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ISKL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MELAWATI CAMPUS
Curriculum Newsletter

Grade: 1 Month: October/November/December 2014


LANGUAGE ARTS

Reading: In the coming months we will continue to build upon what we established in our first unit, Readers Build
Good Habits during reading workshop. We will focus on various strategies that readers use to decode texts, provide
strategies to help improve comprehension and incorporate strategies for fluency and expression. We will focus on
questions such as, How do we get our minds ready to read? and What strategies do strong readers use?, How do
readers get better? Instruction will continue to be delivered in varied ways including whole class mini-lesson,
independent reading, conferencing, guided reading, shared reading and peer conferencing about books.
Writing: As writers, we all have a story to tell. Our focus in the coming months will be on narrative stories. Students will
be instructed on how to use the writing cycle as a tool to improve their writing. In addition, they will also begin to learn
how to incorporate the six traits of writing into their work. Children will learn how to develop a story with a beginning,
middle and end and will work towards being able to integrate the use of the writing cycle and use the six traits of writing
to see their work through to publication.
Word Study: Students will continue to investigate words as detectives through a process of inquiry with an
understanding that the English spelling system conveys meaning. Students will understand how words are built with a
base and prefixes and/or suffixes. They will learn to use a phonological matrix and begin to understand that the spelling
of words is based on meaning and that other languages have and continue to influence the English writing system.
Handwriting: Students will continue to practice and form letters in their New South Wales Foundation handwriting
books. Previously, the focus was on single letters, in the upcoming months we will focus on letters and words and
applying these skills in our daily writing and through use in word study.

MATH

In the next units we will more deeply explore concepts visited earlier in the year to develop base 10 number sense.
Children will explore the 100s chart to see patterns between numbers and learn to quickly locate numbers on a
hundreds chart using what they know about place value. They will use the strategies of counting on and counting back
to understand number relationships. Children will build an understanding of how numbers in the counting sequence are
related and read, write and represent numbers of objects. Children will work with categorical data by organizing,
representing and interpreting data using charts and tables. Children will learn to make sense of problems and persevere
in solving them, while also attending to precision and accuracy.

SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCIENCE

Following our weather unit, we will begin our social studies unit Field to Table. This is a great unit for widening the
childrens knowledge about products (such as food, paper, clothing) and where they come from. Some of the questions
we will investigate include: Where do products come from? What are our wants and needs and how are they different?
What are natural resources? How is the environment affected by the use of natural resources and in the production of
products? This is the very beginning of Economics as we can begin to answer the question How do people organize for
the production and distribution of goods? We will also learn about where in the world our various products come from. It
is quite amazing how many of our products are imported from overseas and we will be able to discover where these
countries are and how far the products have traveled by using a world map. Thus, this unit presents an introduction to
world geography as well. Lastly, we will take a look at the environmental impact of our product consumption and
distribution. Children will learn the very important message that it is good to buy local fresh products and cut back on
imported highly packaged and processed products from overseas. Technology will be integrated throughout this unit as
the students learn to make flow charts to demonstrate their understanding of how products are made.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT

The Grade One Teachers look forward to parent-teacher conferences on October 14th and 15th. We had an exciting
cultural dress-up day last month, and we have encouraged all our students to come to school dressed up for the
Malaysian festivals. These are very colorful and memorable days for our young students. In November we will have a
dress up day for Deepavali and in December we will have another dress-up day for Christmas.