The first graders finished the year on a thoughtful note. They reflected on their growth, and shared personal accomplishments.  They also wrote notes to the incoming first graders, passing on words of wisdom. These letters will be displayed on the bulletin boards outside of the first grade classrooms in the fall. They also wrote letters to their second grade teachers, introducing themselves. They are wrapping up their math work with many games.  Their vowel town creations were a wonderful celebration of their phonics knowledge. Final entries were written in their blue journals, which will come home with empty pages to fill over the summer months.  

We thank you all for sharing your children with us this year. Although we will miss them, we send them off, knowing that summer adventures and relaxation will create new memories, which they will share with their new teachers and classmates.

This week the first-grade students celebrated the completion of their final phonics unit, beginning with a review of the vowel teams studied during the last month. The next part of the celebration was to create a map of a Vowel Town. Work for this culminating project began with a brainstorm of things and places that might be found in a town. The tricky part was to think of things that included a vowel team, such as ee, au, ea, ai, ue, oo, ay, ew, igh, etc..  After a list was created together, each child was given a large piece of paper to begin the planning of their own community.  A blueprint was drawn by each child that included roads, highways, and train tracks.  Next, the students added places of business, houses, and community structures to their town collages. Some of the most popular places and things added were schools, playgrounds, houses, restaurants, subway, traffic lights, and food stores.  Each item in a town was given a label, giving students an opportunity to reinforce their learning by reading and writing words with a specific focus.   

The first grade students had the opportunity to visit the art show together.  Each class spent time with Ms. Fine who encouraged the children to find their own art, and also to take a close look at other pieces in the show.  First graders were all very excited to find their pottery fairy/gnome house, as well as their two pieces of 2-dimensional art.  The students are looking forward to bringing home all their masterpieces from Ms. Fine's class at the close of the year.

The first graders have been busy getting ready to share their realistic fiction series with their families next Wednesday at 11:30.  In this writing unit, the children created a fictional character and two or more books with the same character.  Each book gave the character a new adventure and a problem to solve. They used editing checklists to make certain that their work is truly their best.  The authors have transformed the cereal boxes you supplied into decorated boxes to display their series books. We know you will be delighted to hear their work!  It is amazing to see the progress they have made since September.

Parents attending should bring a picnic blanket and a lunch and drink. Pizza and ice cream are provided for all first graders!   

​First graders started diving into fraction concepts through explorations of equal shares.  They started by splitting shapes up into equal parts.  They asked themselves questions like: can a square be divided equally into two shares?  How about a circle?  The focus of first grade is exploring and naming halves and fourths.  Each child completed a challenge problem, wondering who might get a bigger share of a square if four people shared, or if two people shared.  The goal of this type of exploration is to expose students to the idea that more shares means smaller shares; the more times a shape (or share) is divided, the smaller it gets.

" Be the Boss of Your Own Reading" is one of the phrases the first grade children are hearing this month. The current unit is helping the children develop a take charge mind-set with their reading.  One of the most important jobs as a reader is to stop at the first sign of trouble and choose a strategy that will move them forward, all the while monitoring for meaning.  All readers, regardless of reading level, need to be mindful of meaning and sentence structure when solving unknown words or going through a chapter book.  As we move toward the end of the school year, this unit will celebrate all the hard work the first graders have done this year! 

1P was proud to present Cinderella, Cinderfella on Friday! The class began with a “working script” to which the children added several lines to make the show even funnier!  All had a great time, from choosing parts out of a basket to the final production.  On Thursday, their friends in 1S and 1M came to their dress rehearsal to give the actors a taste of a real audience, as well as some valuable feedback.  Mrs. Parke and the students of 1P thank everyone who helped make their play a fun experience!

All first grades are continuing to enjoy Charlotte’s Web. Wonderful discussions focusing on forming new friendships are occurring in all three classrooms.

​We remind you to please send in an empty cereal box. Many thanks!