Hello families!
Here’s what our CA first graders are learning this week:
Reading: Once again this week, we are reading books about classroom community and discussing character, setting, and plot. Our read-aloud books include How Full Is Your Bucket, How Do Dinosaurs Go To School, The Recess Queen, Chester’s Way, Officer Buckle and Gloria, Ira Sleeps Over, Ira Says Goodbye, and The Rainbow Fish.
Phonics: This week, we are continuing our study of beginning and ending sounds of words. We will also learn about the "onset" and "rime" of words. Ex: in the word "stand," st- is the onset and -and is the rime. Chunking words this way helps the children to build word solving skills when reading and writing.
Writing: In the second week of writers' workshop, first grade is continuing with writing "small moments" -- stories that zero in on a specific incident that has happened in the children's lives. We are working on learning to add detail and ask questions about one another's writing. We will also learn this week to help characters in our stories come to life by making them "move" and "speak" in our stories.
Math: Building off of our addition lessons from the last 2 weeks, we are learning about number bonds and subtraction facts to 12. Students were introduced to number bonds in kindergarten, and we will review part-part-whole concepts together as a class. Number bonds are simply one strategy that students can use to subtract. We will also use number lines, counting back, partners of 10, and pictures to solve subtraction problems this week and in the weeks ahead.
IXL: If you would like to use IXL at home, we recommend these sections for practice this week:
IXL: If you would like to use IXL at home, we recommend these sections for practice this week:
- Counting and Number Patterns (Section A)
- Addition (Section B)
- Subtraction (Section D)
Core Knowledge: We have begun our first science unit of the year: the Human Body. Students will be learning about basic body systems including the nervous, circulatory, digestive, and skeletal systems. We will also be learning about how to take care of our bodies and preventing disease.
Core Virtue: September’s core virtues are Respect—treating others with high regard—and Responsibility—doing your part for others and your community.
