First Grade News 

News   

ISSUE 6 OCTOBER 12, 2018 

Reading  
Reading Fundations  
Fundations
This week in reading, first graders  In Unit 2, students learned how to blend 
continued to build good habits. They  and segment sounds in three-letter CVC 
learned that when readers reread, they  (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. 
see more in the text and pictures. First  Students used their fingers to help them 
graders began practicing strategies to  decode unknown words with the “tapping 
help them figure out hard words, such as  out” strategy: 
taking a sneak peak of the pictures and   
looking at ALL parts of a word. First graders enjoyed  1. Start by touching the thumb and pointer finger together. Say 
reading like storytellers with their reading buddies to  the first (consonant) sound of the word. 
strengthen the smoothness of their speech.  2. Next, touch the thumb and middle finger together. Say the 
  middle (vowel) sound. 

Writing  
Writing 3. Then touch the thumb and ring finger together. Say the last 
(consonant) sound. 
First graders continued writing small moment stories this  4. Finally, use your thumb and pointer finger to “zip” the 
week. They worked on following all the steps of the writing  sounds together and say the word. 
process, including revising:   
1. Think of an idea 
2. Plan (“touch and tell” and sketch across the pages) 
Science  
Science
3. Write  The past two weeks, first graders 
4. Revise  had fun investigating the 
pumpkins they picked from Ward’s 
So many first graders are taking ownership of their writing 
Berry Farm! We measured our 
and motivating themselves to 
pumpkins, drew scientific 
engage in the revision process by 
sketches, and learned about the 
adding extra details to create a 
pumpkin life cycle! It was so fun to connect our learning to our 
stronger story. The strategies we 
field trip! 
learned have helped first graders   
produce writing that is so 
organized and sequential!  Fire Safety Week 
Week 
On Thursday, a Needham firefighter visited first grade classes 

Math  
Math and taught about fire safety. The firefighter tried on his 
uniform and reviewed what to do in case of a fire. First 
This week in math, first graders  graders loved asking the firefighter questions and learning 
practiced solving subtraction story  more about how to stay safe! 
problems. They learned how to draw a   
simple mathematical drawing, 
representing their math with symbols. 
They also learned how to write a number sentence to match  Save the Date  
the story. For example, Hannah had 5 apples and gave 3 of 
October 17th​
17th​: Mitchell Day - WEAR YELLOW! 
them to Sam. How many apples does she have left? 5-3=2 
October 22nd​
22nd​: Field Trip to Science Center (Mrs. Denby) 
First graders had fun thinking of symbols they could use to 
October 24th​
24th​: Field Trip to Science Center (Mrs. Teehan) 
represent objects, such as circles, lines, smiley faces, etc. 
October 29th​
29th​: Field Trip to Science Center (Mrs. Teehan) 
October 31st​
31st​: Field Trip to Science Center (Mrs. Hasenfuss) 
October 25th​
25th​: Early Release Day (12:15pm)  
 
 First Grade News 
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