Transcript First Grade Newsletter Week 3

First Grade Newsletter
September 21st-25th 2014
Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Frost
We hope that everyone has a safe and
wonderful long weekend. Please don’t
forget to find time to read and practice
letter and number formation.
Friendly Reminders
•Please label your child’s belongings such as:
their lunch tote, water bottle, jacket, sweatshirt,
etc. Thank you! 
•Students are allowed to bring in soft/foam (nerf)
balls for recess. No regular footballs are allowed.
Safety first!
•We are very busy in 1st grade! Please make
sure your child is getting an ample amount of
sleep.
•Please remember to pack healthy snacks and a
water bottle for school each day. Our daily lunch
time is at 10:55. Our morning snack is at 9:10
and our afternoon snack is at 2:00. Please
remember that our snack times are nut free.
Thank you!
•Please check your child’s yellow folder every
afternoon and make sure it is returned to school
each day. Put all notes and paperwork in this
folder.
Happy Birthday to:
Addison
Ava
Aidan
Emma H.
Emma R.
We hope you have a great day!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Sept 21st – Prayer Service at
2:15pm
Sept 23rd-25th - NO school. World
Meeting of Families
Oct. 27th - Field trip to Cherry
Crest Farm
Please remember to check our website
for upcoming events and school news.
Some of our classroom books will be
sent home over the long weekend to be
covered in contact paper. Please return
these books on Monday. Thank you for
your time and support. 
Healthy Habits
With allergy season here and the dreaded flu
season right around the corner, please discuss with
your child the importance of proper hand washing
and coughing/sneezing techniques. We are
disinfecting the desks, doorknobs and tables
frequently. We are striving for a happy and healthy
school year.
Happy Fall!
Art Project
Thinking ahead…
We have a special art project planned to
celebrate Halloween. For this project,
each student will need to bring in a
glass jar (spaghetti sauce or
mayonnaise). Please clean it thoroughly
and remove the label. Thank you!
Curriculum Notes
Into good study habits!
Math: This week, we will be diving into addition! We will focus on addition strategies
and facts to 12.
Please practice reading, identifying, and correctly writing (digit and word form)
numbers at home. Continue to review counting patterns and missing numbers within
a counting pattern, ordinal numbers, and comparing numbers using greater than
and less than.
Reading: Our word focus will be on short i. We will read our second whole group
story: Pig in a Wig. Our spelling words will be generated from our weekly story.
Please see the attached list of spelling words. Our spelling test will be next Friday.
We will also focus on fall poems and stories to improve reading fluency.
Grammar and Writing: For the next few weeks, we will be focusing on sentences.
We will discuss types of sentences, the parts of a sentence, word order, and correct
punctuation.
Religion: This week, we will complete Chapter One in our textbook. We will also
focus on preparing for the Pope’s visit. We will learn more about Pope Francis and
we will complete classroom activities in celebration of his visit to Philadelphia.
Handwriting: A large amount of instructional time will be spent on reviewing correct
letter and number formation. Please practice handwriting at home.
Social Studies and Science: All About Fall!
As a whole class, we will begin to learn about Johnny Apple Seed.
We will read and discuss the third edition of our Scholastic News magazine. In this
issue, we will learn about leaf identification.
Be on the lookout… a leaf collection project will be sent home shortly.
Get hooked on some
great books this fall
Spelling Words
Please Note: The spelling test is on Friday, October 2nd
Each week, your child will have ten spelling words based
on our phonics skill and two high-frequency words from
our story for a total of twelve spelling words.
Short i
in
fix
it
sit
six
lip
did
mix
pin
wig
High-Frequency Words
and
take
Bonus Words: These words will not be graded. Please practice
these words if you feel that your child is up for a challenge.
1. trim 2. kick 3. quit
Read Everyday!
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents”
-Emilie Buchwald
Please remember to practice the short i sight words that are attached.
Also, try the below reading strategies with your child.
•Echo Read - Read a sentence aloud to your child and then have your
child read the sentence aloud to you.
•Choral Read - Read a sentence or page of a book together at the
same time.
Short i Sight Words
Please practice these words throughout this week and next week. Thank you!
Optional Activity – Word Sort
1. Read the word lists
2. Cut the words out
3. Mix them up
4. Sort them according to their word family
5. Read each word list again
____in
____it
____id
bin
bit
bid
fin
fit
did
pin
hit
hid
tin
kit
kid
win
quit
lid
in
pit
rid
thin
sit
skid
shin
it
grid
chin
___ix
___ip
___ig
fix
dip
big
mix
flip
dig
six
hip
jig
nix
lip
pig
nip
wig
rip
fig
sip
twig
slip
rig
Challenge short i sight words
Blends
Please practice the words below if you feel your
child would benefit from a more challenging list of
sight words.
kick
pick
quick
wick
chick
click
flick
disk
risk
brisk
whisk
think
ditch
hitch
twist
mist
wrist
pitch
ditch
switch
quilt
wilt
slit
drink
pinch
inch
flinch
swim
trim
slim
grim
chimp
limp
blimp
squid
bring
crib
sniff
cliff
crisp
fish
dish
wish
bliss
prince
print
sprint
sing
Cut these strips apart to create a mini-math booklet of sight words.
My Math Sight
Words
sixteen
one
two
eleven
four
ten
twenty
three
six
twelve
seventeen
fourteen
nineteen
five
eight
thirteen
zero
seven
nine
fifteen
eighteen
first
fewer
second
more
third
greater
than
fourth
fifth
sixth
seventh
eighth
ninth
tenth
less than
equal to
add
subtract
Reading Expectations
Reading is an extremely important skill for students to
improve upon in first grade. Below are the focus areas to
work on each evening. Becoming an independent reader is
a blend of the following reading strategies.
1.Sight word practice (5 minutes daily) – Practice the week’s
sight words that are attached to the newsletter and/or
practice the Dolch sight word book that was sent.
2.Fluency practice (5 minutes daily) – Reread the decodable
readers, word family poems, and/or fall poems that are sent
home. Create a folder to store these short reading activities.
3.Free choice reading (5-10 minutes daily) – Read a book at
your child’s reading level together. Choral or echo read to
model appropriate pace and expression. Or, select a more
advanced book to read aloud to your child. Discuss the
following story elements:
main character(s)
setting of the story
problem/solution of the story
main idea or message of the story
Please let me know if you need additional reading books at
home. I am happy to share my personal collection with you.
I encourage you to take a trip to your local public library to
explore specific authors, reading series, and genres with
your child. I will work on compiling a list of authors and
series that may be of interest to you and your child.
Let’s get hooked on some good books this fall!