Welcome to First Grade!

Welcome families to our classroom website. Here pictures, news, and the chronicles of our adventures this year will be documented. Thus far this year we have already had some amazing conversations and have written stories with topics ranging from the Olympics to our classroom sharing animal Snowflake the Owl.

We have made new friends and practiced working and playing together. Naimah even announced to the class during explorations that she and Oliver are now best friends after undergoing investigations with the items and tools at the science center during explorations.

Our discussions during morning meeting have centered around the rights and responsibilities of the school and what they look like in practice. For example, we discussed what kindness looks like and they drew and shared examples such as helping someone who falls, using words such as please and thank you, and inviting someone to play with you.

We have also explored the topic of what a learner is and what a learner sounds like. Here were some ideas we came up with:

A learner starts out not knowing something and then learns it

A learner figures something out

A learner learns through practice

We learn everyday and everywhere

Just because I say it doesn’t mean I learn it

Some things learners say are:

I wonder

How?

What is that?

Why?

When?

A Learner asks questions, pays attention, and answers questions

A learner says I didn’t know that before

From this discussion we will be moving into what a scientist does, tools they use, what types of scientists there are and what they study in this next week and then focusing on one content area and becoming the scientists as we learn together. We already have several that love exploring the science center so I am excited to dive into this unit of study.

In math, we have been making a what do you notice poster about each number counting up from one as we progress throughout our school year. Some observations about the number one were:

It is odd

We have one bathroom in the classroom

We have one smartboard

44-43=1

And the first birthday you celebrate is when you turn one

As we move into next week I will begin a twitter update with one blurb a day about something we did that you can talk with your child about and a picture. This is meant to encourage connections between home and school, and gives you a topic that can spark a conversation about our daily learning. I will send an email when the first blurb is posted. I have loved getting to learn alongside your children thus far and am excited to jump into the journey this new year will bring us. Please feel free to reach out to me. Email is best because I can respond quicker but I welcome face to face conversations as well because I always walk away with a greater insight into each child. If your child is not in the pictures I’ve included this time please know they will be in the next few days. I try and capture as much as I can and will try to include everyone each newsletter. If you have still not sent in the CFI forms packet please do so and have a great day!

With Love,

Laura Dean

Home to School Connections:

We will begin homework next week but in the meantime I encourage you to read together each night. Today will be the first time we go to the school library so please ask your child to share the book they bring home with you. This book will need to be returned to the library next Thursday so they can check out a new one. Morning Milers began this morning and so if your child would like to enjoy that in the morning with our new Coach Hunter, please bring appropriate shoe attire. Our related arts schedule is as follows:

Monday- PE

Tuesday- Art

Wednesday- Computer Lab

Thursday- Music and Library

Friday- No special area

Pictures! Exploring the science center, playing in the new sandbox, building together, and playing a fun word building game!