Transcript Slide 1

Welcome to First
Grade!
2008-2009
Balanced Literacy
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We use a balanced literacy model at Errick Road. This means that
there are a variety of reading and writing activities that foster
literacy growth each day. These activities are built into our day in
predictable routines.
– Independent Reading/Writing
– Shared Reading/Interactive Writing
– Guided Reading/Writing Groups
– Read Aloud/Modeled Writing
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For more information, you can visit our website where each of these
balanced literacy components are explained in more detail.
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Each day students will be reading independently, listening to reading
and practicing reading skills (word work). They will also be writing
daily and practicing the steps of the writing process in order to
publish their own stories and ideas.
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The daily lessons and focus of instruction in the classroom comes
directly from the NYS standards.
Literacy Work
• Most of your child’s daily reading and writing work is
kept at school in their reading journal and writing
portfolio.
• We will send completed work home on a regular basis
so that you can monitor your child's progress. The
work that they do is meaningful and hands-on.
Therefore, you will not see many worksheets. What
you will see is their sight words, writing pieces,
responses to reading, etc. Much of the writing will be
informal, non-published work so that you can see the
process. However, we will send home final published
pieces as well.
• There will be several opportunities during conferences
and classroom celebrations to look at your child’s work.
Spelling
• In October, we will begin using the Rebecca Sitton spelling
program in conjunction with Words Their Way. This is a
meaningful and relevant program that will help students
practice words that they are using in their writing each day.
On Mondays, your child will bring home the new list of
spelling words. We will work on spelling words and word
concepts each day. On Friday, students will complete a
dictation that includes the words to check for
understanding.
• The daily lessons and focus of instruction in the classroom
comes directly from the NYS standards. You can find these
standards at several sites on the Internet.
Handwriting
• We use manuscript (Zaner Bloser) printing. We will begin
the year with a review of how to write each letter.
Handwriting is important so that student’s writing can be
easily read. However, the ability to write neatly
corresponds to fine motor skills and will vary with each
student. I encourage students to do their best to write
neatly but do not want to discourage students from writing
freely and enjoying the process.
• Reversals of letters are common and developmental. For
example, b for d or p for 9.
• Please feel free to ask for additional materials if you would
like to work on handwriting at home!
Math
• The math program is divided into six major
units:
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Number Sense and Operations
Algebra
Geometry
Measurement
Statistics and Probability
Problem Solving
Math Workshop
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Students will be participating in a math workshop each day in
which they will be learning and practicing the NYS Standardsbased skills and concepts through different modalities.
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The teacher will meet with guided math groups to provide explicit
instruction that meets each student’s needs while the rest of the
students will be working independent from the teacher in small
groups/pairs practicing skills and concepts.
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Students’ work each day will be kept in their math journal or math
folder.
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Throughout this model, mathematical flexibility, reasoning, and
communication are emphasized. There is no longer just one right
way to solve a problem! A variety of strategies to solve a problem
is highly encouraged!
Science and Social Studies
• The majority of our science and social studies units are
imbedded in our literacy block. This means that we will be
listening, reading and writing about science and social
studies topics each week.
• Our main focus in First Grade is citizenship, geography,
government and understanding traditions and diversity in
our families. In science some of our units include: lifecycles
of plants and animals, a study of the rainforest and tracking
the weather.
• The class will also be participating in two service projects
this year that will help to foster our social studies
standards as well as to teach children about the power of
philanthropy.
Books of Hope
• Books of Hope is an amazing not-for-profit project that was
founded by graduate student Ben Schumaker at the
University of Wisconsin. The project allows students to
create original books that are then given to children in
schools and shelters in Uganda, Africa. These children are
experiencing extreme challenges as they are caught in the
middle of a horrendous civil war.
• For our purposes, it is a way to reach out to children who
are less fortunate than us and provide them with a moment
of escape and joy while helping them to read (English is the
official language of Uganda!). It also provides our students
with some inspiration to create a book that they think the
children in Uganda will enjoy. A variety of writing and social
studies standards are met during this lengthy project. We
will work on this project throughout the year with our
reading buddies.
Coins for Carly
• In February and March we will be collecting coins in our
class piggy bank that will be donated to Carly’s Club at
Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Carly’s Club is a group that
funds pediatric cancer research and provides programs to
make life more manageable for children diagnosed with
cancer.
• Each week we will sort, count and graph the coins we collect
in our bank before making our donation. This will be a
meaningful way to practice our currency skills!
• Please consider sending in some change for this project or
have students earn some money by doing additional chores
around the house.
Homework
• The district’s homework policy is 10 minutes a
night for first grade students. Students will
receive a homework calendar each month where
they can choose which activities they would like
to complete. The calendar and the reading log
should be returned at the end of each month.
• However, research is clear that the best readers
are students who read for 20 minutes each day.
This includes independent reading and listening to
reading. We hope that you choose to include
reading for 20 minutes as a part of your child’s
daily schedule all year long!
Homework
• We will be sending home a reading log to keep track of
books that children read and listen to each night. We will
collect the logs to keep track of the books your child has
read.
• Students will have 5 spelling words to learn each week
beginning in October. We will provide activities to help
practice spelling these words at home. We will also work on
spelling at school.
• Finally, each student will practice reading ‘sight words’ at
their level. After an initial assessment we will send home a
list of words to practice reading (not spelling!).
Classroom
Events/Celebrations
• We will have classroom “gatherings”
throughout the year. We try to
combine student performances with
these celebrations to make them
more meaningful. You are invited to
join us in the classroom for these
events!
Lunch and Snack
• If your child is buying lunch at school, please send their
money in a change purse or baggy with their name.
• It would be helpful to read the school lunch menu with your
child before school so that they will be familiar with the
lunch choices in advance!
• We will be eating snack in the morning. Please send a
healthy snack with your child’s name on it. Since we will be
eating in different areas around the classroom, we would
prefer ‘finger food’ snacks that are easy to eat and clean
up!
• You may also send in a water bottle (labeled) for your child
to keep at their desk during the warm weather. We do have
a water fountain in our classroom so juice boxes are not
necessary for snack.
Field Trips
• We are looking forward to complimenting our
curriculum with a few field trips during the year.
In October, we will visit Murphy’s Orchard in
Newfane to do some up-close learning about the
apple lifecycle. In the spring, we will go to the
Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve to deepen our
understanding of forest habitats. We also will go
to the public library and visit a theater to see a
dramatic performance.
• Information about field trips will be sent home as
the dates approach!
Birthdays
• Please feel free to send in a simple special treat
for your child’s birthday celebration. They may
not bring in extra treats for the office staff or
previous teachers.
• We ask that you call ahead of time to make
arrangements with your child’s teacher.
• School policy on passing out invitations: Children
must invite the entire class or all the girls/all the
boys if they pass out invitations at school. They
may not pass out invitations to other students in
different classes. These invitations must be
mailed out on your own.
Thank you for visiting
our classroom!!
We are going to have a
great year!