one sound. Digraphs can appear at the beginning of a word (then), at the end (wish), or both (shack or which). This week, we are practicing reading and spelling words with the following digraphs:

• sh (as in ship)

• ch (as in chin)

• th (as in thumb)

• wh (as in whistle)

• ck (as in sock)

Note: Look out for your child's Unit 3 Trick Words coming home in their folder this week.

🔢 Math 

We are starting a new unit on 2-D Geometry. We will describe, compare, and name some familiar shapes. We will find different ways to fill a shape with pattern blocks. We will record the pattern blocks we used, the number of each shape, and the total number of blocks used. This activity focuses on finding combinations of shapes to fill an outline, as well as on counting and adding. We will also make pattern block designs with a specific number of blocks and then record how many of each block we used. Click for information on the mathematical concepts in Unit 2, as well as related activities you can do at home. 

🍂 Science 

This week, we will begin our year-long observation of the big tree in the courtyard to track seasonal changes over time. We will also become shadow detectives this week. We will use a variety of objects to create shadows on the blacktop. We will try to answer questions like: What makes a shadow? How can we make a shadow change its size and shape? What happens to the shadow when we bring the same object into the shade? We will start a “Wonder Wall” of questions we have about shadows. Later in the week, we will read Moonbear's Shadow by Frank Asch and play shadow tag on the field to experiment with hiding and changing our shadows!

❤️ Social & Emotional Learning 

We will show what we’ve learned about paying attention, managing distractions, and practicing as we learn to draw Pepito, a character from Second Step Elementary animated videos.

💡 Things to Do at Home

• Match Your Reading Voice: When reading together at home, encourage your child to pay attention to punctuation marks. Ask: "How do you think the character is feeling right now? How should your voice sound to match that feeling?"

• Go on a Digraph Hunt: Look for digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ck) on cereal boxes, street signs, or pages of books. See who can spot the most words with digraphs.

• Spot 2-D Shapes: Explore shapes around your home. (e.g., "The clock is a circle! The window is a rectangle.") Have your child count the sides or corners of different shapes they find.

• Play with Shadows: On a sunny afternoon, head outside to play shadow tag or experiment with making shadows. Ask your child: "How can you make your shadow look really tall or really short? What happens to your shadow when you jump?"

📚 Curriculum This Week (10/13 – 10/16)

📖 Reading 

This week, we are practicing strategies readers use to make sense of books. We will think about how illustrations connect with the text and discuss what details we can learn by studying pictures closely. We will also practice making our voice match the feelings and actions in a story. Using our mentor text, A New Kind of Wild by Zara González Hoang, we will practice making inferences and exploring a character’s point of view by imagining what they see and feel about the things in their world.

✍🏾 Writing 

This week, we will focus on revising our small moment stories by “adding on and saying more.” We will practice adding actions as well as dialogue–the exact words people say–to help bring our stories to life on the page. 

🔤 Word Study 

We continue to practice blending, reading, and spelling three-sound short vowel (CVC) words. We are also practicing spelling this unit's trick words (the, a, and, is, his, and of). Alongside our phonics work, we are focusing on using a correct pencil grip when writing.

🔢 Math

We will continue to focus on subtraction this week—solving story problems and playing subtraction games  like Roll and Record Subtraction and Five-in-a-Row, as well as One or Two Less.  During our discussions, we are sharing subtraction strategies, talking about how to translate our mathematical thinking into written solutions, and using standard notation (e.g., 10-6=4) to represent subtraction situations. We will wrap up our first math unit at the end of the week by solving several story problems independently. 

🍂 Science 

This week, we will play an outdoor observation game called "Down, Out, and Up." Students look down at the ground, straight ahead, and up into the sky, describing their observations to a partner after each round. We will also choose an interesting natural object outside to examine closely before recording an entry in our Seesaw journals—drawing, labeling parts of our object, and writing down questions we wonder about it.

❤️ Social & Emotional Learning

We are learning that making mistakes is a natural and normal part of the learning process. We are practicing using positive self-talk (such as "This is hard, but I can do it!" or "I am going to keep trying!") to help us persevere when tasks feel challenging.

💡 Things to Do at Home

• Explore Character Feelings: When reading together at home, pause on a page and ask: "What do you think that character is feeling right now? What clues in the picture or words tell you that?"

• Spot Subtraction in Daily Life: Look for everyday opportunities to practice subtraction together! For example: "I have 8 apple slices and you ate 2. How many are left?" or "I had 8 apple slices before you ate some. Now there are 5 left—how many did you eat?"

