CA first grade news

FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2012

Important Dates for February/March

*Wednesday, February 8 ~ Late Start for Students - 9:30 am *Tuesday, February 14 ~ Jump Rope for ~ (Athletic dress-down)

*Tuesday, February 14 ~ Valentines Day Celebration - party begins at 2:15 *Thursday, February 16 ~ First Grade Music Performance - 8:15-8:45 (theater) *Monday, February 20 ~ NO SCHOOL - Presidents Day *Thursday, February 23 ~ Parent/Teacher Conferences - evening only *Friday, February 24 ~ Parent/Teacher Conferences - NO SCHOOL! Week of February 27th- Japanese Field Trip- Date TBA

Jump Rope for Heart Tuesday, February 14th This is an opportunity for students to jump rope to raise money for the American Heart Association. You should have already received the note and donation collection envelope. On this day, students should wear athletic gear suitable for jumping rope (no dresses, skirts, fancy shoes, etc.). This is a perfect complement to our Valentines Day celebration which will be held later on the same day!

*SPRING BREAK begins at the end of the day on March 9th *School resumes on Monday, March 26th!

First Grade Musical Performance

The first graders, under the direction of Ms. Garver-Solis, will perform at Assembly on Thursday, February 16th. Assembly begins at 8:15. Please arrive a bit earlier so that you are seated before the start of Assembly. We ask that parents sit in the back few rows of the theater so that Lower School students can sit in their regular Assembly seats. Thank you!

Valentines Day Celebration

*Tuesday, February, 14th *We ask that students prepare a card for each of their classmates. Each student should take the responsibility for writing classmates names on the envelopes and signing every card. In addition, we ask that students remember their 3rd grade buddies with a signed Valentine. PLEASE make sure that your child includes a card for EVERY classmate! *The children should decorate a box or bag to serve as a Valentine mailbox. Please make sure to have the box and cards at school no later than Monday, February 13th. This will give the students plenty of time to deliver their Valentines. *In order to give students the time to carefully complete Valentine cards, there will be no written homework the week before the Valentines celebration. *A class list will be attached to the Monster Words paper next week.

100th Day
Its hard to believe, but its almost time for the 100th Day of School!
We plan to celebrate the 100th Day of First Grade the week of February 6th. We will do lots of 100th Day activities in our classroom - counting 100 items, using the 100s chart, reading 100th Day books, and doing LOTS of thinking about the number 100. This is a great time to discuss place value... Your child DOES NOT need to bring anything special to school for this day.

Japan Unit
We are almost finished researching animals as part of the Jan Brett author study, and will begin our Japan unit shortly. The students will be learning about the Japanese culture and comparing/contrasting it to the United States. Among other things, they will be studying different Japanese genres, such as Haiku poetry, Japanese fairy tales, fiction (historical fiction), and non-fiction (alphabet, question/answer) literature.

Special Activities for the Unit

Transforming our classroom into a Japanese home and practicing some of their customs (taking shoes off, using chopsticks, etc.) Reading and writing inspired by Japanese literature Field Trip to Japanese restaurant, market, bakery, and gift shop Making Carp kites for Boys Day Making paper lanterns The Doll Festival- March 3rd

Japanese Field Trip

During the week of February 27, the entire rst grade will be going on a trip to the Kenny Center to visit a Japanese Restaurant, Bakery, Market, and Gift Shop. The students will be eating lunch at the Japanese Restaurant and will have their choice between a chicken or noodle dish. We will be asking for 4-6 parent volunteers to help out on this trip. If you are available and would be interested in joining us, please contact Bridget Sirak.

At-Home Reading (D.E.A.R.)

FACT POWER
Our math unit stresses fact power and place value. The idea is to help children learn basic addition and subtraction facts so thoroughly that they are able to retrieve facts automatically. To help reach this goal, we will introduce doubles (2+2, 3+3, etc.), fact triangles, and fact families. This is an example of one fact family: 6+3=9 3+6=9 9-3=6 9-6=3 Place value is made concrete by using Base-10 blocks and other manipulatives to gain a deeper understanding of ten. The goal is for students to understand the relationship between numbers and their value.
It is not unusual for parents to have questions about at-home reading around this time of year. By now, many first graders prefer to read silently, and parents often wonder how to handle that. While it is difficult to make hard and fast suggestions that will apply to all first graders, all of whom are in different places in their reading development, well attempt to suggest some guidelines. First ~ It remains extremely important that each child continue to spend at least 15 minutes reading each evening, Monday through Thursday. This is an integral part of our reading program and it is perhaps the most important piece of the homework expectations. However, it is not mandatory that children spend the entire time reading orally to an adult. If your child prefers to read silently, thats fine. At the end of D.E.A.R. time you may want to ask your child to read a favorite paragraph or page to you so that he/she can practice fluency and expression. We also suggest that you talk with your child about his/her reading. You might ask questions such as, Who are the characters in your book?, What happened in your book today?, What do you predict will happen next?, Do you have any connections to your book?, What big problem is happening in your book and how do you think it will be solved?, or Which character would you like to have as a friend? As you can see, we are beginning to move beyond a focus on simply decoding a book to the more complex skill of reading for meaning - comprehension. Just a reminder: Students take on the responsibility in selecting D.E.A.R. books with our guidance. We ask for your patience as the children develop the skill of picking a just right book. If your child arrives home with a quick read, have him/her read it several times or have your child look for Phonics Dance hunk and chunks. The book could even be read aloud to the dog or a stuffed animal. If the book is a challenge, we ask that you sit with your child while he/she reads as much as possible without becoming frustrated. If the book is clearly too difficult, just snuggle up and read it to your child. Or feel free to have your child read a book from your home book collection. Just remember to record the title so that we have a record of your childs D.E.A.R. reading. The goal is fluency and enjoyment! We are absolutely amazed at the reading progress weve already witnessed with the first grade students - and were not even to the 100th Day yet! It is so much fun to see first hand a childs growth in reading. Enjoy this time with your young reader!