First Grade News

February 2, 2015

Curriculum Highlights
Writing non-fiction research, collecting dash facts
Math number stories and problem solving
Word Study learning from love - no word in English ends with v - write ve
instead, avoid writing uv - write ov instead, prefixes, bases, suffixes
Science Living Things Observations habitat, behaviour, appearance
Reminders
Save the dates February 26, 8:30am Grade one performance
- March 5 & 6 Parent Teacher Conferences
Word Study

love
loved

loving
lovelier

lovely
unloved

loveliest
lover

unloving
loves

News From Ms. Tindalls Class

Parents you are wonderful! Thank you for playing such an active role in the commencement of our nonfiction study. Your involvement means children are able to choose a topic that interests them personally
rather than rely only on what can be done at school. Please read carefully my emails about NOT taking notes
at home. Please engage in conversation, observations and reading/ watching together. Kindly leave the note
taking for school. And please dont be overwhelmed by the project I want each child to complete the
project at their own level of development. If your child is able to record a dog has 4 legs, a tail and 2 ears
that is just fine, if theyre ready to talk about migration patterns let them go for it.

At home you can talk about the material they are reading/ viewing and ask what they learned from it. In
school we will be learning a method of taking notes called dash facts. The idea is that you divide your page
into two columns. On one side you write a dash and a fact you have found, on the other side, you write an
example or explain the fact.
EG.

Topic Dogs
Dash Fact
- 4 paws
- 1 tail

Section What Do Dogs Look Like?

Example/ Explanation/ Detail
- soft padding underneath
- wag when happy
- some cut tail for hygiene when young

Also note this week that the base word for spelling is love. So the word sum for loving is actually: love
+ ing. When you write out the word loving you would say, l-o-v-no ei-n-g. When you add a vowel
suffix to a base word with a silent e, you drop the e and add the suffix.
In partnership, Ms. Tindall

Monday
Reading: Become an expert on your chosen topic. Be creative in the sources you use: books,
Internet, magazines, interview an expert, watch a documentary, careful observation etc.
Please note we are not expecting children to take notes at home. Wed like children to come
to school saying things such as, Heres what I know about what lions eat. They are
carnivores. That means they eat meat. Some of the animals they catch are. They catch
these animals by
Math: Play games to increase fluency and flexibility in basic facts. Please remember the goal
is NOT memorization. The goal is understanding. We want children saying things such as I
know 5 + 6 = 11, because I know 5 + 5 = 10, and 6 is one more than 5 so, 1 more than 10 is 11.
At the end of this newsletter Ive attached some games, but Im sure you have card/ board
games that you already use, which as equally as good.
Tuesday

Reading: Become an expert on your chosen topic. Read, watch, observe for a few minutes
and then tell someone a fact you learned. *** Children do not need to take research
notes at home. They will be doing that part at school. Conversations, interaction,
reading together and talking about new learning with an adult are vital pieces. Stop
every few minutes and share what has been learned. How does this add to what you
already know? What does that mean? Can you draw any connections to another
topic? What information is new to you? Have any of your ideas changed since
reading this text/ making this observation/ interviewing this expert/ viewing this
video? Is this like anything else you know? What information does this diagram,
map, chart, table give you? How has the author organized the information? What is
fact and what is opinion? Can you summarize what you have learned today? What
are some key points you want to remember to record during writing time tomorrow?
Math: Grab piles of coins (and notes if extending). Practice organizing and counting amounts.
Write the amounts you grab in cent notation (dollar and cent notation for extension).
Wednesday
Reading: Become an expert on your chosen topic.
Math: Play games to practice addition facts such as Addition Top-It or any other games you
might have at home that enhance understanding first, then speed and accuracy in this skill.

Thursday
Reading: Become an expert on your chosen topic.
Word Study: Tell someone the rule about no word in English ending in v and what you have to
write instead. Find some other examples besides love. (EG have, give)
Math: Play games to practice basic facts goal: increase understanding, speed and accuracy
with single digit addition.
Friday
Reading: Become an expert on your topic
Poem collection: Recite poems and sing songs from your poem collection. Return it to school
on Monday.

Math games below are

www.makingmathmorefun.com

taken

from

Please scroll down to find the games. All can be

played with a regular deck of cards, removing
changing the value of the Ace as need be. Well
be working on this all month, so please keep the
games and work one daily into your routine.