Physical Education

February brings the Super Bowl and our football unit. First graders started every class with a dance warm-up before moving on to football. They worked hard on their throwing and catching skills. We then moved on to some fun games like Football Island, here the students were able to put their skills into play.

Science

Hello First Grade Families!

We’ve officially wrapped up our "Sun and Shadows" unit, and our young scientists did a fantastic job tracking the sun's path and observing how shadows "move" throughout the day. It was a bright success! This week, we are pivoting from the sky to the soil as we begin our next adventure: Plant Superpowers. Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore the incredible ways plants survive and grow, from their clever "armor" like thorns to their secret methods for finding water and light. It’s going to be an exciting, hands-on look at how nature’s quietest residents are actually some of its toughest survivors.

Innovation Lab

Since the fall, our first graders have been learning the language of coding and sequencing—first by experimenting with Kaibot robots and later through more complex challenges in Code.org. They are now applying these concepts in ScratchJr, where they are discovering how code can be used to tell stories. With colorful backgrounds, playful characters, and easy-to-use blocks, ScratchJr makes coding feel like creative play, and students are having a blast bringing their own ideas and new worlds to life!

Art

First graders are creating Zentangle-inspired self-portraits, using intentional patterning, line variation, and design repetition to represent their individuality. Students are applying their understanding of shapes, lines, and decorative motifs to fill their portraits with meaningful details that reflect who they are. Next, they will begin designing siddur bookmarks for their siddur celebration in March!

This month first graders prepared for a visit from the bestselling and award-winning author Adam Gidwitz. Together as a class, we read the first book in his Unicorn Rescue Society series to learn about character building and explore the fantasy/adventure genre. We also discussed the work of an author to prepare for the visit. The presentations were enjoyed by all as Adam spoke about how he became a writer and how all of us can be writers, even if we didn’t recognize it at first. Students continued to improve the book evaluation skills during independent book selection time at the end of each class. Armed with their shelf space savers and their knowledge of the 5-finger-rule, students browsed the library shelves to find their just right books. We will continue to work on our quick evaluation skills as our students become stronger readers each day.

Library

Music

It’s been an exciting month in 1st grade music class as we begin to prepare for our Siddur Celebration. The students will lead their families in song, prayer, and dance as they receive their first siddurim, and they’ve risen to the challenge of learning so much new repertoire. They are excited to perform for you in March! Additionally, we have begun to learn about our first note values- quarter notes (one beat) and eighth notes (two per beat). The students have played these note values on drums, claves, and even composed their own rhythms. Looking ahead, we are learning to play a fun classroom instrument called Boomwhackers! These pitched tubes can be used to play all the notes of the major scale, and we look forward to exploring the many ways to use them in our musical expression and creation.

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