September News

We have had a wonderful start to our first grade year!  Your children are already doing a fantastic job learning the routines of our classroom.  

Here is a glance of what we have been working on this month in 1st grade:

Language Arts:   We have been working hard on learning how to do literacy centers independently.  Some of the things we have discussed are the 3 ways to read a book, why it is important to read, as well as building our stamina for the “Independent Reading” center. The “Independent Reading” center is where the students enjoy reading books for our goal of 20 minutes.   We are also learning how to do; “Partner Read”, “Word Learning”, “Writing”, and “Listening to Reading”.  At the end of the week we reflect on our goals for Literacy Centers and staple the learning.  These are the stapled Literacy Learning packets that you are seeing in Wednesday Folders.  I also reflect on your child's learning for the week.

Writing:  We have begun learning about the three genres of writing, Opinion, Narrative, and Informative Writing.   This month we worked on making our sentences stronger by adding why, how, and when into our sentences.  We also learned about adding adjectives to make our writing stronger and more interesting. We just finished an Informative writing about apples.  Your children learned about different apple parts and their purpose.  We then wrote about the different parts of the apple and how they help the apple.  In addition, we are working on capitalization, punctuation, spacing, and sounding out our words and then underlining any unsure spellings.  This encourages the students to not get stuck on the spelling and continue to write. (This is a big step for First Graders!)

Math:  We have begun our daily Number Talks and are using math manipulatives to help us solve math problems.  We are focusing on being able to verbalize and notate our math strategies and listening to each other’s strategies.  We are also currently learning different math games that allow students to work on their Number Base Ten standard.  Many of these games will be sent home for homework.  

Social Studies:  Citizenship - This unit introduces students with the basic understandings of rules versus laws, as well as the roles of citizens.  We will explore the difference between home rules and school rules, as well as the difference between rules for home and/or school versus laws for all citizens.  Students will also gain a basic understanding of what is a good citizen.

Morning Meeting & Second Step: During morning meeting we are getting to know our classmates.  We have been talking about our "Wows and Pows" for the day.  A "Wow" is something they did really well and a "Pow" is something they will work on for the day.  It is so exciting to hear their goals and celebrate what they are doing well each morning. We have also started our Second Step Lessons, which focus at this time upon important skills for learning.  We will talk about how listening helps our brains to work harder and get stronger.  We will also go over the rules for listening to help us become better listeners.  The rules are: 1. eyes watching, 2. ears listening, 3. voice quiet, 4. body still.  We will also discuss focusing attention while ignoring distractions.  This is an important skill for learning that helps students pay attention in the classroom and to their peers while playing.

 Thank you to everyone that has donated to our class.  I so appreciate the wipes, Clorox, and hand sanitizer.  Amazon Wish List. Feel free to check out this  Amazon Wish List if you are interested in donating any of these supplies to our classroom. 

*This is an optional list of donation items that enrich our classroom learning. 

Upcoming Events:

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday- September 26th

Halloween Parade- October 31st @ 8:15

Halloween Party- October 31st @ 9:00