First Grade Newletter
September 21st- 25th
Week Five News!
Dear Beck Parents,
Please join us this Tuesday, September 22 from 5:30-6:40 PM for an evening of learning here at our second annual Beck University Curriculum Night!
The First Grade Team will be offering the following courses:
First Grade 101: An overview of First Grade TEKS (standards), procedures, and a preview of the year.
Just Right Reading: Find out about our First grade curriculum and the Reading Workshop model. You will be introduced to the skills and strategies that your child will learn to apply in his/her daily reading. These strategies and skills can also be used at home to add fun to reading as well as build confidence and comprehension.
Stepping Into Math: Learn about our math curriculum and the balanced approaches of math computation, fluency, and problem solving your child will be involved in learning this year. You will be provided with math resources that can make applying skills and strategies at home fun and meaningful.
** Please stop by to look at the Standard Based Bulletin Boards showcasing our students math work as well!
Having lunch here at school?
We have enjoyed having so many of our families come to have lunch here at Beck! Please be sure that your child and any guests stay seated with you during the lunch period and have your child throw away his/her trash when teachers begin dismissing students to line up. Thank you for all your support in keeping Beck “True Blue!”
Speeding To Read Reading Logs:
Be sure your child is recording the books he/she reads daily using the reading log. Re-readings of the same book will count. Any library books or books read at home count. Each chapter of a chapter book counts as a book. Supporting your child's reading goal will make this experience even bigger and better. Let's share the excitement and get those books logged in!
***PERMISSION SLIPS for the Speeding to Read Kick-Off are due this Tuesday September 22***
Sincerely,
The First Grade Team
Learning Targets
Learning Targets
A Learning Target is the desired goal of each task in which your child will actively be involved each day. In addition, it engages your child in reflective evaluation of their own performance.
Reading Workshop:
We will learn how to apply “Good Reader” habits during independent reading and how to solve unknown words using context clues. Your child will continue to practice building reading comprehension by making text connections.
Some activities you may want to try at home:
Asking Questions...
What predictions did you make about the story?
What good reader strategy do you use well?
Why do good readers check the picture and words within big words?
What words do you know that start or end with the difficult word?
Making Connections…
I like the part when (text evidence). It reminded me of (my connection.)
Writing Workshop:
We will discuss the purpose of conferencing with the teacher and self-conferencing. We will also learn about taking risks in our writing, and using author's purpose to focus our piece.
Some activities you may want to try at home:
Writing a descriptive sentence. Example: Instead of “I love my puppy.” Help your child describe the object, “I love my soft fluffy puppy.” Or instead of “My puppy runs.” Help your child to describe the action of the object, “My puppy dashes from room to room like a tornado.”
Math Workshop:
Your child will be comparing and ordering numbers up to 19. They will learn to represent numbers in multiple ways using math tools such as cubes and counters, sketches, numbers, and number names.
Some activities you may want to try at home:
At home you may want to ask your child about large quantities that are in containers. Such as how many eggs are in two egg cartons without counting them all, how many coins are in the change jar, how many spoons are in the silverware drawer. Then have them group the objects into groups of ten and count them.
Science:
We will observe and compare common objects as well as their weight, texture, size, shape, and color.
Some activities you may want to try at home:
Compare similar objects with different weights such as an air-filled balloon and a water-filled balloon or compare the texture of objects by placing different objects in a bag and have your child describe how each object feels. The purpose is to help your child identify the properties of each object.
Upcoming Events
September 22 Last Day to join PTA
September 22 Curriculum Night 5:30-6:30
September 29 Speed to Read field trip at the Speedway
October 5-9 Parent-Teacher Conferences (More info soon).
October 8 Six Weeks Awards Assembly (Time TBA).
Volunteer Opportunities
At Beck we embrace the many opportunities for volunteering. All parents who wish to volunteer in the classroom must have a background check completed prior to volunteering. If you are interested please visit the NISD homepage to fill out the background check. We would love to have you in the classroom, but have to ensure the safety of all students. We look forward to working with you this year!
TEACHER CONTACT INFORMATION
Chelsea Thorpe: cthorpe@nisdtx.org
Shanea Branch: cbranch@nisdtx.org
Dan Flank: dflank@nisdtx.org
Lauren Randall: lobryan@nisdtx.org
Sara McLaughlin: SMcLaughlin@nisdtx.org
Stefanie Dailey: sdailey@nisdtx.org