CLASSROOMS/K-5 CURRICULUM

GRADE 1 - MRS. MAGALHAES, MRS. PRATT, MRS. FORSE, MRS. ABBOTT, MRS. MELNIK, MRS. FROST

Classroom Announcements

Mrs. Melnik's Blog: http://mrsmelnik.blogspot.com/

Hola! On Cinco de Mayo, the fifth of May, the Mexican army defeated the French at the Battle of the Puebla. In first grade each class has been exploring Mexico through research and folktales. Classrooms have been busy creating artwork,
researching the differences in culture, listening to music and much more. Be sure to ask your child what they created, ate and explored!

Our Engineering unit winds down with the creation of windmill blades that created enough power to lift as many as 20 metal washers. Our next science unit, Organisms is well underway. We began with discussions and compare and contrast activities about what things we think are living or non-living. Most recently, the classrooms are sprouting with new plant life. We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of live bugs, fish and plants so we can create classroom aquariums and terrariums.

First graders are hooked on reading! Reading independently in a cozy spot, Buddy Reading and Reader’s Theater are often the preferred choice when other work has been completed. All the classrooms have begun a read aloud of Charlotte’s
Web by E.B. White. As the children listen they are asked to visualize/picture what is happening at a specific moment. Their ideas are sketched into personal sketch books that will facilitate a retell of important details with you at home. In Fundations, we have introduced the vowel consonant e syllable type, “silent e”. Children are expected to read and spell the short and long vowel sounds as they enter second grade. BrainPop has some great videos that we have used in class and the children can review at home. They are often accompanied by funny jokes
and activities. We have also been having fun with compound words. The children are genuinely excited when they can make a word from two other words; consequently, reinforcing the concept of multisyllabic words and the benefits of chunking out those big words for decoding and comprehension.

Uno, dos, tres… in math we continue to look at real life stories that are missing information. For example, Ms. Donovan met with 15 teachers after school. Some of the teachers left early. There were 9 teachers when the meeting was over. How many teachers left the meeting early? Learning to manipulate numbers in everyday situations helps children connect to these concepts in meaningful ways. Talking to children about how they figured it out is even more important than the actual answer when developing concepts. More often than not, first graders have been learning from their mistakes. Ask any first grader what they know/notice and they will be eager to share their wonderful ideas! Another current math focus is combining numbers to make ten and some more. We are exposing children to the concept of regrouping. This is an important second grade skill. For example, children are asked to combine two numbers like 7 and 4 by representing the number as 10 and some more. You may notice repetition in our practice. We call this spiraling. The Minute Math worksheets you see coming home are a way to continually reinforce these mathematical concepts. When discussing everyday math around home, keep asking your child how they figured it out and
offer paper and pencil so they can show you their thinking.

The first graders are budding like spring flowers! Every year it is amazing to look at the progress the children have made. We are so proud of our students and they are equally proud of themselves!

Classroom Policies/Procedures

Links & Resources

Curriculum Outline