First Grade

 

Dear First Grade Families,

Welcome to the Advent Season. First graders will spend time during the month of December preparing their hearts for the birth of Jesus. First graders will be leading Christmas Mass on Friday, 12/21. All children will be singing two songs and students will be practicing these songs in music and in class. I will be contacting parents if their child has been chosen to lead another part of Mass and soon as I receive the readings.
Additionally, our Christmas Concert will be held on Wednesday, 12/19. The concert will be at church at 1 pm and 7 pm. Please let me know if your child will not be attending the 7 pm Mass.

12 Days of Christmas:
1st Day: Christmas Tree
2nd Day: Candy Cane
3rd Day: Elves
4th Day: Gingerbread
5th Day: Snow
6th Day: Santa
7th Day: Stockings
8th Day: Kindness
9th Day: Cookies
10th Day: Caroling
11th Day: Nativity
12th Day: Christmas Mass/Christmas Party/Polar Express

Reading: Building Good Reading Habits
Students have completed their first unit in Reader's Workshop. Over the next couple of weeks  we will be learning important comprehension strategies. We will learn how to identify problem and solution and cause and effect in mentor texts. We have read Ish by Peter Reynolds, A Chair For My Mother by Verna Willams, and Enemy Pie by Derek Munson. This week students will learn about cause and effect relationships as they read The Rain Came Down by David Shannon, Amelia Bedilia by Peggy Parish, and Alexander and the  Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.
During phonics we will continue to review letter sounds. Our focus during phonics mini-lessons will be on cvce words. Students will learn rules for long vowels with silent e.
Thank you for practicing sight words at home with your children!

Writing:
Students have published a personal narrative. They will be sharing their stories and the stories will be on display in the hallway.
Students are working on How To Catch a Gingerbread Girl/Boy story. Student will use graphic organizer to plan their stories. They will work on adding transition words to help readers understand the order of events in a story. Finally they will revise, edit and publish these stories.

Math: Subtraction Strategies
This is a relatively short chapter. Students will be subtracting numbers within 20. Students will learn new strategies to apply to solving subtraction number senteces within 20. Students will learn to count back by using a number line. Students will explore fact families and discuss the relationship between addition and subtraction. The final part of the chapter will have the students make and break 10 to subtract. This topic can cause confusion so I will be taking extra time to teach it.  Students will not have homework for break 10 to subtract. I will send out communication of how to do these strategies so you are able to support your child at home as they prepare for their assessment. Chapter 4 assessment will be given the week of December 10th. 
Remember, students should be spending about 10 minutes on their homework each night. Please let me know if your children are struggling so I can provide additional support to them during the school day.

Religion:
In our next unit of study we will the ways that God shares His love for us. Jesus taught his disciples and teaches us today all the ways that God shows us His love. We will continue to  work on the Sign of the Cross. Students are learning about the God, the Holy Spirit. They will be assessed on the Glory Be prayer.

Social Studies
Students will continue to explore long ago. They are learning what the life of a child was like during Pioneer time. Students will explore topics such as school, houses, transportation, fun and games, and chores. Students will end the unit of study by writing sentences comparing long ago to today.

Communication is very important. I will be updating this website once a week.  This will be an important site for you to look at, as it will be the place where I post important reminders, content information that we are learning about, homework, and pictures of our class. I will also send home a weekly newsletter that outlines what we will be doing and homework assignments for the week. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns as we start this adventure together.  I can be reached at Jennifer.Cellura@dor.org.

Important Dates:
11/12: No School
11/16: Walkathon Closing Assembly (8 am)
11/20: Thanksgiving Day Mass (8:30 am)
11/20: Report Cards Available on MSP
11/21, 11/22, and 11/23: No School 

Thank you for sharing your children with me this year!
Jen Cellura