Happy New Year to all! The beginning of a new year in first grade is exciting! From January to June is when first graders seem to just " take off " in every subject area. In January all reading strategies will be taught. I will be working in small guided reading groups to challenge each child to read more fluently with good comprehension. I think you will quickly notice your child jumping to higher DRA levels! We will work hard to apply phonetic strategies to writing. All reading will have a writing connection with an emphasis on paragraph writing.
As we move along in Math, children will now be memorizing addition and subtraction facts. Because the children have a very good understanding of the process involved in addition and subtraction, we will begin working with " fact families ". For some children, fact families are a difficult concept. Be patient. Children usually catch on and actually enjoy fact families. As you help your child with Math homework, keep in mind that addition and subtraction are nothing more than opposite operations. For example, the knowledge of addition facts will greatly help with subtraction!
January is a great time to discuss the months of the year. We will be working in our " Happy New Year " books each day. These books include poetry and individual writing for each month of the year. January is also a wonderful time to introduce the water cycle as it relates to states of matter, solids, liquids, and gases. We will actually build a small snowman and bring him into the classroom. We will observe how the snowman changes from solid snow to liquid water, and then count how many days it takes for complete evaporation.
On a similar note, we will study snow, snowflakes, and the North/South poles. We will focus on the animals and people of these polar regions of the world. Penguins and polar bears are always a big hit!
I plan to give more website homework on Mon. and Fri. I will send home one more copy of your child's usernames and passwords for Everyday Math, Study Island, and Reading eggs. Again, please keep these in a safe place. Many children lost the first notice I sent home, making the homework difficult to complete.
I am excited to work with your child in 2014! We have so much learning to do. I look forward to watching each child learn and grow to their full potential!!!
As we move along in Math, children will now be memorizing addition and subtraction facts. Because the children have a very good understanding of the process involved in addition and subtraction, we will begin working with " fact families ". For some children, fact families are a difficult concept. Be patient. Children usually catch on and actually enjoy fact families. As you help your child with Math homework, keep in mind that addition and subtraction are nothing more than opposite operations. For example, the knowledge of addition facts will greatly help with subtraction!
January is a great time to discuss the months of the year. We will be working in our " Happy New Year " books each day. These books include poetry and individual writing for each month of the year. January is also a wonderful time to introduce the water cycle as it relates to states of matter, solids, liquids, and gases. We will actually build a small snowman and bring him into the classroom. We will observe how the snowman changes from solid snow to liquid water, and then count how many days it takes for complete evaporation.
On a similar note, we will study snow, snowflakes, and the North/South poles. We will focus on the animals and people of these polar regions of the world. Penguins and polar bears are always a big hit!
I plan to give more website homework on Mon. and Fri. I will send home one more copy of your child's usernames and passwords for Everyday Math, Study Island, and Reading eggs. Again, please keep these in a safe place. Many children lost the first notice I sent home, making the homework difficult to complete.
I am excited to work with your child in 2014! We have so much learning to do. I look forward to watching each child learn and grow to their full potential!!!