Reading - We are working on learning about the parts of Daily 5 reading / guided reading. The components of Daily 5 are read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing, word work, and meet with teacher. (Meeting in a small reading group with the teacher. The reading group consists of readers who are at similar reading levels.) Daily 5 is going to have to look a little different this year as we navigate how to be in centers while socially distancing and rotating through manipulatives and books. We are doing our best to make it work!
So far we have introduced and practiced read to self and read to someone. We call our practice building stamina! Friday we started talking about the listening center and had a little bit of time to practice that component. This week we will rotate through these three centers and continue to build stamina. We may (or may not) get into the next component this week - work on writing.
The listening center apps/websites that we use are Raz Kids, Vooks, Epic, and Storyline Online.
Read-Aloud - Every day we end the day with a few chapters from a chapter book. We are starting the year off with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
Phonics (Fundations) - We have been working on reviewing all of the letters, keywords, and sounds. We have been practicing the correct way to form the letters and use the correct spaces. We have been using our white boards to practice our letters and dictation. We have working on tapping out sounds. We are currently working on CVC words (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant). We used our magnetic tile boards for the first time on Friday to practice making CVC words and tap them out. I've attached the letter keyword sounds poster and the handwriting lines for you to see what we are working on.
Henry practicing letters
Writing - We have been working on our writing skills. We have fundations journals that we use to write. So far we wrote in our journals about what we did on the weekend and something we are thankful for. ( - After reading a book about being thankful! ) We also have been working from some sheets that give us four choices of something. For instance - What is your favorite bug? There are four choices. You choose one (or more) and write your sentence. We are working on only using a capital letter for the first letter of the sentence, using finger spacing, using punctuation at the end of the sentence, and drawing a "wow picture" to go with your writing.
Math - We use Saxon Math - which is a spiraling curriculum. It goes over many topics multiple times over the course of the year. Some things we've worked on so far have been counting with pennies, ordinal numbers, basic shapes, beginning addition equations, beginning story problems, left and right, splitting something in half, and a basic graph, just to name a few topics. We worked with our wrap-ups for the first time this week. Wrap-ups can be a little tricky! They rocked it! Reminder - the students do not need to do the side B "homework" side of the Saxon math. Side B is exactly what we did in class. If you want your student to do it at home - of course they can do it. It does not need to be returned.
Religion - We read another story out of our Children's Bible - the story of Adam and Eve. We have been working on saying prayers - The Our Father, The Hail Mary, and Bless Us O Lord. We also sing the Johnny Appleseed prayer often. Have your child sing it to you! :) We've been practicing the sign of the cross and how to genuflect. This week we will start working out of our Religion book for the first time.
Science / Social Studies - We are working on a weather unit in an Einstein Kit. So far we have talked about our favorite weather, weather words, using our senses with weather, and what a meteorologist is. We also use Scholastic News for science/social studies. We read a Scholastic News each Friday. So far the topics our our Scholastic News have been "Let's Stay Healthy" and "Thank You Community Workers".
***A few FYI's***
Dress Code - A few reminders - The colors for bottoms are navy blue, brown, khaki, and black only. The bottoms are also to be cotton twill, broadcloth, or corduroy. (uniform type bottoms)
Hoodies are never allowed in the classroom - with the exception of Holy Cross sweatshirts on spirit wear Tuesday.
The dress code is in the handbook for your reference. If you ever have any questions about the dress code, just ask. :)
MAP Testing - First grade will be MAP testing Friday, Sept. 11th and Friday, Sept. 18th. The MAP test is done on a laptop with a mouse. Please take some time to go over how to use a mouse with your child. There are many children who are unsure how to click, double click, etc. Practicing how to use a mouse will be incredibly helpful for the test! Make sure your student has a good breakfast and gets plenty of sleep! :)
A few recess pictures -
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