• Play "Down, Out, and Up": Try this observation game on a family walk! Take turns describing one thing you see on the ground (down), one thing straight ahead (out), and one thing in the sky (up).

• Practice Encouraging Self-Talk: When a task feels tricky at home, ask your child: "What is a helpful thought we can say to encourage ourselves to keep trying?"

 📚 Curriculum This Week (10/5-10/9/26)

📖 Reading 

This week, we will talk about paying special attention to the vowels in words we are decoding to make sure we have the right vowel sound. After we figure out an unfamiliar word, we can do a "slow check"—saying the word slowly while sliding a finger underneath to confirm all the letters and sounds match. We will also start to talk about the good habits readers have to make sense of books. It’s really important to notice little confusions in a book and to ask, “What’s going on?” We can reread to clear up those confusions. When we read fiction stories, it’s important that we know what’s happening with the characters, and when we read nonfiction books, we need to make sure the information makes sense. 

✍🏾 Writing 

This week, we are discussing how writers make sure their "tiny seed stories" don't accidentally expand back into big "watermelon stories"! To keep our narratives focused, we are practicing beginning and ending our writing close to the main event and telling the story in small steps, bit by bit. We will also start revising our small moment stories by adding on and saying more. We will practice adding actions as well as dialogue–the exact words people say–to help bring our stories to life. 

🔤 Word Study 

We continue to blend, read, and spell three-sound short vowel (CVC) words. Students are practicing segmenting and manipulating beginning, middle, and ending sounds. We are also learning the difference between words we can "tap out" phonetically and "Trick Words"—words with irregular spelling patterns or untaught rules (such as the, are, said, to, and of). We learn these by mapping the regular sounds to letters and identifying the tricky part (marked with a heart). For example, in the word said, the middle "ai" is the irregular part, while the beginning and ending sounds can be sounded out.

🔢 Math 

We will focus on subtraction this week—solving story problems and playing subtraction games (One or Two Less, Roll and Record Subtraction, and Five-in-a-Row Subtraction).  These games involve subtracting one number from another, with initial totals up to 12. We will share and compare our subtraction strategies during class discussions. Some of the strategies children use to solve subtraction story problems are: counting all, removing a group, and counting what is left; counting back or down; and using a number combination they know (I know 6+6=12, so 12-6=6). We will connect the problems we solve when playing the games with number equations.  

🌍 Social Studies 

We are wrapping up our introductory unit on Communities by reflecting on the many different communities we belong to—including our families, our classroom, our school, and our neighborhood.

🍂 Science 

Much of our science learning this fall will take place outdoors. In our first unit, we will use our senses to observe seasonal changes in our school environment. This week, we will play, I notice, I wonder, It reminds me of.... We will practice both observational skills and outdoor learning norms by looking at different leaves and sharing our observations, questions, and connections. 

❤️ Social & Emotional Learning 

In this week's lesson, we will practice using helpful thoughts to encourage ourselves and keep going while learning a dance together. Positive self-talk helps us work through mistakes and challenges. 

💡 Things to Do at Home

• Play "Change the Word": Practice swapping sounds in simple three-letter (CVC) words. Say a word like "sat", then ask your child: "Change the /s/ sound to /m/. What’s the new word?" (mat!). It is important that you say the sound of the letter and not the letter name. You can also try changing the ending sound—for example, change the /t/ in "mat" to /p/ to make "map". 

• Tactile Trick Word Practice: Use the Unit 2 Trick Word cards coming home Wednesday to practice reading and writing. Try multi-sensory practice at home: write words in shaving cream, build them with Play-Doh or Wikki Stix, write them with sidewalk chalk, or have your child read the words aloud to a favorite stuffed animal.

• Practice "One or Two Less": While sharing snacks or counting small items (like pretzels or buttons), ask: "If we have 8 and take away 2, how many are left?" Encourage your child to practice "counting back" in their head ("8... 7, 6").

• Play "I notice, I wonder, It reminds me of. . . ": On a walk or in the yard, pick up a fallen leaf or acorn and practice using our science sentence starters together: "I notice...", "I wonder...", and "It reminds me of..."

Curriculum This Week (9/28 – 10/2/26)

📚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. 

💡 Things to Do at Home

• 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.

Curriculum This Week (9/22 – 9/25/26)

📚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.

💡 Things to Do at Home

• 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. 

Curriculum This Week (9/14-9/18/26)

📚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.

💡 Things to Do at Home

• 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.

Curriculum This Week (9/8 – 9/11)

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.

💡 Things to Do at Home

• 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.