Hello Families,

Maybe we’ll have a full week of school next week. I'm glad everyone made it safely back home Thursday morning. The children are doing very well with regular routines and procedures with all of the schedule changes. It’s amazing to see how much they’ve grown and matured since the beginning of the year.

 

We love indoor recess...more than Miss Grimes does. :-)

 

Math

Geometry continues to be fun for the first graders. This week we learned about congruent shapes, transformations of shapes, and symmetrical shapes. The following are words that your child should be using when talking about geometry:

·         Symmetrical

·         Symmetry

·         Slide – translation

·         Flip – reflection

·         Turn – rotation

·         Congruent

Please try and have conversations with your child about math using these words. Academic vocabulary is very important. Hearing and using the words only in school is not enough. Thank you for all you do at home to support academic vocabulary.

Reading Workshop

GREAT readers ask questions…lots of questions! This week we learned how to go from wondering to asking a question using a question word. We know that good question words are who, what, where, when, why, and how. These questions allow us to dig deeper. Questions words like was, did, have, and do are okay, but they usually only require a yes or no answer which stops conversation about the text.  

Example: Did you have fun at the park?   “Yes”

OR….What did you have fun doing at the park? Who was at the park with you? Why did you go to the park? When did you go to the park? How did you get to the park? Where is the park?

Encourage your child to share his/her questions about text with you. Encourage questions that lead to deep thinking.

Writer’s Workshop

We are writing an opinion paragraph. We all made a list of our favorites. Favorite book, movie, candy…. We chose one of our favorites to write about. Each child needed to identify his/her favorite something and list at least two reasons why it’s the best “something.” The reasons had to be specific. They could not say, “It’s good.” We will be working more on these this week.

This Week I Really Learned!

I hope you’re enjoying your child’s T.W.I.R.L. journals. We love reading your letters each week.  Students are more motivated to write when they know they will receive a letter back. Even a short letter is better than no letter at all. Thank you for taking the time to write each week. J

Word Workshop

Yea for long vowels! We are now learning about the other sound that vowels make….the long sound. This week we are learning about long A made by adding a silent e. Be on the lookout for long A word with silent e endings. (make, take, rake, snake, shake, shame, blame) First graders should be able to read and spell long A words with silent e endings.  

Grammar

We worked on identifying past tense verbs in writing and speaking. Correct your child if verbs are written or spoken using the wrong tense.

Enjoy your weekend!