Dear Families,
Our new student intern from UVM started with us this week. Ms. Addie will be with us full-time until later this Spring semester. We spent the week getting to know her, while also showing her our classroom routines and activities. Here is a letter from Ms. Addie so you can get to know her as well. In this week’s Home Folder, your child has a permission slip regarding pictures/videotaping for Ms. Addie’s teaching licensure program at UVM. Please read and return as soon as possible. Thank you.
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
This week, the students learned about the importance of perseverance. They learned about different strategies that they can use when they feel “stuck” and learning is hard. They created a perseverance spinner with strategy choices. They will be encouraged to use this spinner to develop independence and resiliency during more challenging times.
This week, we also had restorative circles discussing the importance of making safe choices at school. We continued our learning about our “circles of control” and the things we can control at school and at home. We also learned about things that we cannot control, such as the actions and words of others. As always, the students did an outstanding job listening respectfully to their peers’ ideas, while also sharing their own understanding and experience.
You Can:
You can support your child’s perseverance in many different ways at home too. Please encourage your child to try different strategies when things get hard or challenging at home. Encourage your child to try one or two strategies as a way to get “unstuck” and try the task again. For example, if your child is getting frustrated when cleaning up his/her room, encourage your child to take a quick break before continuing the task. Perhaps your child would benefit from breaking up the task into smaller chunks and start by cleaning up just one item first, or perhaps your child needs some assistance? Here are some of the other strategies we learned at school:
Ask an adult for help
Use positive self-talk such as “I can do it” or “I can try again”
Take a break, a drink of water
Do 5 deep breaths before returning to the task
Ask a friend for help
Re-read the directions/check your work
Reading:
This week, we continued reading our books about Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo. We are on the last book in the series now. We will finish this author mini-unit with some special reading responses and activities to celebrate what we learned about the characters, the plot and the author’s craft.
This week, the students continued to participate in mid-year reading assessments. At this time, we assess phonological awareness skills, phonics, fluency, and reading comprehension. The students read words, short phrases and longer texts/books to show their understanding. We will continue next week too.
You can:
You can support your child’s reading progress at home too. Daily reading is vital to the development of reading fluency, comprehension and a positive attitude towards learning in general. Thank you for reading with your child and thank you for re-reading the decodable/short texts we send home. We also appreciate that your child accesses Lexia and/or razkids at home too.
Writing:
This week, first grade authors continued to revise their new year’s wishes by editing finger-spacing, letter formation, word spacing and ending punctuation. First grade authors also used graphic organizers to outline and plan narratives. They learned that authors jot down big ideas before they start their writing. They also learned that authors sometimes sketch these ideas too. Graphic organizers help authors stay on task and include relevant details in their story-telling.
First grade writers practiced their hand-writing this week as well. They were encouraged to adhere to proper penmanship and start their letter writing on the top. Sometimes first graders get into the habit of writing their letters “from the bottom up”. While their letters might look fine and are legible, this habit can create muscle/fine motor strains for later, more fluent writing.
You Can:
Please encourage your child to start all letter writing from the top. If you are noticing that your child starts his/her letters on the line (“from the bottom”), please encourage your child to start on the top instead. Breaking inefficient hand-writing habits can be tricky and difficult and might not seem like a problem now, but it potentially can slow down and strain your child’s writing in the future. Thank you for considering! I included a letter-writing sheet for you to look at as well so you know what we address at school. This is just for your reference. We practice these skills at school.
Math:
First grade mathematicians worked on mid-year math assessments, with opportunities to show their understanding of numbers, parts of numbers and the relationship between numbers through addition and subtraction tasks.
First grade mathematicians also continued to build a deeper understanding of telling time to the hour and half-hour, using analog and digital clocks. They also learned how to use precision to draw the time/clocks as well. They did an outstanding job.
You can:
The students are making nice progress in learning how to tell time. Telling time to the half hour is always tricky in first grade because it is challenging to look at the long hand and connect its placement for the half hour. With continued practice and exposure, I am confident our young learners will master this as well. Thank you for supporting this learning at home too.
News and Reminders:
There is no school on Monday, 1/15/24 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
Here is an updated student contact list. Please discard any old ones you may have as some information has been changed and updated. Thank you.
Have a great weekend,
Maria
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