Hi Families!

I am excited to finally be in the classroom with 1A this week. We are going to have so much fun! Last week, students started our Subtraction unit, and the kids are catching on very quickly! This week, we will be wrapping up our previous non-fiction books and beginning one final non-fiction writing. Students get to choose their own topic that they are an "expert" on and write a non-fiction book about it. 

 As you may have heard, our class (and the whole grade 1 hallway) are getting baby chicks! The eggs are set to arrive on Monday, April 20. This will be my third time doing the  "From Egg to Chick" program. It is a really fun and engaging program where students will learn lots! 

Here's what's happening in 1A this week:

Phys. Ed - Tuesday, Thursday

Music - Monday, Wednesday, Friday 

Library - Tuesday, Thursday

Playground - Front playground 

Words of the week: because, friend, other, another

Highlights for this week:

• French Week

• GSP will be celebrating French Week this week! Home and School will be delivering croissants for each student on Wednesday. On Thursday, April 16th, the Music Man, Michael Pendergast, will be performing a concert for us in the Gym from 9:30-10:00. His concerts are always a lot of fun! We will also explore some French songs, sayings, and traditions.
  
  

• Fundations

• This week we will be continuing Unit 10 of Fundations. In Unit 10 we will be working on closed syllables with five sounds. These are words that usually have a blend (two consonants each with their own sound) at the beginning of the word and a blend at the end of the word. The word “s l u m p” is an example. The sl is a blend and the mp is a blend.

• We will be adding the suffixes s, ed and ing to these five sound words as well. Students need to remember to spell the baseword first, then add the suffix ending. We will also introduce keywords and sounds for vowel teams: oa, oe, ow, ou, oo, ue, ew, au and aw. We are introducing these vowel teams to help the students read words with them in it. Words with vowel teams are open syllable words because the first vowel is a long vowel sound, not short. The students will learn spelling rules for these vowel teams in Grade 2.
  
  

• Reading Homework

• Your child will not have any practice books this week as it is Book Inventory time. Please send any books back that you may have at home. 

Dates to Remember 

April 17 - Crazy Hat/Hair Day (Easter Seals Fundraiser)

April 28 - Spring Photos for English Classes

April 29 - Easter Seals Ambassador Visit 

May 1 - Area Association Day (No classes)

Hi Families!
I hope you all had a lovely long weekend. 1A kicked off April by starting a Non-Fiction Reading Workshop. The children are learning various strategies to intentionally make their way through non-fiction texts and think about all that they are learning.  We also started a new non-fiction writing project where each student chose an animal to write about. In Math, 1A continued to work on addition, extending their learning to numbers with sums up to 20.  The children learned and practiced various strategies to help them with these larger numbers and that will support their understanding as we move into subtraction. 
We have another short week ahead, as there is no school on Friday, April 10.  

Here's what's happening in 1A this week:

Phys. Ed - Tuesday, Thursday

Music -  Wednesday, Thursday 

Library - Tuesday

Playground - Back playground 

Words of the week - played, looked, shouted, cried

Highlights for this week:

• Fundations:  This week we will be continuing Unit 10 of Fundations. In Unit 10 we will be working on closed syllables with five sounds. These are words that usually have a blend (two consonants each with their own sound) at the beginning of the word and a blend at the end of the word. The word “s l u m p” is an example. The sl is a blend and the mp is a blend.

We will be adding the suffixes s, ed and ing to these five sound words as well. Students need to remember to spell the baseword first, then add the suffix ending,

We will also introduce keywords and sounds for vowel teams: oa, oe, ow, ou, oo, ue, ew, au and aw. We are introducing these vowel teams to help the students read words with them in it. Words with vowel teams are open syllable words because the first vowel is a long vowel sound, not short. The students will learn spelling rules for these vowel teams in Grade 2. 

• Reading Homework: Thanks to those who sent back their books. Your child will have 3 books again this week along with the Unit 10, Week 2  fluency sheet for practice. 

Dates to Remember 

April 10 - Professional Learning Day  (No classes)

April 17 - Crazy Hat/Hair Day (Easter Seals Fundraiser)

April 28 - Spring Photos for English Classes

April 29 - Easter Seals Ambassador Visit 

May 1 - Area Association Day (No classes)

Have a wonderful week! 

Mrs. Hyde