First Grade News!

Greetings Families!

I'm delighted to share our first newsletter of the year! This bi-weekly publication will be a key resource for staying connected and informed about our classroom. I know there's a lot to cover initially, but I appreciate your dedication to reading through this important information. I am looking forward to building a strong partnership with you this year!

This year we are using a phonics curriculum called UFLI. We are currently reviewing all of the consonant and vowel sounds. We are focusing especially on closed syllable words for the next few weeks. These are words where a single vowel is followed by one or more consonants, like CVC (cat), CVCC (milk), and CCVC (stop). We are also reviewing Heart Words. Heart Words are special sight words that we learn by heart because they don’t always follow typical phonics rules. This week, we focused on “the” and “said.” These words are super important for reading fluency! Phonics homework will be sent home as soon as we are settled into our routines.

We have kicked off Topic 1, focusing on understanding addition and subtraction. Students are learning key vocabulary words (Language of the Discipline) that help describe these operations, such as join, put together, add, plus, addends, and sum. These words are like little math tools that help your child talk about and solve problems confidently. Don’t forget to check out the Topic 1 Home-School Connection that is attached to this email for ways to support your child’s learning at home!

It's Grammar Time! We are focusing on naming the parts of a sentence, (subject and predicate). We will be exploring nouns, verbs, and adjectives — the building blocks that make our sentences come alive. We are also practicing conventions by starting each sentence with a capital letter and ending each sentence with punctuation. Extra sentence writing practice at home would be very beneficial! Please remind them "NO stray captitals!" in their writing.

Our first unit in Reader's Workshop focuses on building strong reading comprehension strategies by teaching your student to recognize text features, the big idea, and key details. These strategies align with science standards by having students explore the big question, "Why do living things grow and change?". In class, we are reading informational texts about plants and animals. You can support your student at home by reading informational texts together and asking them to identify the big idea and a few key details. You can also ask them to point out informational text features like headings, captions, maps and diagrams.

It's been a wonderful start to the school year! We're spending our first weeks learning and practicing our classroom routines and rules. I wanted to share the rules we've developed as a class. If your child is struggling with a specific routine, I'll let you know so you can help reinforce it at home. Our classroom rules are:

Rule #1-Follow Directions Quickly

Rule #2-Raise your hand for permission to speak

Rule #3-Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat

Rule #4-Make smart choices

Rule #5-Keep our dear learning community happy

The Big Rule-Listen when your teacher (or another student) is talking

The Diamond Rule-Keep your eyes on the target

Weekly Progress Reports

Starting the week of September 1st, you'll receive a weekly Progress Report in your child's Thursday Folder. For the first two months, these reports will focus on behavior and work completion. As the year goes on, we'll begin to include academic progress as well. Please take a moment to look over the form with your child, sign it, and send it back to me on Friday in their folder. Thank you so much for your partnership!

Our Class Promise

Each morning, we say our Class Promise together. It's a powerful reminder of how we treat each other and our classroom community.

"Our Promise to Each Other"

When we care about each other and our classroom, we share what we have, listen carefully, help each other learn, work hard, and have fun together. We understand that everyone makes mistakes, that we stand up for ourselves and others, and when someone asks us to stop...we STOP. This is who we are, even when no one is watching.

The Super Improver Wall

I'm thrilled to tell you about our Super Improver Wall! This is a fun and effective way to motivate students to reach their individual goals. Whether it's a goal for behavior, manners, or academics, every step of improvement is a reason to celebrate. When your child earns a certificate for moving up on the wall, they'll also get their picture taken for our "Wall of Fame" right here in the classroom. They will also come home with a copy of their picture and a certificate honoring their progress. Be sure to celebrate these accomplishments with them at home! I can't wait to see all the amazing growth our students will achieve this year.