First Grade

Spelling Spelling words come home on Fridays for the next week. Each word has to be spelled correctly for it to get credit. In January we will begin taking off points for capital letters if they are not necessary. Challenge words will be given if they receive a 100% on Monday. Please study these words also  Sentence Dictation will start later in the year and will be for a grade.

DOL Practice sentences are done here at school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These sentences will be sent home on Friday attached to the newsletter. Practice ALL 4 sentences. On the following Monday we will quiz the children on 2 of the sentences. Each mistake and word is worth one point so the grades will vary. The best was to study is to write the incorrect sentence on a paper and then have them find all of the mistakes and practice rewriting it the correct way.

Language Daily language lessons are taught and one grade per week is taken in language. In language we will be working a lot with parts of speech, correct sentence structure and have a good 5 “star” sentence. In a few weeks we will be begin 5 star writing and these sentences will be graded based off our 5 stars. In December we will introduce the students to paragraph writing

Daily 5 Our daily 5 centers are Work on Writing, Word Work, Read to Self, Read to Someone and Listen to reading. We will have these rotations 3 times a day for 15-20 minutes a piece. During this time it allows the teacher or aide to pull small groups and work with them on re-teach items or enrichment items.

Reading All stories are based off our reading series but reading the story is NOT the only thing we are doing in class. Reading tests will be on Thursdays and books will come home on Monday and Wednesday. Vocabulary will be sent home on the newsletter on Friday to get a jump start. These words should be recognized by sight and the students should be able to use them correctly in a sentence. Students will use A-Z books, chapter books, fluency passages, Ipad apps, research projects, reading counts quizzes and more activities for enrichment.

Sight words Each week a new sight word box will be added to the studying. These words may sometimes be vocab words or just words that we think are first grade based. We will test on these words quarterly. About two weeks before the test we will send home a note telling you what boxes will be on it. These words need to be recognized by sight within 3 seconds. They need to try and not sound them out. Flashcards or sight word apps are best to help practice these.

Math Please keep all math pages until we are finished with a chapter. This will help your child study. Some chapters may have up to 14 lessons. A study guide will come home before the test. We ask you to work through this with your child so they are prepared for the test. This doesn’t have to be returned to us. I Can drawers, sunshine math, coding, logic and other activities are used for enrichment. Everyone uses Reflex Math.

Science/ S.S. These are weekly themes that are not graded. We will introduce concepts to the children through hands on activities and try to spark their interest. Sometimes there may homework that accompanies a lesson or we may ask for students to donate items for a lesson. Look in the newsletter for these things.

Other Info Enrichment Fridays: Art, Computers and Character Ed. Birthdays: Invitations and treats. Peanut Allergies Notes about transportation Please label all envelopes containing money with your child’s name and teacher’s name. Each teacher uses whole brain teaching rules. Please review these at home with your child and encourage them to show you the hand movements that go along with each rule. We have really been working on Rule Number 2. Please reinforce this rule at home so they are seeing it multiple time   

Rules