Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
The students filled the classroom buzzy jar again this week! This time, we played a game called “Fisherman”. It is a version of freeze dance but safe for Covid. We had so much fun!
The students filled the ABS BeeHive as well! WOW! They are being safe, kind and responsible all the time! We celebrated with our stuffed animals which the students brought into school for the day.
This week, the students also learned about more focused mindfulness techniques. We learned about the “weekly six”, Every week, we will try to find moments of calmness, gratitude, good will and kindness. We will also try to carve out calm mindful moments when we need them individually, not just as a whole class. Lastly, we integrated calm breathing into our morning meetings as a way to start the day with peace and positive thoughts.
We read the book “Not your typical dragon” by Dan Bar-el and learned about how we are all unique and different. Differences are good and interesting. We celebrate them.
Reading:
The students added another word study activity to their independent reading repertoire. They received trick word booklets containing the first 100 words from the Frye list. First graders are encouraged to practice reading and writing these words so they can recognize them automatically in print as a way to improve their writing skills. The words are divided into groups of 10. After successfully mastering one list, the student moves on to the next list. They were very motivated this week and seemed to love this literacy activity.
We continued guided reading groups this week as well. The students worked hard, managing their time between group and independent reading. This week's main focus was on building our reading stamina while having a growth mindset when the words on the page look challenging and you might want to give up. The students learned a new strategy which encourages them to re-read the sentence and ask themselves what makes sense. We call this strategy “Trying Lion”. We also listened to a song about having a growth mindset, linked here if you wish to listen/sing with your child at home.
We continued our character trait discussions and read alouds this week too. We read books by Mo Willems and we also started reading books about a character called Olivia (created by Ian Falconer) and we read books about Frog and Toad (created by Arnold Lobel)
Writing:
First grade authors started writing their personal narratives this week. They learned about different ways to start their first sentence. We also learned about the importance of stretching your words and story over many pages. We will continue working on building our stamina as writers and practice quiet writing.
First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians continued working on strategies to improve their understanding of decomposing and composing numbers to ten this week. They participated in a variety of games and learning activities involving finding the missing parts/groups and justifying their thinking with evidence. They were encouraged to use rekenreks and ten frames to back up their thinking. First grade mathematicians are working on knowing the partners to ten with automaticity and fluency.
First grade mathematicians also deepened their math story problem solving skills and strategies. This week these story problems related to fall leaves and apples!
Science:
We continued exploring solids and liquids this week. Ask your child to explain how we used chocolate chips and chocolate syrup to learn about these attributes.
Technology:
This week, our school district celebrated Digital Safety Online. We learned about the importance of making safe, kind and responsible choices when we are online and when we use online platforms. We also learned about different strategies to use when we come across something that makes us feel uncertain or uncomfortable online. The students showed their understanding by completing an online activity on SeeSaw. We used a stop light as a visual model to know what to do. Here is one of the songs from this week..
News and Reminders:
If you have not signed up for a time-slot for our upcoming parent-teacher conferences, please do so. Here is the link again.
ABS Picture retakes will be on 11/1/21. Your child’s school pictures were packed inside his/her Home Folder today. Please let me know if your child needs their pictures retaken. 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.
Changes in dismissal plans: If you ever have changes to the dismissal plans you shared with the school, please email absinformation@cvsdvt.org and me at mmccormack@cvsdvt.org.
Please remember to help your child pack his/her library books on Monday nights. We have Library Exchange on Tuesdays. Thank you!
Have a great weekend,
Maria
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