Thanksgiving Recess

We are so thankful for working at a great school with awesome kids and families! Wishing you all a joyous Thanksgiving break - see you on Monday!

Math & Literature

Here are some great counting books you can find in your local library. Have your child count the objects on each page. These books can also provide a good context for posing addition or subtraction problems such as "There are 7 birds on this page. How many would there be if 4 more birds came along?"

Ten in Bed, Penny Dale
Fish Eyes, Lois Elhert
12 Ways to Get to 11, Eve Merriam
Uno, Dos, Tres, One, Two Three, Pat Mora
From One to One Hundred, Teri Sloat
Math-Terpieces, Greg Tang
Count on Your Fingers African Style, Claudia Zaslavsky

School Wide Morning Meeting

Join us Monday Morning in the auditorium for a School Wide Morning Meeting! :)

Harvest Festival

Please join us on Tuesday, November 24th for our annual EVCS Harvest Festival.  We will gather around 9:15 in our school yard. After our gathering activities, we will deliver our collected cans to Trinity Lutheran's soup kitchen.

Dreambox

Our school has purchased DreamBox Learning's Math Program, an online, Intelligent Adaptive Learning program that helps all students achieve better, faster math proficiency.

Our students can access DreamBox Learning from any computer, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!  We will be playing DreamBox in school, and your child can play at home (as long as they use the same account).


We will send home more information soon! 

Family Morning - This Friday 11/21

Join us this Friday for our 3rd Family Morning.  We will share a potluck breakfast together, continue getting to know each other and building our classroom community.  Make sure to sign up on google drive!

Looking forward to seeing you all there :)

Next Up in Writing Workshop: How To Books

Next week, we will launch our next writing unit - how-to books!

Our students come to school knowing so much. From constructing forts to playing games to navigating the dynamics of friendships. This next unit on writing how-to books will provide the opportunity to show our students that they are all experts at something. Further, they have the power to pass that knowledge onto others. The unit frames students as experts, rallying them to teach their areas of expertise through writing. We can't wait to see what knowledge they will decide to impart on others!

School Wide Morning Meeting - Schedule Update!

Start your week off right with school wide morning meetings!

Monday, November 24th
Monday, December 15th

Upcoming Trip

The first graders are gearing up for the first trip - to the Tenement Museum on Tuesday, December 16th.  We sent permission slips home today so please return them as soon as possible!

For information about the Tenement Museum, click here!

Our Neighborhood Study

Our Neighborhood Study has taken off in Social Studies and all of the first graders are so excited to begin researching buildings and places.  After reading the book "Harlem" and brainstorming a huge list of places in a neighborhood, we selected these six specific places to study: 1) supermarket; 2) pet store; 3) hospital; 4) fire station; 5)  school; and 6) museum.

Today, the first graders met in teams to begin planning for building.  They brainstormed parts of the building, furniture and tools needed, community workers, and more!  Soon, we'll begin researching these places and building in the block area!  If you have any resources around any of these neighborhood places (people, books, etc), please share!

pet store team

supermarket team

school team

fire station team

museum team

hospital team

Starfall

Looking for an interactive and engaging website or iPad application around building reading skills?  Click here and have some fun with your child while learning how to read!

Solving Story Problems in Math

By the end of first grade, students are expected to solve story problems with numbers whose sum is less than or equal to 20. Story problems can go in lots of different ways.  Here are some examples.

Add to with result unknown
Ben had 5 pencils.  Then he got 4 more.  How many pencils does Ben have?

The class is collecting canned food to help those in need. The teacher brings in 3 cans to start the collection. On Monday, Becky brings in 2 cans. On Tuesday, Talia brings in 2 cands. On Wednesday, Brendan brings in 2 cans. How many cans were there all together?

Add to with change unknown

Ben has 5 pencils. He got some more from his mother. Now he has 9 pencils. How many pencils did Ben get from his mother?

Put together with result unknown
Ben has 5 pencils and 4 erasers.  How many pencils and erasers does Ben have?

Put together
There are 8 children in the after-school cooking club. How many boys and how many girls might be in the class? (more than 1 answer)


Coming soon: student work samples showcasing strategies for solving math story problems.  Stay tuned and have fun with this math work at home!

students sharing their thoughts on a story problem 

Book Baggies Come Home Tomorrow!

Read on for some tips on how to support your growing reader around comprehension!

Comprehension is an incredibly important reading skill, and there are many ways to support this work at home with your growing reader! Here are some guiding questions to ask as your child is reading. If your child is reading level A-F, it is more appropriate to ask your child forms of these questions at the end of the book. For children reading G and up, it is important to stop and talk throughout reading the book. Only focus on 2-3 questions in one reading session.

Literal questions:

What happened in the beginning?  The middle?  The end?
Tell me what has really stuck in your mind so far (what seems important).
Explain why that part seems important.
Where does the story take place? What kind of place is it?

Tell me what you know about the character so far?

Inferential questions:
At this point in the story (or an important part the reader mentioned), what do you imagine the character might be feeling and why?
Tell me about any themes or issues you are noticing.
Are there any lessons so far that you think the character is learning or could have?
How would you describe this genre and what do you know about it?