August 19th-23rd

August 19^th-23^rd

Dear 1^st Grade Families,

It has been a wonderful and fun-filled experience getting to know you and your child these past few days! Thank you for your enthusiasm and support as we embark on many new adventures together! First Grade is an academically rigorous year as we begin to learn many new concepts and explore the world around us.

Our first I.B. Unit is titled: “Working Together”. What a perfect way to start the new school year! The central idea of this unit is that communities collaborate in order to address the needs of daily life. We began studying our own classroom community, where the children had the opportunity to choose which jobs they would like to have in the classroom. One major concept we are focusing on is efficiency. How can we organize ourselves to become more efficient so that we can get the most out of our day? We then discussed our families as communities, our neighborhoods, our state, and next week we will be discussing how our nation also operates as a community.

Here’s a look into the curriculum for the following week:

Phonics: Focusing on a set of consonants and the two vowels (o,a) to create, read, and spell words.

Reading: Sequencing events throughout texts and the importance of characterization.

Grammar: Identifying the elements of a complete sentence: capital letter at the beginning, noun, verb and ending mark.

Science: Exploring the United States of America as a larger community as well as our responsibility and connection towards this community.

Math: Measuring and Interpreting Data

Writing: Writing a personal narrative about titled our "Hard Working Family."

Important Announcements/Reminders:

• I am looking forward to seeing you at first grade orientation on August 19th @ 6:30! We will celebrate/have introductions in the auditorium prior to meeting in the classroom for a brief meeting about the school year.

• Please remember that we have P.E. on Mondays and Wednesdays. On these days, please remind your child to wear comfortable shoes.
  
  
• August 29^th- Please join us at noon in the classroom for an informal meeting about Small Groups!  This will be a wonderful opportunity to become a part of your child’s learning at school.

I want to thank those of you who have contributed items to our class wish list! Your donations are being put to great use in the classroom 

Thank you once again for your support at home and at school,

Jean Peake