Neighborhood Share - tomorrow!!

Just a friendly reminder that our Neighborhood Share is tomorrow (at 8:45 am)! The first graders are so excited to show you their work.


During the first part of our share, the first graders will share their building and non-fiction book (do not be surprised if some students need help reading their work - this is a big goal for some students in first grade - and that's OK!).


During the second part of the share, the first graders will go around interviewing you all about the neighborhood you lived in when you were in first grade (time to start jogging that memory!).


We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow! Cheers!






PS: If you arrive early, please check out our students' published How-To books (hanging outside on our bulletin board) from last month's writing workshop. These are the books we shared with Roberta's class- but we know many of you did not get a chance to read them. Check them out tomorrow - they are fabulous!

Spelling Practice

For extra spelling practice at home, you can dictate one or two sentences a week to encourage correct spelling, punctuation, and using an uppercase letter only at the beginning of a sentence or for someone's name.  Read the sentence twice, and have your child write the sentence down.  When your child is finished writing, go through the sentence and make corrections together.  Here are some sentences we recommend this month.

The fish is hot.
Rick is not back yet.
Tim sat on that big rock.
Beth had a wig and a hat.
Dad met Bev at the shop.
A big moth is in the pot.
Did Rick hop on that bus?
He had a nap on the rug.
Did Tom nab the fish?
Did Jack rush to the bus?
Beth had to get the pup.
Mom sat on the deck.
Did Chet wish for a pup?
The fish is for the cat.

Math & Literature

Here are some great counting books you can find in your local library.  Have your child count the objects on each page.  These books can also provide a good context for posing simple addition or subtraction problems such as "There are 7 birds on this page. How many would there be if 4 more birds came along?"

Ten in Bed, Penny Dale
Fish Eyes, Lois Elhert
12 Ways to Get to 11, Eve Merriam
Uno, Dos, Tres, One, Two Three, Pat Mora
From One to One Hundred, Teri Sloat
Math-Terpieces, Greg Tang
Count on Your Fingers African Style, Claudia Zaslavsky

Festival of Lights

Join us on Wednesday, December 18th, at 9:30 am in the auditorium for the Festival of Lights!

Neighborhood Share

Festival of Lights

The Festival Lights is only a few days away - next Wednesday, December 18th, at 9:30 am! The first graders will be performing the song "Put A Little Love in Your Heart" with Caroline's class and Bradley on guitar.  The lyrics are posted below - if you have time, please have your child practice the song at home!

Think of your fellow man
lend him a helping hand
put a little love in your heart.
You see it's getting late
oh please don't hesitate
put a little love in your heart.
And the world will be a better place
and the world will be a better place
for you and me
you just wait and see

Another day goes by
and still the children cry
put a little love in your heart.
If you want the world to know
we won't let hatred grow
put a little love in your heart.
And the world will be a better place
and the world will be a better place
for you and me
you just wait and see

Take a good look around and
if you're lookin' down
put a little love in your heart
I hope when you decide
kindness will be your guide
put a little love in your heart.
And the world will be a better place
and the world will be a better place
for you and me
you just wait and see
put a little love in your heart each and every day
put a little love in your heart there's no other way
put a lttle love in your heart, it's up to you
put a little love in your heart...

One more page please!

"One more page please!" Most of the first graders exclaimed this when we paused reading the book Punctuation Mark by Amy Krause Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld!  The character "Question Mark"had us all laughing.

Here are some more books we've been enjoying these last few weeks…
Ezra Jack Keats books (Goggles, Apt 3C)
Punctuation Takes A Vacation
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
It Looks Like Spilt Milk
A Kiss Goodbye (Rebecca read this on her last day)
Subway 

Equivalent Equations in Math

In math, the first graders have been thinking about equivalent equations.  We now know that equations (or number sentences) can go in many different ways. Here are some examples: 6+4=10, 4+6=10, 10=6+4, and 10=4+6.  At first, our students were confused by seeing the total as the first number in the equation, but now we understand that it makes sense!

First graders have also been thinking about balanced equations.  For example, we know that 4+6=5+5 or that 5+5=7+3.  Test your child at home by asking if an equation is true or false! Or, have your child  fill in the missing number of an equation! Here are some examples...

True or False

3 + 3 = 5 + 1

7 + 3 = 4 + 6

2 + 7 = 5 + 7


___ + 8 = 3 + 5

9 + 1 = 8 + ___

2 + ___ = 6 + 5

Library on Fridays

Remember, our new library day is Friday! First graders should bring back their library books on Fridays so that they can take out a new book for the week.

Saying Goodbye to Rebecca

Today is our student teacher Rebecca's last day! We are so sad to say goodbye to her.  It has been wonderful collaborating with Rebecca and we wish her all the best next semester in her new classroom! Stay in touch, Rebecca! We will all miss you so much!

A Sentence Study

Our next writing unit is entitled "A Sentence Study."  After attending a brilliant writing PD for teachers a few weeks ago, we were inspired to do a study around the mechanics of writing. So, after looking carefully at our students' work, we decided to focus on sentences.  

Goals for this unit include:
Learning to capitalize the first letter of a sentence.
Learning to to end sentences with a period, exclamation point, or a question mark.Learning to use commas to separate single words in a series.Learning to produce simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences

The best part about this unit is that the first graders get to write within any genre of their choice! Some of us are writing fairy tales, while others are writing how-tos or small moments. Today our writing workshop was buzzing with excitement!

We look forward to continuing our study of sentences!