First Grade

Our lovely quilt is complete. Each family that came created a square sharing what their family was thankful for. A special thanks to Marsha Danzis for taking the time to sew this fabulous quilt. I hope to see everyone out at our next Family Night on February 5th from 5:30-6:30. We will be making valentine’s for Duke Children’s Hospital and decorating cookies!

First graders and their families met at the North Regional Durham Public Library. Students were able to get library cards and explore what the library had to offer. They settled in for story time with Casey Nees where they heard exciting stories and learned some new dance moves. Everyone had a good time and students saw how much fun reading can be. Share the love of reading with your child and visit the public library today.

We have been learning about our community. We’ve discussed our role as citizens and the role of community workers. A police officer visited with our first graders. He shared his duties and the importance of their job. He discussed safety tips and strategies when dealing with dangerous situations.

Thank you for making our spaghetti night so successful. We had a great turn out and an abundance of food!

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I hope to see everyone out for our First Grade Family Night. Our first grade students will be showing off their good manners at our spaghetti dinner.

Tuesday, August 12, 5:30-6:30 in Holt’s Cafeteria

First Quarter Goals

This quarter we will be working on …

Math:

·     number sense

·     counting to 30

·     number representation

·     ways to make 7 (addition)

·     adding multiple number (under 20)

·     compare greater than, less than, and equal to.

·     before, between, after

·     Solving story problems

·     patterns (shapes, colors, objects), (AB, AAB, AABB, etc.)

Social Studies:

·     explore community services that are provided by the government and other agencies

·     identify the roles of leaders in home, school and community.

·     develop and exhibit citizenship traits.

·     compare and contrast similarities and differences among individuals and families.

·     identify various groups to which individuals and families belong.

·     predict consequences that may result from responsible and irresponsible actions. 

·     describe the roles of individuals in the family.

·     recognize the need for rules in different settings.

·     identify the need for fairness in rules by individuals and by people in authority.

Science:

·     Our science kit this quarter is Pebbles, Sand, & Silt.

·     We will also be learning about animals that live in the ocean.

·      Goal 1: The learner will conduct investigations and make observations to build an understanding of the needs of living organisms.

·     Goal 2: The learner will make observations and use student-made rules to build an understanding of solid earth materials.

·     Goal 3: The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of the properties and relationship of objects.

·     Goal 4: The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of balance, motion and weighing of objects.

Literacy:

    Reading:

·         understand reasons for making, confirming, and modifying their predictions.

·         understand reasons are based on information from text as well as on their own knowledge and experience.

·         identify people or animals in stories as realistic or make-believe.

·         identify what characters do and feel.

·         use prior knowledge to visualize a picture of what they are reading.

·         use text details to create pictures in their minds of what they are reading.

·         identify the time and place of a story.

·         tell whether a story takes place in the past or present.

·         recognize that fictional stories are organized in order from beginning to middle to end.

·         understand that text structure is separate from text content.

·         determine if a story is make-believe or if it could really happen.

·         give reasons for why they think a story is realistic or make-believe

·         decide on the important ideas in a story.

·         put the important story events in their own words.

·         identify questions for previewing a text before reading.

·         identify good questions to ask during and after reading that relate to important information in the text.

·         tell what a story or group of sentences is all about.

·         tell what a story is about in their own words.

·         monitor their own reading to identify difficulties.

·         use appropriate fix-up strategies such as reading on, rereading, seeking help from others, using text features, and relating to prior knowledge.

·         get an idea of what the characters are like, what the setting is, and what might happen for a fiction story.

·         look at illustrations, headings, and other text features and tell what they already know for expository nonfiction.

·         think about things that happen and why they happen.

·         learn that some words, such as because and so, signal why things happen.

    Writing:

·         learn to stretch and write words to create pictures in your mind.

·         learn how to stick to one topic.

·         learn writing conveys meaning.

·         learn to add more to a picture/story.

·         learn to start a new piece when finished.

·         learn that all writers have personal experiences they can write about, how to stretch

      and write words, and how to use the word wall.

·         learn how to use elaborative details in writing, and how a story is written in parts.

   Word Study:

• learn student names about letters and words through the following lessons that utilize student names.
• learn that you can match letters and sounds at the beginning of words and that each letter has a unique shape and name.                                                                                               
• learn that you can match letters and sounds in words, that you say one word for each word seen in text, and how to recognize first and last letters and words in print
• learn that some words have end parts that sound alike and that you can hear and connect words that rhyme.
• learn that you can hear the sounds at the beginning of a word, that some words start with the same sound and letter, and that you can often change the first letter of a word to make a new word.                                                                                                  
• learn that you can hear the first and last letter of a word.  They will also learn that adding an s to the end of some words makes them plural.                                                      

I will be designing the new first grade home page during our summer intersession. Please check back for more information.