Miss Lee's First Grade Class
Find out the latest happenings in Room 100!
Welcome to Our Classroom!
Upcoming Events and Monthly Curriculum
January Events
**We are in need of paper towel tubes for our classroom. We are beginning our number scrolls!**
1/14--PTO Meeting 5:00-6:30
1/15--Half day for students
1/17--Homework for the week of 1/13 is due.
1/20--Martin Luther King Jr. Day - No School
1/31--Report cards available on PowerSchool - Please contact the school if you do not have internet access and a paper copy will be sent home.
Reader's Workshop--Our reading strategy this month is "making connections." Good readers make connections to help them understand the story in many different ways. We can make connections from the book to something that has happened in our own life, to another story, and to events/ideas that have happened in the world. We will be practicing making text-to-text connections by studying books written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. Click here for more information about Tomie! We will explore his writing style, characters, and plot lines. Click here for more information about "making connections," and how you can help your child at home.
Writer's Workshop--This month we are writing "how-to" texts. We will read multiple how-to texts, such as recipes, instructions to the game "Go Fish," and the book, "How to Deal with Monsters." We will also write a class text with step-by-step directions describing how to blow a bubble with bubble gum. Each child will then get to write their own "how-to" book on a topic they are an expert in (such as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or how to ride a bike). We are very excited to share our expertise! Here is a link to an example of a "how-to" book written by a first grader.
Math--We are continuing our focus on place value. We are using base-10 blocks to show and compare numbers up to 120. We are learning how to exchange 10 "ones" for 1 "ten," and how to exchange 10 "tens" for 1 "hundred." We will also begin our unit on measurement. This includes telling time to the hour and half-hour, counting coins, and measuring items using non-standard units (i.e. a pencil is about the length of 4 paper clips; a pencil is longer than a crayon). Please continue to practice addition and subtraction facts at home. It is very important that your child have as many facts as possible mastered by the end of first grade. Here is a great site to practice place value.
Science/Social Studies--We are continuing our study of maps and the Arctic/Antarctica. We are exploring the northern and southern hemispheres, directionality (north, east, south, west), how directionality affects temperature, and how animals in the polar regions have adapted to their environment. Click here and here for books about the Arctic/Polar regions.
**Please continue to practice the first grade list of sight words as well. I will test your child on his/her sight word ring every few days to make sure that he/she is progressing towards mastery of the list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Homework is due every Friday. The homework calendar is sent home every Monday. Go to the Grade 1 website (http://www.classjump.com/p/pcsgrade1/) and choose one activity to complete each night. Write the activity your child chose on the calendar and initial it. The reading log is on the back of the calendar. Please read with your child each night for at least 15 minutes, then write down the title of the book and initial it.
Does my child have to memorize sight words?
Yes. The Wachusett Regional School District has created a list of Fundations words, as well as Dolch sight words that your child needs to read by the end of the school year. Please practice the words on the sight word ring I have sent home with your child.