First Grade News!

Greetings Families!

I am excited to share our fourth newsletter of the year! This bi-weekly publication will be a key resource for staying connected and informed about our classroom. Our Halloween celebration will take place next Friday, October 31st. The Halloween Parade will begin at 8:40. You are more than welcome to come inside to cheer on our Engineers in their costumes! Parties will follow the parade in classrooms. Please see your email for a message from our amazing Room Ambassador, Alexia Lam, if you would like to help with our celebration!

Grading Scale

• + = Meets
• ✔️ = Making Progress
• ➖ = Not Making Adequate Progress

We have spent the last couple of weeks reading and spelling words with digraphs. A digraph is a fundamental concept in early reading and phonics, and it's simpler than the name sounds! The word "di" means two, and "graph" means write or written. So, a digraph is two letters written together. The key is that even though you see two letters, they only make one sound when read. For a first-grader, this is a significant step because they teach the child to recognize a group of letters that is "stuck" together in order to make a single, specific sound.This week we have focused on these letter combinations: ing, ang, ong, and ung. They are often called "glued sounds" or "welded sounds" in phonics programs. Please see below for examples.

Digraph Sound Example Words

sh: ship, fish, wash

ch: chin, lunch, match

th: (like a tongue between teeth) think, bath, with, this, that

wh: whale, wheel, what

ck: duck, sock, kick

This entire topic revolves around the goal of achieving fluency (getting the right answer quickly) with addition and subtraction problems where the total is 10 or less. It combines both skill practice and solving basic word problems using these strategic methods:

Count on to Add

Doubles

Near Doubles

Facts with 5 on a Ten Frame

Add in Any Order

Think Addition to Subtract

POWER up our writing!

We're making great strides in writing by focusing on the planning process! Your student has been busy completing a collaborative writing piece, learning how to approach any task with a clear plan.

They are using the POW strategy:

• Pick my idea

• Organize my notes

• Write and say more

By mastering this fundamental cycle, they are learning to think like real writers—tackling that blank page with confidence and structure. We will soon be starting our new unit on Informational Writing! We'll be applying the TIDE planning process to make sure their non-fiction writing is clear and organized. TIDE is the next step in our writing program and is the specific organizational tool your first grader will use to master Informational (or Explanatory) Writing—the kind of writing where they teach the reader about a topic. TIDE is the detailed planning structure they will use for planning their writing.

Here is a simple breakdown of the TIDE strategy:

T: Topic Sentence

I: Important Idea (facts)

D: Detail Sentences

E: Ending Sentence

We are starting an exciting new reading unit called "Being a Good Community Member." This unit is an exciting shift into social studies and civics! The goal is to help your first grader understand that a community is a place where everyone helps and supports each other.

What Your Child Will Learn:

• Everyone Can Help: We'll explore many simple, positive ways people contribute to their neighborhoods and schools. For example, we'll discuss how something as simple as growing a garden can make a community beautiful and provide food for everyone.

• Reading Different Books: To explore this topic, students will read many different kinds of texts, including true stories (nonfiction), poetry, stories that could happen (realistic fiction), and life stories (biographies). This variety helps them learn how to read different types of books.