Math:

This week our mathematicians added nickels and quarters to the coins they are learning about. They have learned a fun rap to help them remember the values of each coin.

                   The Coin Rap

                 A penny is 1.

                A nickel is 5.

                A dime is worth 10cents,

                A quarter 25.

They also began counting combinations of coins. Having coins available for your child to sort and count would be a great way to help your child practice this tricky skill.

Spelling Words:

The words this week were: made, teacher, give and has. These words made 100 new words that your children have learned in first grade!

Phonics:

The students worked with adding the suffix –ed to the end of action words or verbs. They learned that when –ed is added to some words, it sounds like a -t, as in the word talked. In some words it sounds like just a –d, like in the word filed and in other words it adds another syllable and sounds like –ed, such as in painted.

Important Dates:

• May 31^st – Memorial day – No school
• June 17^th – Last day of school – 12:00 Dismissal

Math:

This week our mathematicians used various place value strategies when adding two 2-digit numbers when the ones are more than ten.

Spelling Words:

The words this week were: made, teacher, give and has. Next Monday will be the last four new words of the school year!

Phonics:

The students continued working with contractions this week.

Social Studies:

We began our unit on American Symbols. The students learned that a symbol represents something else. This week they learned about the US symbols: the American Flag, the Statue of Liberty and the Bald Eagle.

Important Dates:

• May 26^th – 1 hour Early Dismissal
• May 31^st – Memorial day – No school
• June 17^th – Last day of school – 12:00 Dismissal

 

                Enjoy your weekend! 

Math:

The students are deepening their understanding of place value while using place value charts and drawings. They are using a variety of strategies that they have learned when adding or subtracting tens or ones from a two-digit number within 100.

Spelling Words:

This week the words were: why, talk, quit and night. There will be four new words on Monday.

Phonics:

This week the students began working with contractions. They learned that to make a contraction, you put two words together while leaving out one or more letters. You then use an apostrophe in the place of the letters that were removed.

Science:

Our scientists continued on in their exploration of “Communicating with Light and Sound” by learning about how light behaves in different situations. They explored this concept by using flashlights to see when and if light can pass through different types of objects. They observed that some objects that are see through or transparent, allow all light to pass through. However, other objects, such as wax paper, only allow some of the light to go through while others do not allow any light to pass though

Important Dates:

• May 26^th – 1 hour Early Dismissal
• May 31^st – Memorial day – No school
• June 17^th – Last day of school – 12:00 Dismissal

Math:

We have begun our final math module. This week your students worked on solving comparison word problems using tape diagrams.  They also worked on adding and subtracting ones and tens to two digit numbers and comparing two digit numbers.

Spelling Words:

This week was a review week. The 8 words were: pretty, your, went, animal, was, friend, how, play. There will be four new words on Monday.

Phonics:

This week the students learned about the 2 sounds of g: the soft g sound (j) and the hard g sound. They learned that just as with the letter c, usually when the letter g is followed by an e, i or y, it makes the soft g sound.

Science:

Our scientists began the unit “Communicating with Light and Sound” by learning about how sound is made. This week your students learned that sound can make things vibrate and that when something vibrates it can make sound. They also learned that when sound waves enter our ears they make our ear drums vibrate. We did a number of experiments, including putting a vibrating tuning fork into a bowl of water and seeing how it made the water move and touching a laser pointer with a vibrating tuning fork and seeing how it made the light zig zag.

Important Dates:

• May 26^th – 1 hour Early Dismissal
• May 31^st – Memorial day – No school
• June 17^th – Last day of school – 12:00 Dismissal

              I hope you all have a great weekend! 

Math:

This week the students learned about the parts of the clock by making their own paper copy. They then learned about telling time to the hour and half hour. Telling time to the half hour can be tricky for first graders so if you have an analog clock with the minute and hour hands, it would be great if you could have your child practice this challenging skill.

 Spelling Words:

This week the words were: where, am, good and your. Next week will be a review week. The 8 words will be: pretty, your, went, animal, was, friend, how, play.

Phonics:

This week the students learned about the 2 sounds of c: the soft c sound and the hard c sound. They learned that usually when the letter c is followed by an e, i or y, it makes the soft c sound.

Writers Workshop:

Your writers are writing narrative stories again. Adding details to the middle of their stories is the focus. To help our writers think of what details to add, they are writing about which of their 5 senses they may have used in their story. For instance, if they are writing a story about when they were playing baseball, they may have heard the crack of the bat or the sound of people clapping and cheering. They are learning that adding these types of details to their stories make them more interesting to their readers.

