1st Grade Newsletter
March 7, 2022
Language Arts
What are we learning?
Reading: Talking about Books
- Young students love to talk. You see evidence of this daily from listening to morning chit-chat, to hearing every single detail of when a student lost a first tooth. When students are offered the opportunity to socialize with peers in an academic context, they become deep thinkers and effective communicators. In this unit, Talking About Books, students learn how to listen, respond, and contribute to a meaningful conversation around an engaging text.
Writing: Realistic Fiction
- Many children have vivid imaginations. In this unit, students draw on their imaginations, their experiences, and their interactions with mentor texts to create a fiction story in which their own creativity determines the direction of the story. Focusing on realistic fiction allows students to write better stories because they are writing about what they know. Writing these kinds of stories gives students the opportunity to approach dilemmas with relationships and real-world problems through fictional characters’ eyes. Students explore crafting believable characters that encounter realistic obstacles. This unit taps into students’ choice and voice. Additionally, students grow their understanding of plot and character development while improving their use of elaboration techniques. This unit builds on their understanding of how stories work from both the reading and writing perspective.
Phonics: Vowel Pairs
- When two vowels (and sometimes other letters) work together, they can make new sounds! We’ve been practicing the different vowel pairs and noticing how they can make the “long vowel sounds”.
- ay & ai = long ā
- ee & ea = long ē
- _y & igh = long ī
- oa & ow = long ō
Home/School Connection
- Tell us about your favorite part in the book.
- What connections do you have to the characters?
- Create a story about a problem and solution that a first grader would have.
Math
What are we learning?
Counting and Number Part 2
- In this unit, students work toward building fluency with composing and decomposing numbers to 10. Students also continue to develop and refine their
strategies for solving addition and subtraction story/picture problems to 10. Equality continues to be integrated throughout the unit, so students deepen their understanding of this concept.
Home/School Connection
Practice your fluency facts by practicing adding and subtracting.
Science
What are we learning?
Living Things (4 weeks):
- Animals need adequate air, food, water, shelter, and space (habitat)
- Animals, including humans, have many different physical characteristics
- Plants and animals can be classified according to a variety of characteristics
- Plants need nutrients, air, water, light, and a place to grow
- Plants have parts with specific functions
- Changes in temperature, light, and precipitation affect plants and animals, including humans
Home/School Connection
- Take care of an indoor or outdoor plant! See what happens when you give a plant everything it needs (sun, water, air, space, and nutrients)
Social Studies
What are we learning?
Geography
- Where people live affects how they live.
- Geographic features may impact daily life for people around the world (food, clothing, shelter).
Home/School Connection
- How does where we live affect how we live?
- How might geographical features (rivers, mountains) impact daily life for people?
- In what ways do maps show us how places change over time or stay the same?
Important Dates & Reminders
- Picture Re-takes Day: Friday, 3/25
- PTO Basketball Challenge: Thursday, 3/31 at South Lakes HS Gym. Doors open 5:30pm, event starts at 6pm
- Early Relase Day: Thursday, 3/31
- Teacher Workday/Student Holiday: Friday, 4/1
- Spring Break: 4/4-4/8
Positivity Project
Week of:
- March 6-12: Social Intelligence
- March 13-19: Love of Learning
- March 20-26: Wildcard/Make-Up
- March 27-April 2
Family Resources: https://posproject.org/p2-for-families/
Password: P2