March is Marvelous!
First Grade News
We are happy that we will hopefully be able to go outside more often for recess! We need children to remember to wear layers so that they are dressed appropriately for changes in weather that might occur throughout the day. Many of our first graders may soon be involved in Spring sports, which is a healthy activity that we encourage. We like to hear that our students are spending time outside, exercising, learning about teamwork, and socializing. However, please remember that homework is still expected to be completed, and should only take about 10 minutes. Thanks!
Word Study
Keep practicing the spelling of the high-frequency words. We will continue to practice long and short vowel patterns. We’ll continue to apply our spelling patterns and sounding out skills when writing. We will work with compound words (such as birdhouse and football) and contractions (such as I’m and can’t).
Note: Many first graders over use the apostrophe once they learn about it!
Reading
It is very exciting to see first graders choosing reading for a free-time activity! Even though many of our first graders are able to read independently, it is still important to read aloud to them as well. When you read to your child, you are modeling fluency and expression. You can read texts that are of interest that may be too difficult for them to read on their own. The students really enjoyed the fairy tales and folk tales we have been reading, as well as the nonfiction texts that teach them true facts.
During March and April, students will apply the strategies and skills we have learned before, during, and after reading. Students should be demonstrating accurate decoding and should practice reading with fluency and expression. They should be able to use context clues to figure out what a word means and should be able to answer questions and complete follow-up organizers about what they read. It is important that students monitor their reading and stop to use comprehension and decoding strategies when stuck or confused.
Writing
We will continue to write to express our opinions. We will be writing book reviews, in a Reading Rainbow style. We use the acronym O.R.E.O. (Opinion statement, Reasons, Evidence/Examples, and restating of the Opinion) to help the students remember what an opinion piece should contain. Some key words in writing are elaboration and proofreading. Elaboration means adding more details. Sentences should express complete thoughts that make sense to the audience. Proofreading is another important focus of our writing instruction. The children should be rereading and checking for mistakes in capitalization and punctuation, as well as mistakes with words that contain known spelling patterns, high-frequency words and words that can be found in the text. Sometimes when students have to fix errors at home, they try harder not to repeat the same errors at school. Also, remind your children that neatness counts!
Math
We have worked on comparing numbers, story problems, and determining missing addends. We will work on 2-digit addition and subtraction. We’ll be working more on geometric shapes and measurement this quarter. Measurement concepts are fun to practice at home with nonstandard units of measure (like using your feet or paper clips) as well as rulers, tape measures, scales, and measuring cups. We’ll also be telling time to the hour and half hour. See if your child can identify the coins and their values. We continue working on fact fluency in addition and subtraction. Students should be able to count forward and back from any number (to 120), and count by 2, 5, and 10. As always, we are also working on communicating our math ideas through numbers, pictures, and words.
Science and Social Studies
First grade is in the midst of our Light and Sound unit. We have enjoyed some fun hands-on activities in class. Your child may be motivated to make an instrument at home or show you some of the light experiments using a flashlight at home.
We learned about some of our past presidents and Black History Month during February.
Character Counts
We are always on the lookout for good character! Although only two students a quarter are recognized at the Star Assemblies for showing good character, our students are praised and recognized daily for being respectful, responsible, caring, trustworthy, and fair. We often connect these ideals with character traits in reading. We are fortunate that most of our Centerville children are learning these things at home as well. Thank you!
Supplies
Many students need a supply check! Ask your child if he/she could use new crayons, glue sticks, pencils, scissors, or dry-erase markers. Some of the homework notebooks also look like they are almost full. Some students have an extra composition book at school to use as a replacement. If possible, we would appreciate donations of tissues, zip-lock bags, Clorox wipes, and/or dry-erase markers for classroom use. Hopefully, we won’t have too many more inside recess days, but we would also appreciate donations of new or gently used toys and games that could be used for those bad weather days. Legos and play-doh are very popular items in most classes.
Thank you in advance for any support you can offer!
Team One