Dec/Jan Blog

First Grade Highlights

January 16, 2018

Dear First Grade Families;

Welcome back from the Four-day weekend.  We have noticed that many people have been getting sick these days.  Please make sure to drink lots of fluids and dress in layers.  Also, please send an extra pair of P.E. shoes if and when your child wears rain boots to school. 

In Writers Workshop we launched into writing reviews.  Last week, the students learned to review collections and make choices about which item in that collection is best, writing defenses for those judgments.  This writing is their introduction to writing reviews. 

During math lab and number corner, the students have been working on solving story problems and creating their own story problems.   This gives the students the opportunity to think of real-world experiences that involve the use of mathematics.  Students have also been practicing counting by 5’s on the number line, and collecting dimes and pennies.  At the end of each week we count the coins and find the total amount of money collected. 

In science, students are finishing up their nocturnal animal shadow puppet presentations.  Ms. Ward is filming each child showing their puppets and teaching fun facts about their animals.  We will be diving deeper into the ways marine mammals use sonar in the upcoming weeks.

For Circle and Activity and Socratic Seminar, the students listened to various quotes by Dr. King and discussed and discussed their thoughts.  They also wrote about how they can make the world peaceful, as well as what Dr. King had, was, and wanted during his life.

Announcements & Reminders

1. We are going on our next field trip to the Shoreline Nature Center Marine Mammal Program on Thursday, January 18th 9:00am-1:30pm. If it is not raining, we will have lunch at the park, so those who get Nourish You will have to bring a lunch.  *Please remember to bring a booster seat and a lunch on Thursday. 

2.  We sent home the January Homework Menu, January sight words/challenge words, and the January Sharing Calendar.

3. January Sharing Theme:  Share Your Favorite Song (parents you can email the song or send in a CD with your child on share day).

Enjoy the attached photos of our 1^st graders in action!

Respectfully,

Kanoelani & Kris

In art class we have been working on making self-portraits and turning our focus to production for our art exhibit in the spring.

In art class we have also been weaving! Many of the 1st graders have even been coming in to open studio during their recess time to work on their weavings.

First Grade Music 1/15/2018

The First Graders have been learning about note names. We’ve been playing a fun game called, “Name A Note”. They love it! We’ve also been learning about hand bells. Very exciting!

    

First Grade Music 12/15/2017

The First Grade students worked hard on their songs, Mele Kalikimaka and Oh Hanukkah, that they sang for the Winter Concert! It was nice to see them working together and being proud of their accomplishment!