1 / 16 / 2026






📣 ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Students need to bring a water bottle with name on a daily basis for proper hydration!
  • Bring your family, a book, and a blanket and enjoy our annual Reading Under the Stars event on Saturday, January 24! The Book Fair will open in the MPR at 4pm for an early-access sale that will feature the complete Scholastic collection (including pop culture, graphic novels and extra novelty items that will be weeded out when the Book Fair moves to the library).


    💡DATES TO REMEMBER
  • January 19th: NO SCHOOL (Civil Rights Day)
  • January 24th: Reading under the Stars, 5-7pm
  • January 24th, 27th - 29th - Scholastic Book Fair
  • February 6th: Half Day Dismissal (GHA In-Service)
  • February 10th: Spring Photo Day
  • February 16th: NO SCHOOL (President's Day) R&R weekend


    • 💡REMINDERS:
    1. Please double check your child's uniform to make sure your child still has the right length.

    2. The scholars should bring the following daily:
    • Water bottle with name
    • Healthy and dry snacks in front pocket
    • Take Home folder (please make sure it is emptied out at home)
    *Your child may use the small backpack-shaped checklist of the things they need to bring to help them pack their things. 

    3. Please review the Driveline procedure here: directionsforparentsdrivelin.docx We have also attached the file in the resources on the right side of this webpage. 

💡WHAT WE ARE LEARNING THIS WEEK 



📕 Literature: We finished reading Bargain for Frances, practicing our fluency and expression. We also learned there are four parts to a verb's definition. The first part says that a verb is a word of action. Ask your child to tell you some verbs.

📕 SPALDING: Continue practicing at home the phonograms the scholars haven't mastered yet. Check out the Spalding resources on this website to review letter formations, spelling/Spalding rules and phonogram list.

         Jobs of silent final e:

 Job 1: Silent final e jumps over the consonant and makes the vowel say its name.

 Job 2: English words don't end in u or v.

 Job 3: c and g will say their second sound.

 Job 4: Every syllable needs a vowel.

 Job 5: No job (silent final e does not do anything, it just has to be there).

       

         

rule 2: c before e, i, or y says /s/ 

rule 4: Vowels say their name at the end of a syllable
rule 5: i and y may say 'long' i. 
                  rule 6: y not i, is used at the end of an English word. 
rule 8: /er/ can be found in "Her first nurse works early." 
rule 13: 'sh' is used at the beginning of a base word or the end of a syllable. 
                                         
                  rule 17: Double f, l, s after a single vowel that says its short sound 

rule 18: "ay" is used to say a at the end of a base word 

rule 19: i and o will say their name if followed by two consonants

rule 25:  ck is used after a single vowel that says its short sound.

sick

block 

rock, back, neck

rule 26:  Capitalize proper nouns.

      rule 27: Words beginning with the sound /z/ are always spelled with z never s. (zoo)

      rule 28: ed has three sounds and is added to form the past tense of regular verbs.

      rule 29:  divide words between double consonants

ap ple
lit tle

Key:
new rules covered 
rules covered this week
rules covered in the past


📕 SAYINGS: 

  •  Land of Nod
  • An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
  • Sour grapes 
  • Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. 
  • It could always be worse. 
  • Let the cat out of the bag. 
  • Wolf in sheep's clothing   
  • Practice makes perfect.
  • If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
  • Fish out of water

📕 Poetry: 
The Swing 
by Robert Louis Stevenson 

How do you like to go up in a swing, 
Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing, 
Ever a child can do! 

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all, 
Over the countryside – 

Till I look down on the garden green, 
Down on the roof so brown –
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down! 


📕 READING: Thank you to our parent reading volunteers! We still have slots for the month. We need volunteers every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11:10-11:45. Check your teacher's page on top for the reading volunteer signup. 

Sight Word Bookmarks will be on a ring in your child's reading bag or in a binder sleeve. We will be testing for sight word knowledge once a week. During this time, we will be moving students to the next sight word list if they have mastered the previous one. (Please do not mark off sight words at home- we will do this in class). 


📕 Math:  The week started with the scholars taking a cumulative test on our last two units. Then we started our unit on numbers 1 to 120. We reviewed counting the tens/ones of numbers to 120, comparing and ordering numbers to 40.


📕 History: This week, we continued the story of the early settlers who came to Jamestown and tried to survive there. We learned about their leader, John Smith, and also how the Native American, Pocahontas, helped the English settlers. Our story continued with the Pilgrims making their way to Plymouth and the adventures they experienced along the way.

📕 Science: This week begins our unit on exploring light and sound. Scholars will investigate how light, and sound interact to provide the experience we enjoy while participating in a concert, as both performers and audience members. Scholars were given the opportunity to distinguish between loud or soft sounds. The scholars also witnessed vibrations by watching a tuning fork in action. The scholars also observed and investigated the vibrations that occur with sound by creating a device to test certain items like table salt, sprinkles, pencil shavings, and small tissue paper squares.


Have a great week!
1st Grade Teachers