Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
The students of Allen Brook filled the hive this week! We celebrated with a schoolwide “wear your favorite color to school” day! It was so fun to see the creativity the students put into showing off their favorite colors. The adults were participating too.
The students filled our classroom buzzy jar again too. This time, I surprised them with an impromptu extra playground/recess time. The weather was nice and sunny so the timing could not have been better!
This week, the students met Puppy and Snail, our two classroom puppets. Puppy and Snail are part of our Second Step curriculum and they help the students learn about emotional self-regulation and empathy. Puppy and Snail joined our classroom with a special puppet show performed by me and a very brave student who volunteered to help me teach the class. What an amazing group of students we have!
This week, the students had the opportunity to build an understanding of how their actions impact the people around them. It can be hard for young children to gain an understanding of this, but with continued conversations, practice and reflective, restorative practices, they will learn to master this skill as well. This week, for example, we talked about how “following your own plan” instead of following the expected “group plan” disrupts other people’s learning and focus. For example, when we need to clean up after playing with different materials, all students must help and contribute in a timely fashion. When we sit on the rug for a read aloud or a mini-lesson, it is important that everyone shows their whole body listening skills so we can continue to learn and grow together. At ABS, we respect safe bodies and everyone’s right to access learning.
You Can:
You can support your child’s emerging understanding of how their actions impact others by engaging in those conversations at home too. Point out positive behaviors that contribute to your “family plan” at home. For example, when it is time to get ready for school in the morning, praise your child for getting ready and completing his/her morning chores on time. When all members work collaboratively towards the common goal, the process is not only smoother and faster, it makes all members feel calmer and more relaxed too. If it is challenging for your child to follow the “family plan” at home, start by making sure that your child understands what is expected in that particular situation. Tell your child that you rely on your child’s cooperation and support. Young children love purposeful tasks and thrive on being asked to help the adults in their lives. Build independence in areas that you feel are appropriate for your child and release responsibility as appropriate.
Reading:
We started a new chapter book for our classroom read aloud book. We now read the first book in the series about Humphrey the Classroom Pet by Betty Birney.
This week, the students also participated in several read alouds to learn to “read as writers”. When you “read as a writer”, you pay close attention to the words the author chose, the way the text/font appears and how the author uses his/her craft to convey messages. You also start to pay attention to words, spelling and letter combinations, which are all components of our science of reading approach to literacy. The students learned that authors sometimes repeat words over and over again to convey emotions and/or suspense. The students also learned that authors sometimes use different font sizes to reflect character dialogue. They also learned to pay close attention to word endings that reflect rhyming.
The students participated in reading with me one-on-one, in partnerships with each other and they also practiced independent reading. They are building their reading stamina every day.
You can:
You can support your child’s independent reading at home by encouraging your child to engage with literature for longer periods of time. In first grade, daily reading at home is important. Consider creating a special cozy place for your child to read. Perhaps your child feels comfortable reading on the bed, in the kitchen or on a pillow on the floor? Having a consistent place to read encourages young children to read since the routine becomes predictable and the norm. Consider reading yourself. It is very important that young children see the adults in their lives model the same expectations as we put on them. Perhaps you want to try a common reading time at home for 10 minutes? During this time, mom/dad/siblings will read too.
Please consider helping your child access our fabulous online reading program Lexia at home too. Consider creating a schedule that works for you and your family. Some families only use Lexia a few days a week, while others let their children access it every day for 10 minutes. Let me know if I can help create a working schedule for you.
Writing:
The students continued work in their Fundations/spelling groups this week. They worked in their groups on building an understanding of how the sounds they hear when they speak and write correspond to letters and letter combinations. They practiced isolating sounds in the beginning, the middle and the end of simple, shorter words. They also had opportunities to connect these sounds to the letters we use in the English language to spell these words.
The students practiced hand-writing this week. In first grade, the students are learning to use lower case letters and saving the upper case letters for the beginning of sentences, names and places. The students practiced proper pencil grips to help in writing and they were encouraged to practice finger-spacing between words.
You Can:
Your child might have brought home some hand-writing pages this week inside the Home Folder. (If not, your child will bring these pages home next week) You can celebrate your child’s hard work and writing by praising your child’s efforts at school and point out that you notice the various features they are learning about in first grade.
You can support your child’s emerging understanding in phonological awareness by engaging in various rhyming activities at home and by reading books that reflect and include rhyming words and phrases. Young children love to “play” with words! In school, we also practice “sounding out” nonsense words (words that are not real English language words) but the students are exposed to them as a way to build a stronger phonological awareness and understanding.
Math:
First grade mathematicians started working in weekly small group rotations this week. They will rotate through several stations every week. Sometimes, they will meet with a teacher/adult, and sometimes they will work independently, use technology or engage in hands-on games. They did an outstanding job navigating these new structures and routines this week.
First grade mathematicians also continued to practice partners to 10, composing and decomposing numbers. This week, they used rekenreks and developed cognitive flexibility with numbers and groups.
Your child has an informational sheet about how you can access technology tools from home using a home computer. Your child’s passwords are listed as well. Please keep this in a safe place for future use or consider accessing Dreambox, our online math program.
You can:
You can support your child’s emerging mathematical flexibility by talking to your child about numbers and math. Math is all around us and math is a social activity. Ask “keep thinking” questions to encourage your child to explain/justify his/her thinking. Ask “Can you explain that another way?”, “How do you know….?” or “Does this make sense?” when you talk about math at home!
Celebrate your child’s math learning every week by checking your child’s Home Folder. A simple way to stay connected with our learning is to see if there are any finished math games/worksheets inside. If so, ask your child to explain the math they are learning. Please note that your child will not bring home sheets every week as we mostly do hands-on, conceptual math learning activities/games that do not always require traditional “paper writing”.
News and Reminders:
There is no school tomorrow, Friday 10/6/23 due to our parent-teacher conferences. Please click here to access the sign up doc for available times and the link for tomorrow’s remote meetings. Thank you!
There is no school on Monday, October 9th (Indigenous Peoples Day)
Have a great weekend,
Maria
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