First Grade has had such a great start to the year! The students have grown SO much since the start of the school year. We are having a WILD time learning new things and growing as responsible First Graders! We are so excited to see what November has in store for us!
Here are some areas in which our First Graders have been hard at work learning and growing:
- Teamwork and Personal Responsibility- Students are continuing to work together as a team.
- Reading- Students are learning reading strategies such as "Chunky Monkey" to sound out unfamiliar words. In addition, students are working on developing fluency, comprehension, and building stamina while reading. We are making predictions while reading and increasing vocabulary. Students have time set aside daily to read independently in their own special places, with books that are "just right" for them!
- Spelling- Students are building their spelling skills through weekly games, activities, and spelling tests. Their favorite spelling game is "Sparkle"! Thus far, students have learned about short vowel sounds, consonant clusters, words that end in -nk and -ng, short vowel sounds represented by more than one letter, and vowel/consonant patterns.
- Writing- Students are continuing to work on building stamina while writing. First Graders are working on writing mechanics such as: correct letter and numeral formations, starting at the pink line in journals, starting every sentence with a capital letter and ending with a period. Students continue to earn our school mascot, Archie, to take home on the weekends. The student chosen documents his/her weekend with Archie in our "Adventures with Archie" notebook, and then presents their writing to the class on Mondays.
- Math- Students are continuing to build their math skills using our hands-on Singapore Math curriculum. This month, students have worked with whole number computation while adding. Students are able to add in a variety of ways, use addition symbols and math vocabulary. In addition, our First Graders have used their thinking skills to analyze parts and whole math problems, solve real-world addition problems, as well as use number bonds to demonstrate their knowledge of addition sentences. First Graders love using the math balance, connecting cubes, counters, ten-frames, and various materials to learn new things! We are getting really good at using mental math strategies to solve how many more Safari Adventure points we need to earn our extra recess and Show & Tell each week.
- Social Studies- Students are continuing to learn about the seven continents and fifty states through our Postcard Exchange project, "It's a Small World After All". First graders are continuing to use the postcards to discover new information about cities, countries, continents, landmarks, oceans, and the world around them. We are using cardinal directions to locate the different areas on our maps. In addition to our Postcard Exchange project, we are learning about the world around us through song and literature. First Graders are also learning about the community and seasons through daily discussions.
- Read Aloud- First Graders enjoy daily read aloud stories. During the read aloud, students are asked to make predictions, make inferences, and generate meaningful questions. We read so many new and exciting books during the month of October! One of our favorites was "Ready Freddy: Haunted Hayride", in honor of Halloween!
Happy November!
Ms. Coleman
First Grade Teacher