First Grade News

Dear Parents,
    Wow, I can't believe September is almost over! The days are going by so fast!
    This week we began our next unit on Nursery Rhymes. We started out the unit with the story, Each Peach Pear Plum. With this book the children played "I Spy" and looked for different nursery rhyme characters on each page. We also had fun making Humpty Dumptys for the nursery rhyme of Humpty Dumpty and spiders for Little Miss Muffet. The children love this unit because they are familiar with the rhymes and feel successful when they can read them. Throughout this unit we will work on sequencing, vowels sounds, and rhyming.
    In phonics, we worked on syllables. We used the names of the children in the classroom to listen to the different parts of the names. Working with syllables helps the children to learn to take multisyllable words apart. We also worked on changing the first letter of words to make new words. The children used words that they know to try to make new ones. By doing this, the children begin to see relationships between words. They can then use this knowledge to take words apart while reading and spelling words. The children are working so hard!!
    This week we used our Student Books from our comprehension program for the first time. In their Student Books, the children will be able to draw and write about things that deal with stories they hear during read alouds. First we read the story, It's Mine. Then the children were asked to draw a picture and write about a time when they had to share something. This was a great way for the children to reflect on the main idea of this story.
    In math we began Unit 2. We practiced counting forward and back on the number grid. The children also made their own number lines by cutting apart a number grid. This week we also played games such as "Rolling for 50" and "Two-Fisted Penny Addition". Many of the activities in this unit will prepare the children for addition and subtraction.
    In science this week we began to talk about seasonal change. The children will be observing the ways that a tree on our playground changes with each season. The children will then draw and write about our tree in their seasons journals.
    This week the children attended our first PBIS celebration! For three Todd Tickets, the children were able to go outside and draw with sidewalk chalk. It was a fun time for all!!

**Reminder**
Tuesday, September 30th: No School

Have a GREAT weekend!!!

Ann Melissaratos