First Grade News
Newsletter #2: Who We Are UOI
WHo We Are-UOI In Progress!
Transdisciplinary Theme:
Who We Are
Central idea: Human needs and customs shape the way people live their lives.
Key concepts: Form (What is it like?), Function (How does it work?), Perspective (What are the points of view?)
Related concepts: traditions, customs, culture, life needs, diversity
Lines of inquiry
- how family customs play a role in our lives
- what are basic life needs
- how families share cultural traditions
What we've explored so far...
- Through provocations including videos, stories, and hands-on activities, students tried to determine main ideas that were essential to our central idea. Students worked on their presentation and speaking skills by sharing their work and final ideas about our central idea with the rest of the class. Other students worked on their listening skills (transdisciplinary skills) when others were presenting.
- Students have been exploring needs and wants; how to distinguish between the two, thinking about how life needs work, and how they shape who we are as humans.
- Students have started exploring the concept of families and what families are like. Students generated questions they have about families to be explored further. Students started working on family portraits and thinking about how their family is different from and the same as other families using tools such as a Venn Diagram. We will continue exploring families by learning about family customs and how families share cultural traditions.
Transdisciplinary Skills
In order to build better collaborative learning skills, students have started working with one other student for certain tasks. We will, in sha Allah, work in pairs with guidance and support until we have developed better Social and Communication skills such as Group Decision Making, Cooperating, Listening, and Speaking skills. We will slowly phase into small group learning, as students demonstrate readiness for the more complex dynamic of working in small groups.
More About What Are We Learning This Unit
Math
Here's what we've been learning in Math!
- expressions and equations; writing equations; understanding that what is on either side of the equal sign is the same, so 3+3=6 can also be written as 6=3+3
- number bonds; understanding the parts of a number and the different ways to make a number
- using strategies to count and add; using visual/mental math to know numbers and parts of a number when looking at a group
- number formation; writing numbers in correct proportion and moving away from backwards-number writing
English Language Arts
Here's what we've been working on in Reading & Language Arts!
Current Vocabulary Words
bold, coward, empty, fortune, flee, gasp, grin, stare, sneaky, sharp
Sight Words
Individual sight word lists have been put into their blue folders. These lists will be updated every 1-2 weeks, or as students master the words.
Phonics/Writing/Reading Comprehension
Students are learning to distinguish between the differences between the subtle short vowel sounds in spoken language, as well as in writing. They have been introduced to the letter "Y" as a vowel. They are working on breaking words into syllables and sound parts in order to decode, as well as writing and forming letters.
Students are learning to compose complete sentences and to use writing mechanics in their writing such as capitalization and punctuation. We are using invented spelling and learning to become more aware of what we know about spelling in order to spell and think about words we are unfamiliar with.
With The Daily 5, students are learning to become better aware of their own ideas and brainstorming them, and continue to work on their reading and writing stamina, as well as their independence as learners. Next week, in sha Allah, we will launch a third component of The Daily 5-Work With Words. Stay tuned!
Comprehension
We are working on answering questions about details in a text, and identifying and describing the characters, settings, and details of a plot in a fictional story.
Upcoming Field Trips
UOI Summative
Subject Specific Summatives
Scholastic Book Fair!
http://onlinebookfairs.scholastic.com/teacherwishlist.aspx?grade=Panel1&teacherid=1160079
Any contributions to our classroom library are highly appreciated!
See What First Graders are Exploring in Other Classes...
For Art, see Ms. Taame's newsletter here:
Contact Information
- Ms. Aboubakr - haboubakr@tarbiyahacademy.org (Hmrm)
Email: info@tarbiyahacademy.org
Website: http://www.tarbiyahacademy.com
Location: 6785 Business Parkway, Elkridge, MD, United States
Phone: 844-827-2492
Facebook: facebook.com/tarbiyahacademy