Important Dates:

• June 17^th – Last day of school – 12:00 Dismissal

               Have a wonderful week! 

Math:

This week the students explored equal parts. They learned that to be equal, each part or share, must be the same size. They worked on making equal parts using circles and rectangles. While doing this, they learned the vocabulary, half, halves, quarters and fourths.

When we return from vacation, our mathematicians will learn about telling time to the hour and half hour.

Spelling Words:

This week the words were: from, us, who and think. There will be four new words on the Monday following vacation.

Phonics:

This week the students learned about the “Bossy R’s” effect on the vowels: i, e, and u.

EHBi Kindness Cares Community Project:

This week each student in our wonderful school wrote and decorated cards to encourage and uplift seniors in our community who may be unable to see their family /friends or who may live alone. Your sweet children were very excited to be doing this and wrote the loveliest notes that will be sure to put smiles on the faces of those who receive them!

Science:

Today your scientists learned about Earth Day that is celebrated on April 22^nd. They learned different ways to reduce, recycle and reuse materials to help our planet.

Important Dates:

• April 16^th – Spring Vacation begins at Dismissal
• Monday, April 26^th – Welcome back from vacation!
  

       I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Math:

This week the students worked on identifying the defining parts or attributes, of two and three dimensional shapes. In one lesson they used straws to create two dimensional shapes. Yesterday and today the students combined shapes to create new wholes, called composite shapes.  In these lessons, they used pattern blocks and tangrams.

Spelling Words:

Our spellers did a great job of spelling the 8 review words today. There will be four new words on Monday.

Phonics:

This week the students learned that when the letter R is paired with a vowel it changes the vowel’s sound. We called this the Bossy R! This week we focused on the sounds of –ar and –or.

Poetry:

Our poets learned that all poems do not have to rhyme. This week they created poems called Sensory poems. These poems describe a topic through the 5 senses. For example, on Tuesday, they wrote wonderful sensory poems about Spring.

Important Dates:

• April 16^th – Spring Vacation begins at Dismissal
  

                    Happy Weekend! 

Math:

Your mathematicians did a fantastic job of demonstrating their understanding of the strategies that they learned in Module 4. Next week, we will begin our next module which focuses on geometry and its relationship to the part-whole concept that the students have been working with all year.  

Spelling Words:

The words this week were when, off, pretty and new. There will be four new words on Monday.

Reading:

This week we enjoyed many entertaining stories about eggs and Easter!

Poetry:

On Tuesday, your poets learned about adjectives. They used this knowledge to come up with describing words for bunnies. They then included them in their festive Bunnies Poem!

Important Dates:

• April 2 – No School – Observance of Good Friday
• April 16^th – Spring Vacation begins at Dismissal
  

I hope you all have a wonderful long holiday weekend! 

Math:

This week the students began learning how to add sets of 2 digits numbers when the sum of the ones digits is less than ten and also when the sum of the ones digit is greater than ten. Our mathematicians used a combination of hands on manipulatives and drawings during these lessons.

Spelling Words:

The words this week were what, him, her and rain. There will be four new words on Monday.

Reading:

This week we continued our study of folktales by reading and discussing different versions of the folktales, The Gingerbread Man and Little Red Hen.

Poetry:

We began our Poetry unit by writing rhyming poems. The students noticed that when poems rhyme the rhymes are located at the end of sentences. They also noticed that often the rhyming words use the same spelling patterns. Your poets enjoyed writing their own silly rhyming poems.

Important Dates:

• March 31^st – Report Cards go home
• April 2 – No School – Observance of Good Friday
• April 16^th – Spring Vacation begins at Dismissal!

                          

  Have a great weekend!

Math:

This week our mathematicians solved word problems involving numbers up to 20. They learned how to draw and use tape diagrams when solving these problems. They are learning that when they first read a number story they must determine if they will be solving for a part or a total. To do this, they may need to reread the number story a few times so that they understand what is going on in the story.

Spelling Words:

The words this week were animal, car, but and ride. There will be four new words on Monday.

Reading:

This week your readers began learning about the features of folktales. They learned that folktales are stories that are passed down from generation to generation and are a way to learn about a country’s culture and traditions. They also learned that there are often many retellings of folktales. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day we read two books, The Pot of Gold and Clever Tom and the Leprechaun, which the children noticed are different versions of the same story. They did a great job of noticing the similarities and differences between the two. We will continue to read retellings of popular folktales.

Important Dates:

• March 31^st – Report Cards go home
• April 2 – No School – Observance of Good Friday
• April 16^th – Spring Vacation begins at Dismissal!

                            Have a great weekend!