1A Classroom Update 1
September 16, 2016
Welcome to 1A's Newsletter!
Hello 1A Families,
Effective, Monday, September 19th, we will use the responses from this form to ensure the safe and proper dismissal of our students.
If there is ANY change to your student's dismissal, you must inform BPCS via our Change in Dismissal Request Form by 12:00 pm on the date of the change, no exceptions.
We are excited to be using this platform as a place to share events in the classroom! We will use this space to send you updates about all of the activities that we are doing in class on a bi-monthly basis. We have really enjoyed getting to know your children the past two weeks. Check out below for our first update and for fun photos of our 1A friends!
Academics
- These past couple of weeks have truly been wonderful at BPCS and many great things are yet to come! We are so pleased with your continued support and interest in being involved with our first grade learning community. For the beginning weeks of school we have continued to create a warm and caring community where our scholars feel comfortable learning as well as taking risks. We are also getting to know each other by playing games and reading books. We have also begun the first units of all academic subjects
Writing:
In writing our students learned the habits of good writers and the routines of their classroom writing community. We have been learning how to move around the classroom quietly, retrieve supplies independently, and use classroom resources to assist in spelling and writing conventions. We have also been practicing selecting relevant topics, planning sentences before writing, giving and receiving feedback on their work through partnerships, and viewing themselves as writers. In order to reinforce these skills at home, have our friends share a story using three fingers to represent beginning, middle, and end.
Reader's Workshop
We are kicking off reading by exploring what it means to be a reader in First Grade! So far, we have agreed upon what our reading environment will look and sound like and how to care for the books in our classroom. Students were also introduced to the components that make up Readers Workshop. In order for our students to better understand each component, we correlated each component with how a runner can get ready for a marathon. For example, our mini-lesson represented a warm up where we get ready and warm up our muscles for learning and then we end the marathon with a share where all of us come together and share our ideas and skills that we learned. In these next couple of weeks our friends will learn how to determine if a book is JUST RIGHT for them as readers.
Math
Our mathematicians started off the school year with an exploration of how to use and care for math materials in our classroom. With these materials, they've practiced making different shapes as well as writing and counting up to 20! We have also began Number Stories, a math curriculum focused on Cognitively Guided Instruction, where students solve word problems by utilizing a variety of strategies including counting unifix cubes or drawing pictures. This is a great way for students to openly explore strategies and then be able to share their strategies with their classmates, learning from one another and advancing their mathematical thinking. Moving forward, we will also begin to work on how to fluently add and subtract. A fun game to play with your child to practice these skills is "Dice Addition". First you roll two dice, then write a number sentence of the rolled numbers, and then solve (e.g. 3+6=9). To support your child at home with their formation of numbers, we encourage kinesthetic activities such as making numbers with playdough or shaving cream.
Phonics
We have been assessing student's knowledge of letters and sounds. We have built a repertoire of stories, songs, rhymes, and chants that our friends have enjoyed and at the same time heightened their awareness of language sounds and written symbols. In the coming weeks, students will be working on recognizing beginning, ending, and short vowel sounds. Slowly we will be introducing Phonics centers where students work with teachers to build on these skills and also work independently to practice building words, matching and sorting to pictures to word combinations. To practice these skills at home, have your child identify sounds of items around the house and use their fingers to tap out each sound they hear.
Social Emotional
At BPCS we always want to make sure we are creating a community where students come together and work with others to strengthen their academic as well as social emotional skills. In order for us to start getting to know one another along with the classroom expectations, we created a classroom contract that described how they wanted their classroom to be. Students distilled their ideas down to showing active listening, being kind, being responsible and trying their best. Each member of 1A signed the contract and have been trying their best to fulfill those qualities. This week particularly, our friends received their classroom jobs and have been working together to show how they can be responsible within the classroom.
Our classroom culture is becoming cohesive as we work to establish friendships and express how we feel in a positive way. One way this occurs is through giving someone a "shoutout" for demonstrating that they were caring for their community. We reinforce the message that we are a team and we are here to work together to make our community strong and successful. In the next couple of weeks, we will be showing our friends how to problem solve with read aloud, power talks, and letting others know how they feel in a positive manner.
Readers
Workshop
Time
Scavenger
Hunt
Time
Our
First
Week
Announcements
Important Dates
- Tuesday, 9/27 - Back to School Night for first grade from 6-7pm
- Monday, 10/10 - Columbus Day: No School
- Tuesday, 10/11 - Professional Development: No School
Reminders
- We will be a NUT-FREE classroom. Due to allergies in our classroom, we wanted to inform you that 1A will be a nut-free classroom. Please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for your support in making sure that all our students remain happy and healthy.
- Below is our Specials, recess, and park schedule:
-Mondays: Spanish, Science and Music
-Tuesdays: Spanish, Dance and PE
-Wednesdays: None
-Thursdays: Spanish and Art
-Fridays: Spanish, Music and PE
-We are outside at MetroTech for recess on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 12 - 12:30.
-1st grade trips to Fort Greene will be on Fridays. The first trip will be Friday, October 7th when bus service begins.
1st Inquiry Unit: Family Diversity
We are excited to announce that our first inquiry unit of first grade will be Family Diversity! Inquiry is a time in which students ask questions about a teacher-selected topic and work together to answer them through a variety of hands-on activities. Our goal for this unit is to have students recognize that families have many differences and similarities across cultures. We hope to have them do so by identifying different family structures through comparison of their family or those of their friends to other families in our own community or even the world. We will also allow students to share some family story-telling with the class either through writing or other forms of communication.
