May Days in First Grade
It is hard to believe that the school year is soon coming to an end! We have worked very hard in first grade this year and plan to keep working hard through the last weeks of school. We are increasing our expectations for independence, high-quality work, and appropriate behaviors in order to prepare your child for next year. Many assessments are given at this time of year, which may help in determining your child’s placement for next year. Encourage your child to stay focused and to do his/her best, without feeling stressed.
Please have your child check his/her school supplies to see if anything is needed to get through the rest of the school year. Our supplies are dwindling. If you are able to send supplies, we would appreciate donations of dry-erase markers, Clorox wipes, sidewalk chalk, treasure box items, zip-lock bags, and tissues.
Please check around your house and in your cars for reading books, library books, and other materials that belong to CES and return them as soon as possible.
Science
We will be starting our Organisms unit soon. We’ll learn about plants, animals, food chains, habitats, and adaptations. We will be spending time in the learning garden. You can enhance the unit with nature walks, trips to a zoo or aquarium, and gardening.
Social Studies
We will be learning about Economics and we think you will be impressed with the economics vocabulary the students are using. Your child will be completing a Career Project as part of this unit. You will gete information about this and it will be the homework for about a month. We will be completing our drug awareness and summer safety units in the last weeks of school as well. As always, we continue to learn about diverse cultures through our reading.
Language Arts
In reading, we are continuing to work on decoding words, reading with fluency and expression, and showing our comprehension. We are working on application of all of the skills we have learned throughout the year.
In writing, we will focus on fiction stories. Then we will apply what we have learned in all of the units this year by writing factual paragraphs, small moments, journal entries, narrative stories, and opinion pieces. With each type of writing students should be using correct conventions (capitalization, punctuation, spacing, neatness, and spelling). High-frequency words and words from the text should always be spelled correctly.
Math
In the last quarter we are reviewing skills and working on 2-digit addition and subtraction, telling time, measurement, geometry, fractions, solving story problems, and addition and subtraction fact fluency. Communication of math ideas and perseverance when solving problems will be emphasized.
Coming Soon…Summer Learning Ideas
Our final newsletter will have more tips for summer learning. This summer will be a nice long one, but we are hoping to avoid what is called the “Summer Slide” where students regress over the time off in the summer. You may want to sign up your child for Summer Camps that spark learning. Some families have already been making arrangements for summer tutoring to maintain skills learned this year. Try to set aside a little bit of time each day for reading, writing, and math. There are many computer programs that can help students practice essential skills as well. Travel is a great way to learn, even if it is just a nature walk close to home. Maybe your child can keep a Summer Scrapbook with photos, labels, captions, and stories about what happens this summer.
We are in the “Home Stretch” of the year and will need to work together to finish strong!
Thank you!
Team One