1. First Grade Newsletter September 21 st -25 th 2014 Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Frost MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Sept 21 st – Prayer Service at 2:15pm Sept 23 rd -25 th - NO school. World Meeting of Families Oct. 27 th - Field trip to Cherry Crest Farm Please remember to check our website for upcoming events and school news. Happy Birthday to: Addison Ava Aidan Emma H. Emma R. We hope you have a great day! Friendly Reminders Please label your child’s belongings such as: their lunch tote, water bottle, jacket, sweatshirt, etc. Thank you! Students are allowed to bring in soft/foam (nerf) balls for recess. No regular footballs are allowed. Safety first! We are very busy in 1 st grade! Please make sure your child is getting an ample amount of sleep. Please remember to pack healthy snacks and a water bottle for school each day. Our daily lunch time is at 10:55. Our morning snack is at 9:10 and our afternoon snack is at 2:00. Please remember that our snack times are nut free. Thank you! Please check your child’s yellow folder every afternoon and make sure it is returned to school each day. Put all notes and paperwork in this folder. Healthy Habits With allergy season here and the dreaded flu season right around the corner, please discuss with your child the importance of proper hand washing and coughing/sneezing techniques. We are disinfecting the desks, doorknobs and tables frequently. We are striving for a happy and healthy school year. We hope that everyone has a safe and wonderful long weekend. Please don’t forget to find time to read and practice letter and number formation. Happy Fall! Art Project Thinking ahead… We have a special art project planned to celebrate Halloween. For this project, each student will need to bring in a glass jar (spaghetti sauce or mayonnaise). Please clean it thoroughly and remove the label. Thank you! Some of our classroom books will be sent home over the long weekend to be covered in contact paper. Please return these books on Monday. Thank you for your time and support.

2. Curriculum Notes Math: This week, we will be diving into addition! We will focus on addition strategies and facts to 12. Please practice reading, identifying, and correctly writing (digit and word form) numbers at home. Continue to review counting patterns and missing numbers within a counting pattern, ordinal numbers, and comparing numbers using greater than and less than. Reading: Our word focus will be on short i. We will read our second whole group story: Pig in a Wig. Our spelling words will be generated from our weekly story. Please see the attached list of spelling words. Our spelling test will be next Friday. We will also focus on fall poems and stories to improve reading fluency. Grammar and Writing: For the next few weeks, we will be focusing on sentences. We will discuss types of sentences, the parts of a sentence, word order, and correct punctuation. Religion: This week, we will complete Chapter One in our textbook. We will also focus on preparing for the Pope’s visit. We will learn more about Pope Francis and we will complete classroom activities in celebration of his visit to Philadelphia. Handwriting: A large amount of instructional time will be spent on reviewing correct letter and number formation. Please practice handwriting at home. Social Studies and Science: All About Fall! As a whole class, we will begin to learn about Johnny Apple Seed. We will read and discuss the third edition of our Scholastic News magazine. In this issue, we will learn about leaf identification. Be on the lookout… a leaf collection project will be sent home shortly. Get hooked on some great books this fall Into good study habits!

3. Spelling Words Please Note: The spelling test is on Friday, October 2 nd Each week, your child will have ten spelling words based on our phonics skill and two high-frequency words from our story for a total of twelve spelling words. Bonus Words: These words will not be graded. Please practice these words if you feel that your child is up for a challenge. 1. trim 2. kick 3. quit Read Everyday! “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents” -Emilie Buchwald Please remember to practice the short i sight words that are attached. Also, try the below reading strategies with your child. Echo Read - Read a sentence aloud to your child and then have your child read the sentence aloud to you. Choral Read - Read a sentence or page of a book together at the same time. in fix it sit six lip did mix pin wig Short i High-Frequency Words and take

4. ____in____it____id binbitbid finfitdid pinhithid tinkitkid winquitlid inpitrid thinsitskid shinitgrid chin Short i Sight Words Please practice these words throughout this week and next week. Thank you! Optional Activity – Word Sort 1. Read the word lists 2. Cut the words out 3. Mix them up 4. Sort them according to their word family 5. Read each word list again

5. ___ix___ip___ig fixdipbig mixflipdig sixhipjig nixlippig nipwig ripfig siptwig sliprig

6. Challenge short i sight words Blends Please practice the words below if you feel your child would benefit from a more challenging list of sight words. kick pick quick wick chick click flick disk risk brisk whisk think ditch hitch twist mist wrist pitch ditch switch quilt wilt slit drink pinch inch flinch swim trim slim grim chimp limp blimp squid bring crib sniff cliff crisp fish dish wish bliss prince print sprint sing

7. sixteen two four twenty six seventeen nineteen eight zero nine eighteen Cut these strips apart to create a mini-math booklet of sight words. My Math Sight Words one eleven ten three twelve fourteen five thirteen seven fifteen

8. first second third fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth ninth tenth fewer more greater than less than equal to add subtract

9. Reading is an extremely important skill for students to improve upon in first grade. Below are the focus areas to work on each evening. Becoming an independent reader is a blend of the following reading strategies. 1.Sight word practice (5 minutes daily) – Practice the week’s sight words that are attached to the newsletter and/or practice the Dolch sight word book that was sent. 2.Fluency practice (5 minutes daily) – Reread the decodable readers, word family poems, and/or fall poems that are sent home. Create a folder to store these short reading activities. 3.Free choice reading (5-10 minutes daily) – Read a book at your child’s reading level together. Choral or echo read to model appropriate pace and expression. Or, select a more advanced book to read aloud to your child. Discuss the following story elements: main character(s) setting of the story problem/solution of the story main idea or message of the story Please let me know if you need additional reading books at home. I am happy to share my personal collection with you. I encourage you to take a trip to your local public library to explore specific authors, reading series, and genres with your child. I will work on compiling a list of authors and series that may be of interest to you and your child. Let’s get hooked on some good books this fall! Reading Expectations