FIRST GRADE NEWS

First Grade October Newsletter

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Here you will find some important dates and reminders for the month of October. Most of these activities do not involve parent volunteers, but please feel free to join us. Our door is always open! Please keep your eyes peeled for communication regarding volunteer opportunities (Mystery Readers, field trips, Halloween). More detailed information regarding some of these events and November dates will be included in the weekly Ask-Me-Abouts and November newsletter. Thank you for your continued support! Please let us know if you have any questions!
*Friday, September 27th- SPIRIT DAY - Wear spirit wear (CA sweatshirt, tee-shirt, etc.) and dress down IS permitted below the waist *October 8th(1C/1D) & 10th(1A/1B)First Grade eld trip to Lynds Fruit Farm from 9-11am (dress down attire) *Monday, October 14th COLUMBUS DAY - No School *October 21st- First Grade Concert at Assembly (8:15 in theater) *Week of October 21st-25th Campre with 3rd Grade Buddies (dress down attire) *Week of October 28th - Canned Food Drive *October 29th- Early Release *Thursday, October 31st Halloween Party and Parade

FIRST GRADE THEME NEWS

Going Global
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Week 1
My Place in the World
We will learn about maps and our place on the map - our own country/state/city/ home. We will think about different activities we can do in the community.

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F RU I T

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Week 2
Global Mapping
We will be taking a global view on mapping this week. Our map skills book will help guide our global discovery.

Columbus Academy First Graders are excited to go global!

go in g g loba l U n i t o f S t u d y

eginning Monday, September 30th, rst graders will begin our Going Global unit.

Weeks 3
Tooth Traditions
We are using the book Throw Your Tooth on the Roof by Selby Beeler to start talking about traditions around the world. We will be discovering similarities and differences among children in the world.

Students will make connections in all areas of the curriculum, reading books related to our theme,researching and writing about children around the world, completing mapping activities , and even solving some math problems connected to this theme.

Weeks 4-6
Around the World
We will use this as an opportunity to We hope wrap up the unit with a trip to broaden our study. We will create essential questions to guide our The North Market. As we get more discovery of food, language, religion, and information we will keep you updated. art around the world.

FIRST GRADE NEWS

In the classroom... Literacy

Students have been using the Phonics Dance, their Monster Words, new Hunks and Chunks, and the Word Wall for different activities throughout the day. We feel that all children need many opportunities to work with word chains, rhyming words, prefixes, suffixes, and vowel/consonant patterns. All of these activities help in spelling and increase word recognition and word decoding skills, even for our fluent readers. We continue to practice many reading strategies together as a class, in small groups, with partners, or independently during our independent reading time. Our goal in first grade is to promote fluent readers who can find enjoyment in just right books!

We are currently working in Unit 2 in our Everyday Math book. This unit focuses on the use of numbers in realworld contexts. Children will practice how to tell time to the hour, how to count collections of pennies and nickels and other coins as appropriate. The children will also continue to develop counting skills, solve addition and subtraction problems along with number stories using a number grid. Our math program continues to give your child rich opportunities to make connections between their own knowledge and experiences and learn skills in meaningful contexts so that mathematics becomes real (Everyday Mathematics).

Math

Halloween
The Halloween Party and Parade will be held on October 31st this year. We ask that you send your child to school on this day in his/her school uniform and carry his/her costume in a bag. We will give the students time to change into their costumes for the party and parade that afternoon. If you would like to arrive early to help the children get into costumes, please arrive by 1:30. Our classroom party will begin at 2:00 followed by the parade at 2:30. Thank you to those who have volunteered and to our wonderful room mom for organizing!