Posted by gouinl | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on October 3, 2021
Hello Grade 1 Families,
It’s hard to believe that September is already behind us! Here is a summary of our learning focus in Language Arts and Math so far:
Language Arts:
•We are working hard on letter sounds in the classroom using Lively Letters. See the photo below for the letters and letter combinations (digraphs) we have learned/reviewed so far. In grade one, it is extremely important that we all know our letter names and sounds with automaticity as quickly as possible so we can get going on our reading and writing. If your child is not yet solid on knowing their letter names/sounds (ie. They know them all automatically with almost no think time), I encourage you to practice a few minutes daily until they are quick and confident. We have also begun looking at sight words. Pictured below are the first dozen we focus on. You can find sight word information and resources in our Language Arts tab above.
•Other Language Arts routines we are also working on establishing are: printing practice (lower case letter focus), white board letter sound routines, poetry reading/illustration, phonemic awareness activities (i.e. rhyming, syllables, segmenting words and blending words), non-fiction writing (this month we wrote about Terry Fox!), PWIM, and of course, reading lots of stories. Our first PWIM photo is in the picture above. It is a baby on the beach. First, we work together to name things in the picture, then we work on practicing reading and sorting/categorizing the words. Each student keeps a set of the words in their desk and is encouraged to practice and work with these words each day after finishing their daily morning work. We will explore a variety of large photographs through the year. We are also working on our speaking, listening, and questioning skills through show and tell:)
Math
•In math, we update our calendar every day and are keeping track of the number of days we have been in school (pictured below). We are also working on our general number sense through counting practice, number printing, and working with tools like ten frames. Ask your child about SPLAT! In grade one we will learn about numbers to 100. Ask your child if they can tell you the numbers that are covered up on our 100 chart below. We are also exploring patterns this term.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns, big or small.