First Grade Newsletter
October 2025
Room 119
What’s Happening
We had a wonderful beginning to the school year. October has made a quick arrival and we are ready to have fun with new learning! It was wonderful to meet everyone on Back to School Night. Thank you for signing up as Guest Readers and donating items. We look forward to seeing you again at our Halloween parade!
During math, we established routines and examined everyday uses of numbers. Please practice comparing numbers through twenty using the number grid, counting by 2s and 5s, and making groups of five using tally marks. Tally counts are important because they enhance counts by 5s and show each number between 5 and 10 as five plus one or more ones. In unit 2, we will explore strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems. We are using games, hands-on activities, and daily practice to make math fun and meaningful. Keep an eye out for math home links in your child’s folder-these are great ways to review and understand what we’re learning in class together!
We are continuing to explore our procedures and routines for Reader’s Workshop. During the past few weeks, I have been working on building the foundation for the reading work I want the children to do each and every day by teaching them the importance of reading daily, how to work with partners and how to talk about books. The students have also learned good reading habits such as taking a “sneak peek” before reading a book and saying each sound (left to right) to decode a difficult word. We have also been working on story retelling and details during our read-aloud sessions.
The students enjoyed bringing home their first book from the classroom. We put more emphasis on the book being a “Good-Fit” rather than focusing on the level of the book. Please note that homework will not be returned. I devote more time to instructional planning. I check the homework for completion and any comments/questions that you may have.
During Writer’s Workshop, the students did a great job on our sentence unit. They worked on writing complete sentences with a “naming,” “telling” part and correct punctuation. We will continue working on these skills during our personal narrative unit. In this unit, the students will try to recount two or more sequenced events of a small moment in their own life such as losing a tooth. They will learn to include some details regarding what happened, use transitional words such as “next,” “then” and provide some sense of closure.
We completed our Kindergarten review of letters and letter sounds during Fundations. We will continue to review and learn new “trick words”, blend and read three-sound short vowel words and segment and spell three-sound short vowel words. Additionally, students will learn sentence dictation procedures: capitalization, punctuation (period) and proofreading procedures. If your child earns less than 80% on an assessment, I recommend completing the extra practice pages that come home in the beginning of each unit attached to the family letter for Fundations.
In Science, we identified the signs of fall with seasonal artwork and activities. To celebrate the first day of fall, we enjoyed some delicious apple cider together! We began our Living Organisms unit. Students are learning to differentiate between living and non-living things, using observations and examples from everyday life. We’ll be exploring the parts of a plant, understanding life cycles, and getting hands-on by planting our very own pumpkin seeds. We’re also excited to extend our learning beyond the classroom with an upcoming trip to Cardinale Acres farm, where students will get to observe living things in action and connect what we’ve been learning in the real world!
During Social Studies, we discussed the importance of having rules and being a good citizen. We read stories to reinforce the importance of making good choices. We enjoyed meeting our 5th grade buddies in Mrs. Blessing’s class.
Reminders
My main forms of communication are email,my website and classroom newsletters. I will keep you informed about academics and events pertaining to our classroom. Please sign up for PTO Membership Toolkit to receive reminders about school-wide events such as school spirit,bookfair,theme days, fundraisers on your computer/phone. In addition,there is a PTO Facebook page.
October 8th - National Walk to School Day
October 10th - Professional Development Day - No school for students
October 13th - No school
October 22nd –Field trip to Cardinale Acres farm- There will be more details to follow. For this trip, we will be fully supported by our teachers and paraprofessionals, we won’t need additional chaperones.
October 11th – Staff In-Service - no school for students
October 17th - Field Trip (Please send in lunch from home that day)
October 31st - No snack needed (treat will be provided)
9:00 - Parade
Upcoming Events: Our picture day will be Monday, November 3rd. There is no school on November 6th and 7th for the NJEA Teacher’s Convention. Our conferences with early dismissal will be November 18th-21st.