First Grade News

    We completed our apple unit this week! The children had fun learning about Johnny Appleseed and many of the tall tales that have been written about him. They even thought they saw him walking by our classroom! :)))) This week we also read the story, The Giving Tree. Then the children wrote about things that make them happy. They had some great responses! This week we also read the story, The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree. Then we discussed how trees look different throughout the year. After this, the children drew pictures of trees in the different seasons.
    In phonics this week we worked on lessons that included the names of the children in our classroom. We looked at how the names of the children in our classroom are made up of different letters and that the order of these letters are always the same. This week we also worked on building words together using cutout letters. The children and I worked on checking each word letter by letter and then saying it slowly to check it. By doing this, the children are learning that there is an important connection between the sounds in words and letters, including their placement in words.
    While working on our comprehension program, we read the story, Is Your Mama a Llama? We then worked on strategies such as Turn-to-Your-Partner and making connections to the story to help the children have a better comprehension of the story that was read.
    We continued with our vocabulary program this week. We read the story, The Principal's New Clothes, which is a story about two people that promise that they will make a suit for the new principal that will only be invisible to people that are not good at their jobs. A kindergarten child is the only one that finally tells everyone that there is no suit at all. Our words for this week were delicate, drafty, and imposter.
    This week we also began our reading homework. Please remember to send the reading books back in the plastic bag to school everyday. It also helps if the reading log has your child's name on it and is also put into the plastic bag. Thanks for you help!
    The children also worked very hard in math this week! We looked at how thermometers work and what they are used for. The children were also introduced to number stories. There are so many rules when writing number stories! We will continue to practice writing number stories throughout the year. With more practice, writing number stories will become easier for the children.
    In science, we began our unit on Seasonal Change. We went outside at 9:00 a.m. to see were the sun was in relation to us. Then we went outside again at 11:15 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to see if the sun was in a different location from where it was when we first looked at it in the morning. Throughout the day we discussed how we charted the sun's path and why it looks like the sun is moving throughout the day.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Ann Melissaratos