We are thrilled to be back with our new 1st grade friends! It was a pleasure to see everyone at our Open House and Back To School Night in August. Our year is off to a great start, and we are excited about the curriculum in September.
Reading: Our district adopted Benchmark Advance for our new literacy resource in 2022. Aligned with Science of Reading research, Benchmark Advance is a core language arts program that provides a cohesive structure for the development of literacy skills and content knowledge. Language foundations are reinforced through explicit phonics and word study instruction that is linked to authentic reading and writing practice, with reading and writing independence achieved through gradual release of responsibility from whole-group to small-group/independent time. Each unit lasts for three weeks.
Unit 1: Plants and Animals Grow and Change
In this unit, students read informational texts describing animal and plant life cycles and stories about animal characters that grow and change. They will develop the following Enduring Understandings:
Foundations: Phonics and spelling is embedded into Benchmark. We have a daily focus on Phonics Word Study and Spelling instruction. Unit 1 is a focus on short vowels a, i, and o. We will be developing phonological awareness of short vowels by segmenting words into individual sounds: cat: /c/ /a/ /t/. Your child will also be building words by manipulating letters to make new words with the same vowel. Each unit will also have high frequency words.
High frequency words for Unit 1:
Week 1: the, see, go, she, and
Week 2: play, little, with, you
Week 3: for, no, jump, one, have
Writing: Our first writing unit is a Personal Narrative Unit. This is a special kind of writing that tells real stories from our students' lives. Students will write a variety of personal narratives that will include two or more sequenced events along with transition words. As we begin daily writing, we will have a strong focus on conventions.
Math: The kids are enjoying our Everyday Math curriculum. In Unit 1 we are learning about different types of tools we use in math. This includes using number lines, ten frames, and tallies. In Unit 2 we will be practicing counting, skip counting and organizing data. We will also introduce simple addition, solving number stories, sums of ten, and continued practice using math tools.
Science: We are so excited for our first science unit on the Sun and Moon. In this unit, students explore the predictable patterns of the sun, moon and stars, and how the amount of daylight changes throughout the year.
Second Step: The first-grade team is implementing the Second Step program. Second Step is a program to support social-emotional learning. It also helps provide a successful learning environment that encourages children to thrive. The program will enable children to take an active role in regulating their social-emotional skills.
Please make sure you are checking in with your child to see what homework needs to be completed each night and returned the next day. Please let your teacher know if you have any questions or concerns as we start a new year together. We are looking forward to a great month in 1st grade!
Mrs. Gonci, Mrs. Kover, and Mrs. Mickelson
Important Dates:
9/4 - Labor Day (no school)
9/5 - Staff Professional Development (no school)
9/7 - Vision and Hearing Screening
9/7 & 9/12 - MAP testing on Chromebooks (helpful to have your child present since this will be the first experience with this assessment)
