Important Upcoming Dates:
Friday, May 22nd - First Grade Field Trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens!
Bus departs GRE at 9:30 and will return no later than 2:00 pm
*Your child will need a sack lunch labeled clearly with their name.
*Wear sturdy shoes, good for walking!
*Dress appropriately for the weather! Wear sunscreen!
How do I register my child?
*In order for your child to participate in this field trip, you must register (includes online permission form) and pre-pay online by going to:
RevTrak > Elementary Schools > Elementary Schools E-L > Gold Rush > Field Trips. The RevTrak link can be found on GRE's website under Parent Info, or click here.
*Please send in your RevTrak receipt to give to his/her teacher. Online registration is for your child only - please do not register yourself or younger siblings.
*Free/reduced lunch students will have the option of selecting "no payment" but must still register.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Monday, May 25th - No School
Memorial Day
Thursday, June 4th - Last day of First Grade!
How is it possible that it is already May? Where has the time gone? I haven't checked in with you for a while... We've been very busy, so I apologize! Please read on to learn about all the amazing things your first grader has been up to!
Reading:
We have continued our focus on "Reading is Thinking," practicing the comprehension strategies of inferring, determining importance, paraphrasing information, summarizing and synthesizing.
When making inferences, readers connect what they read - the text - with what they know - their background knowledge, or "B.K." We began our study of making inferences by reading poetry. One poem we read was called "Things" where a person walks into a store and buys some candy, but then the poem states that she "ain't got it no more." We used our B.K. - what we know about candy - to infer what happened. We know that you eat candy, so we can infer that the person in the poem ate her candy. This was a fun unit! I hope you saw the snowflake poems that came home before Spring Break. This was just one way we practiced the skill of inferring. The kids wrote a poem about a winter activity, but couldn't say what the activity was. They gave clues and asked their readers to infer what was happening in their poem. They did a wonderful job! As you read with your child, stop and discuss what you can infer from the text!
We've also practiced the skill of determining importance. This is a strategy that readers use to distinguish between what information in text is most important verses what information is interesting, but not necessary for understanding. This can be hard for kids of all ages, but especially for first graders! However, the kids did a great job! I've told them to think about what information would be most important to teach or tell someone else - what is the big (or main) idea. One article we read was about Helen Keller. Big ideas included the fact that Helen was blind and deaf, but still able to do things for herself. An interesting fact was that she liked to ride horses. As we read nonfiction texts we wrote down important facts in our own words, by paraphrasing what we read. This, too, can be a difficult skill! I told the kids to read the words once or twice, then cover them up and write down what they remembered - what was most important. This seemed to help. Of course they can look back at the text to see how to spell a word they need. We also used a think sheet to write down questions we had while reading, and our reactions to the text. Reactions include our feelings, things that surprised us, a connection, or even our background knowledge (they love to tell us what they already know about a topic!). They did one of these think sheets for homework a couple of weeks ago. At times we've done this work with partners (which they love), and at times on our own. We share what we learn each day.
So, now we've moved on to summarizing and synthesizing. We are taking notes on sticky notes as we read - being sure to try and paraphrase the information we determine to be most important. Then, we've organized our notes and used them to write a summary about the topic we are studying. We are synthesizing all of the information by making a poster about our topic which we will share with the class to teach them all about what we've learned! Some kids have chosen to do this work with a partner, while some have worked alone. I am so impressed with everyone! We will be sharing these in class soon, then bringing them home to share. As you can see, we've been very busy doing some really smart work! Aren't first graders amazing?!!!
Writing
Before Spring Break we finished our unit on Information Writing - or "Teaching Books." I'm sure you saw the work the kids brought home to share with you! I hope you enjoyed reading and learning from your child! We've now begun our Opinion Writing unit. Thank you for letting your child bring in a collection! We've been acting as judges, judging our collection and deciding on our Blue Ribbon, or First Place, Winner. I've shared that good opinion writers give lots of reasons for their opinion. They are trying to convince others to agree with them. We talked about using the phrase "I think this because..." in our writing; and transition words like first, and, or another reason I think... We continue to think about having a beginning that catches the reader's attention, and an ending that restates our opinion. We've also tried to remember other tools or "craft moves" we learned when we were writing small moments and our teaching books, and see if we can use these in our opinion writing. This week we are learning to disagree politely with another's opinion by writing about someone else's collection - one in which we disagree with their choice for first place. The kids' collections will be coming home this week. We will move on to write opinions about other topics such as favorite books, movies, or even fictional characters. For example, we've been reading various versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and sharing our opinions about weather we think Jack is a hero or a thief. Try asking your child's opinion at home and have them practice giving multiple reasons to back up their thinking!
Math
We finished a unit on addition and subtraction after Spring Break (their assessment came home in Thursday Folders) and have been working on a unit that focuses on patterns. Mathematics is especially useful when it helps you predict, and number patterns are all about prediction. One of the purposes of our pattern unit is to raise awareness of pattern and regularity and to introduce students to some common number sequences. Once students begin looking for and expecting patterns in mathematics, they become alert to regularities that can help them understand important mathematical relationships. Some of the work in this unit is related to the beginnings of multiplication - adding equal groups. Even more central to this unit, however, is the idea of developing a rule to describe how one quantity changes in relation to another.
Next week we will begin another unit focusing on numbers, counting and quantity, the composition of numbers, and the operations of addition and subtraction. Students will encounter situations that provide concrete models for counting by numbers other than 1. As students solve such problems and think about ways to organize objects so they are easier to count and combine, they begin to make sense of what it means to count by groups. Finally, this unit focuses on achieving fluency with the 2-addend combinations of 10 and introduces students to ideas about equivalence (e.g., 8+5=10+3).
We will finish our year with a another look at shapes. This time we will discover the attributes of three-dimensional shapes and use them to create a model of a city. We combine this with a social studies unit on maps, creating a map of the city we build. The kids love this project! It is a fun way to end our year!
Social Studies
After Spring Break we finished up our study of American Symbols and Landmarks. The kids worked in their Book Clubs researching one of our American Symbols. They created a poster to help them teach the class about what they learned. The class took notes about each symbol as it was presented. Along the way we discussed the importance of collaboration and working together. The kids love working in groups! They did a wonderful job!
Science
We are completing our study of solids and liquids and beginning a unit on life cycles, observing the life cycle of plants and insects. We just received some caterpillars and will watch with scientific eyes as these insects transform. We are taking notes and drawing pictures of what we notice in our "field notebooks." We will be planting seeds this week and watching the stages our plants go through as well. This is a fun, interactive science unit!
Well, that should take us to the end of the year, which is just a short month away! Wow! It will be here before we know it! I will be sending home information about end-of-the-year activities in the next couple of weeks.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this, and for all you do to support your child at home! I feel so blessed to be working with such wonderful families! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me!
Stacie Martino
