Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
Welcome back and Happy New Year!  We had a great first week together.  The children were so happy to see each other again and they were ready to learn together as well.  We had a busy week, with many new units starting.

Our Learning:
Reading:  Our mini-unit on fluency and reader's theater finished right before the holiday break, so we are back to more traditional guided reading groups, focusing on comprehension skills, vocabulary analysis and reading responses in different ways.  It is great to have Ms. Sullivan with us as the children have another adult to read to when they are not in group with me.  We are slowly switching over to read more non-fiction books as we're preparing for our upcoming non-fiction writing units.  We will start by studying penguins and learn about various non-fiction writing/reading elements, such as glossaries, charts, and labels, to name a few.  Through the study of penguins, we will compare fictional books and non-fictional books.  If you recall, we studied Helen Lester, the author of the Tacky books before the holidays, and now we will compare what we learned with the new information we will gather through our new penguin mini-unit.  This week, I also had a substitute teacher for a couple of days as I started our reading assessments already.  Our report cards will go out on January 29th, not the 22nd as indicated earlier.

Writing:  The students will begin their new "All About" writing pieces this upcoming week.  Last week, we explored the elements of such writing and talked to partners about possible topics.  "All About" writing is centered around things the students already know well.  It does not require research and the students know the topics well enough to finish several pages.  Stay tuned for more information as these writing pieces come together.

Science: Our new team-wide science unit will start next week.  The students on Harmony will study "Light and Sound Waves."  They will, as in the past, participate in a series of workshops between the classrooms on out team, while learning about light and sound waves.  We also started some additional scientific explorations last week relating to sound, in particular and those investigations will continue in the next few weeks as well.

Math: First grade mathematicians continued working on number sense and problem-solving strategies through various manipulatives and games.  We continued using our number line and exploring numbers through different expressions and equations.  Next week, the students will continue working on composing and de-composing numbers while thinking about the number sequence.  All first grade math students should have brought home a clock they made in class.  We learned how to tell time to the hour and half hour, and expressing that with an analogue clock and a digital clock.  Please practice at home too!

Upcoming Events and Reminders:
Our field-trip to the Flynn Theater has been cancelled.  We have been re-scheduled for May 16th.  I will send our reminders and more information as the date approaches.

There will be no school on January 18th (Martin Luther Kind Day)

Please make sure your child comes to school wearing a winter coat, hat, gloves/mittens and boots every day.  If the weather allows, we will go outside for recess every day.  If there is snow on the ground, your child also needs snow-pants in order to play on the hill/field.  Thank you!

Best,
Maria