Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
This week, we focused on having safe and calm bodies again. We have noticed an increase in unsafe choices at ABS. Please talk to your child about the importance of walking in our hallways and classrooms, sitting still with a calm body and keeping a safe social distance from peers. We have many opportunities at ABS to move our bodies and get our energy out. We do that when we are outside. Thank you.
The students learned about being assertive this week. We talked about how all people experience a wide variety of emotions. These emotions are unique to the individual. In other words, one person can react with big feelings to a particular situation, while another person can react with a small feeling to the same situation. While we practice empathy and compassion to everyone around us, it is also important to know that it is okay to stand up for yourself and assert yourself. First graders practiced saying “no” and “stop” politely to each other. Our puppet Puppy demonstrated the need to politely ask him to stop when he was being disruptive and loud, interfering in our learning.
Next week, your child will bring home a work-sheet from some of our classes together. This work-sheet is not considered homework. It is voluntary but if your child brings it back the following week, they will earn a buzzy for our classroom jar. These review sheets will come home periodically and they reflect the work we have already completed together in class from our Second Step curriculum. Thank you.
We practice mindfulness every day in our classroom. While we have a designated time set aside for this purposeful practice every day, we hope that your child will find ways to implement this practice in their lives outside of school. Mindfulness includes many different practices and techniques ranging from yoga, breathing and quiet reflection. The students love to use their play-dough, color and draw. In class, they have their own individualized Mindfulness Folders with coloring sheets, mini-books and mandalas. Here is a link to an online mandala coloring site. Your child can color online, or if you prefer, the mandalas can be printed at home too. If you do not have a printer at home, but you would like a mandala coloring packet sent home with your child, please reach out. I would be happy to send a packet home. Enjoy!
Reading:
This week, the students continued working on improving their reading strategies while reading independently, with partners and in groups. They reviewed getting their mouths ready to “sound out” the letters as well as stretching each letter sound out to connect it with the following letter sound. We call this new reading strategy “Stretchy snake”.
We also started working on deepening our reading comprehension skills. This week, we focused primarily on character traits. The students learned that readers think about character traits in two different ways. First, we think about “outside character traits”. This means that as readers we find adjectives to describe what the characters look like on the outside. Second, we think about “inside character traits”. This means that as readers we find adjectives to describe what the characters say, think and how they act. This latter definition of character traits allows us to infer meaning. It allows us to deeply think about the text and make sense of the plot. This week, we practiced these skills by reading different books about Pigeon, a character created and illustrated by Mo Willems. Ask your child to share some of the adjectives we came up with to describe this interesting character. The students also applied these comprehension skills during independent reading. They were encouraged to name adjectives to describe the characters in their “Just right” books. I hope they will apply this while reading with you at home as well.
Writing:
First grade authors started planning their personal narratives this week. Personal narratives are true stories about events that have already happened. These stories are about themselves. They include a beginning, a middle and they have a clear ending. This week, the students started brainstorming ideas and topics for these narratives. We completed a “Heart Map” together as a class. The students shared terrific story ideas. For example, some authors wanted to write about a time that they went apple picking, learned to ride a bike without training wheels or when they lost a tooth. The students also practiced verbally sharing their stories with a writing partner and drawing parts of them to help as a guide when they start writing them next week.
First grade authors also continued practicing writing their letters with proper penmanship this week. In Fundations, we also had our first unit assessment, showing our understanding of upper and lower case letters and sounds.
First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians deepened their understanding of partners to ten this week. They used multi-sensory tools to improve their fact automaticity and fluency while also improving their repertoire of strategies to figure out unfamiliar facts to ten (and 20). For example, they were encouraged to use ten-frames for visual cues, count on or use double facts as a guide. They worked hard this week on their strategies and skills. What a terrific group of mathematicians!
First grade mathematicians also continued exploring our days in school activity, which is part of our daily Number Corner. This week, for example, we celebrated the 31st day of school. The students are encouraged to think about the number 31 in terms of smaller parts. For example, it can be divided into groups of tens and ones. It can also be divided into double facts and some more. To see these smaller parts (ie to decompose this number, or any number), first grade mathematicians use pictures, rekenreks, unifix cubes and ten frames.
Science:
First grade scientists participated in another Scientists’ Meeting this week. As you might recall, this is a time when they act like scientists, use their senses and carefully observe a certain phenomenon, while asking questions. This week, we learned about the differences and similarities between solids and liquids, using ice and water.
The students also participated in an experiment learning more about liquid water and its properties. Ask your child to explain how food coloring was used to illustrate this.
News and Reminders:
ABS Picture retakes will be on 11/1/21. This means that our school pictures should be delivered before this date so families can decide if they want a re-take or not. Students who were absent on the initial picture day can have their pictures taken on 11/1 as well. Thank you.
Here is the link to the Harmony Curriculum Slide Show in case you missed it.
If you have not signed up for a time-slot for our upcoming parent-teacher conferences, please do so. Here is the link again.
Here is this week’s School Bell.
Have a great weekend,
Maria
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