Mrs. Adler’s and Ms.

Zimmermann’s First Grade

Weekly Review
March 9, 2018

Past Week’s Review

WELCOME TO THE FIRST GRADE!
It’s been a great week in first grade. The students were so excited demonstrate their
hard work at the 1st Grade Siddur Service and receive their very own Siddurs. A big round of
applause also goes to Lyla Wolf as she performed the Israeli National Anthem from memory on the
piano. We are so proud of all of our students.

In Language Arts, during Reader’s Workshop, we continued our author’s study on Kevin
Henkes. We read the stories A Weekend with Wendell, Penny’s and Her Song and Penny and her
Marble. We made text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections throughout the stories.
During reading the students take notes on connections they make while listening to the story. After
reading the students share their connections with the class. We are practicing recognizing the
techniques that Kevin Henkes uses in his stories. Then, we made our very own comic strips retelling
one of Kevin Henkes stories. To complete our Author unit we celebrated by sharing our work with
each other, practicing our critiquing skills, and creating a new Kevin Henkes character named
Victor. Our phonic lesson focused on learning phonograms with the patterns –ate, -ake, and –ike.
We also practiced changing the middle letter of a word to make new words and learned compound
words.

In Spelling, we had our spelling test on words with the patterns ending in –at, -ot, and –
it. The students were challenged by our two bonus words: metamorphosis and March. The three
sight words this week included: two, know and every. Please make sure that you are continuing to
review these words with your children.

In Math, We had a test on multiplication. We have now included division in our repertoire or
math skills! We know that division is sharing in equal groups. We are completed our model drawing
word problems and continued taking math sprints to practice our math facts! The goal is to build
accuracy and to see how many problems one can complete in a minute. At home, please continue
to practice addition and subtraction MATH FACTS with your child every night! Flash cards are a
great way to reinforce the skill!

In Social Studies, Our ‘Weekly Reader’ was called “Drip, Drop, Bird”. We discussed what
birds do in different kinds of spring weather and reviewed our weather vocabulary. For example,
when they take shelter, how they stay warm, or how they bathe. Our ‘Studies Weekly’ was called
“American Monuments”. We learned about monuments around America.

In Science, we learned about metamorphosis. There are two kinds of metamorphosis,

complete and incomplete. We also made our insect choices. We are ready to begin searching for
good material to bring to school about our specific insects!

In Art, this week the first graders worked on finishing their Vincent Van Gogh sunflowers. They
learned how to apply thick acrylic paint using small brush strokes in the style of impressionism. They were
also excited to show off their Square 1 Art pictures before they are sent in the mail. They will be excited to
receive their free stickers in two weeks! More info will be coming home soon about how you can order
keepsakes with your child's art.

Last but not least, if there is one thing we can suggest or encourage for you to be doing at
home is to read with your child every night. It is important that you let your child read to you so
he/she can practice reading aloud. This is a wonderful bonding time for you and your child. Please
make sure that you are also recording in the daily reading log what your child is reading at home
and returning the reading logs to school on Monday’s. Please make sure that your child is reading
for at least 15 minutes every day.

See below for our most recent lesson with Mrs. Newman!!!

Important Dates Ask Your Child

 Monday, March 12th – “Mini Spring  Which one of these words is a
Break” No School compound word? blanket or cupcake
 Tuesday, March 13th – Bring insect  Which Kevin Henkes character do you
research from home to school think you are the most like?
 Draw and solve: 12 divided by 6 =
 Name an American Monument.
Important Info

 Please remember to send snacks with your child every day! They get very hungry and a mid-
morning, as well as mid-afternoon, snack helps out! These should be healthy snacks that
can be eaten in a 5-minute time frame!

 Every Monday is Spirit Dress Day! Students may come dressed in a spirit dress shirt and
jeans! If there is no school on a Monday, Tuesday becomes Spirit Dress Day.
 We love school!

Counselor’s Lesson
Shared by Mrs. Newman

Being a Good Listener!

This week the topic of our guidance lesson was how to be a good listener. We
discussed what it looks like to be a good listener. We made a list of these traits. Some
of the examples we discussed were: eyes on speaker, waiting your turn to speak, and
thinking about what the speaker is saying. We then watched the story of Howard
Wigglebottom Learns to Listen. In the story Howard gets into trouble for not
listening. When he becomes a better listener, his life improves dramatically. Students
then had to correctly label a diagram of a person showing how to be a good listener.
We ended our lesson with a fun listening dance, where students had to listen and
follow directions for the cha-cha slide & the electric slide. We all had fun dancing
while using our listening skills to follow directions!

Questions for discussion at home:

1) How can you be a good listener?
2) Why is it important to be a good listener?