To start the unit, we ask that you please send in or email a family photo to dtes1a@brooklynprospect.org for your child to share with the class. Please email if you have any ideas for our class’ exploration of family diversity. This could include suggestions for great books to read, visitors to come to our classroom, or activities or videos. Thank you for your support.
1st Grade Birthdays
Starting in first grade, students celebrate their birthdays as a collective group. To do this, we will have a once-a-month classroom celebration for ALL students with a birthday occurring in that month. Besides promoting the idea of community, we feel that this will allow us to meet and better manage the diverse dietary needs, schedules, and cultural backgrounds of our school families. We, of course, will still recognize your child’s birthday on his or her special day with a small token from the teachers and singing from the class.
This monthly birthday celebration will take place on the last Friday of every month. The celebration will usually occur at 3 - 3:20 PM; however, teachers will email to inform you if there is a change due to specials or school closings. Teachers will reach out to you with an invitation and to ask if you will be bringing any food items. Families are welcome to bring in treats. While sweets are allowed, we encourage the size of them to be kept small and also encourage healthy snacks, such as pre-washed fruit or fruit snacks. If you do bring in sweets, mini cupcakes are a great option as well as cookies (one per student). We have 29 students in our class. Other items, such as goodie bags or balloons, are not allowed. Please reach out via email if you have any questions or concerns about the first grade birthday policy.
Photos
Math
Materials
Exploration
Build
With
Pattern Blocks
Specials Update
¡Bienvenidos!
Our goal for these classes is to augment the core classroom experience by providing opportunities to engage all types of learners in very interactive subjects areas. As teachers, we hope that these exciting lessons will expose students to new experiences, and plant the seeds to help our BPCS students grow into balanced, creative, globally-minded community members.
Art: Anita Walsh
Picture: paintings on the walls, sculptures hanging from the ceilings, mosaics on the steps to the 9th and 10th floors, a tree in the lobby that changes seasonally and more. Aloha! You’ve arrived at BPCS!
ART is a verb! BPCS artists will explore a wide variety of materials this year — as we make individual and group projects in alignment with IB grade level themes. For inspiration, we’ll look at the work of artists from around the world. Emphasis will be placed on problem solving, experimentation and risk taking. Please look for our projects on display around the school.
Dance: Rohiatou Siby (Specials Department Head)
Greetings BPCS families! I am excited to be in my second year sharing the joys of movement with your young dancers. I began dancing as a child and can attest to the power of finding expression through movement at a young age.
This year, students will learn dance-making fundamentals, embark on global dance excursions and visit nearby dance centers. Hopefully, by the end of the year, BPCS dancers will see the principles of dance everywhere and develop a deep appreciation for the art of movement!
“To sing well and to dance is to be well-educated.” - Plato
Music: Jacob Kramer
I grew up playing classical guitar, and studied it in college and graduate school. A few years after graduating I discovered how fun it was to sing, dance, and be silly with music, and my life was forever altered. I have been teaching for over ten years, and this will be my first year at BPCS.
This year, the music room will be a place for students to learn and create music in a variety of ways. We will dance, sing, and play both folk and composed pieces of music, and we will create our own pieces using instruments, our voices, and our own choreography.
I am super excited to make music inside and outside of my classroom, and to help support Brooklyn Prospect’s musical community!
Physical Education: Tara Marsigliano
Hello Parents & Children, I am the Physical Education Teacher here at BPCS and this will be my 4th year working with the BPCS community!
I am very excited to embark on a brand new school year full of new faces and adventures in Physical Education. This year I will be teaching Health to our students which is going to be a wonderful new addition to our school’s curriculum.
I desire for students develop a lifelong understanding and passion for maintaining a healthy active lifestyle that they can take with them as they travel from grade to grade.
Science: Liana Rosabal-Bushnell
Welcome, BPCS families old and new! I am the Elementary Science Teacher, teaching grades 1-3 this year. I was a founding faculty member at BPCS and got my start as a classroom teacher in grades K and 1. I am proud to be a part of an amazing team of specialist educators, and am excited to teach our students about animal habitats, rocks and minerals, and tools for measuring the properties of matter! I am also passionate about permaculture, and have started a vermicomposting program at BPCS (with lots of help from last year’s Grade 1 class). I would love to bring a CSA system to our school community as part of a larger curriculum about plant diversity, ecosystems, and sustainability.
Spanish: Isamar Rosado/ Nivia Marrero
Bienvenidos familia to another exciting school year. I am delighted to start my second year at BPCS as la maestra de Español! I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Nivia Marrero. She will be my right hand and her role will vary depending on the class. This school year students, parents, faculty, and staff will experience 100% Spanish Immersion. Our goal this year is to expose students from Kinder, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade to Spanish (oral, visual and written) all the time. The Spanish immersion will be supported by theater, TPR (total physical response), storytelling, music, games, dance, art, and cultural exploration. I am super excited to see how our bilingual brains grow and develop.
Check Out Our Brand New ART Studio!!
Contact Us
Email: dtes1a@brooklynprospect.org
Website: www.brooklynprospect.org
Phone: 718-722-7634