9/ 4 /2026

💡ANNOUNCEMENTS

Students will have an opportunity to visit the school library with their class throughout the school year. Our class's library day is on Thursday. Students are responsible for the proper care and safe return of all items borrowed. Parents/guardians are responsible for overdue, lost or damaged materials. Students may checkout a maximum of 1 book at a time and must return materials within 14 days of checkout. Books may be returned to the classroom.


💡DATES TO REMEMBER
  • Friday, September 4th, Early dismissal at 12:30 (R&R Weekend)
  • Monday, September 17th - 
    No school (Labor Day)
  • Tuesday, September 8th - start of Reading Bags (leveled reader and sight words)
  • Tuesday, September 8th - start of Reading volunteers (see sign-up on teacher page)
  • Wednesday, September 23rd - 
    Early dismissal at 12:30 (Teacher In-Service)
  • Friday, October 2nd - Early dismissal at 12:30
  • October 5th - October 9th - No school (FALL BREAK)

💡REMINDERS:

1. The scholars should bring the following daily:
  • Water bottle with name
  • Healthy and dry snacks in front pocket
  • Take Home folder (please make sure they empty it at home)


2. Bring the following if you haven't yet:
  • Reading bag from Kindergarten (If you're new to Archway, please purchase one from the school website: https://archwaychandler.greatheartsamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/05/2026-2027-Consumables-1st-Grade-1.pdf.
  • Parent questionnaire
  • Literature books (Owl at Home, Bargain for Frances, My Father's Dragon, Bears on Hemlock Mountain, Frog and Toad)

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 / GRAMMAR: We listened to the stories of Tom Thumb, Thumbelina and Issun Boshi, and used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the stories. We also continued to practice identifying and capitalizing proper nouns of people.

📕 SAYINGS: 
  • If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.                          
  • Fish out of water

📕 POETRY: 

Work

by Anonymous

Work while you work,

Play while you play,

This is the way

To be happy each day.


All that you do,

Do with your might,

Things done by half

Are never done right.


Hearts are like Doors

by Anonymous

Hearts, like, doors, will open with ease.

To very, very little keys.

And don't forget that two of these

Are "Thank you, sir" and "if you please!"


Hope 

by Langston Hughes

Sometimes when I’m lonely,

Don’t know why,

Keep thinkin’ I won’t be lonely

By and by.


Don’t Worry if Your Job is Small (Mighty Oak)

by Anonymous

Don't worry if your job is small, 

And your rewards are few. 

Remember that the mighty oak, 

Was once a nut like you.


📕 READING: We will welcome parent volunteers for reading on September 8th. Use your teacher's sign-up to volunteer to read with the students (see link in your teacher's page on top). 


Reading Homework with reading bags and Reading Logs will start on September 8th. Please spend 20 minutes each night reading with your child, and fill out the Reading Log. This includes sight words practice.


Sight Word Bookmarks will be on a ring in your child's reading bag or listed on one sheet. 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). 

📕SPALDING: We have been learning our first phonograms until or. Check out the Spalding resources on this website to review letter formations, spelling/Spalding rules and phonogram list. 

Our spelling words this week have the following rules applied to them:       

        rule 4: Vowels say their name at the end of a syllable

        rule 17: Double f, l, s after a single vowel that says its short sound     

📕 MATH: We wrapped up our unit of numbers 1-10, and took a Chapter Test. We will start with our unit on addition on Tuesday, and will learn different ways to add. Please practice each students addition facts - especially with the Rocket Math pages that are brought home.  

📕 HISTORY: We learned about Mesopotamian writing "cuneiform" and made our own clay tablets. We also learned about how city life was like then for families, children, rulers, and other jobs. We made puppets of people in Mesopotamia and played with them.



 

📕 SCIENCE: We continued talking about our unit of the sun, moon, and stars. In our latest lessons, we discussed what is true about the moon's appearance in the sky. Students viewed time lapse videos that lead into discussions about the moon's movement, best time for viewing, and shapes. We also looked at a website that gave us information like sunrise, moonset times. I told the scholars that I would send the website so they could check it out at home. The website is as follows:  https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/usa/chandler. Next weeks discussions involve the phases of the moon.

Have a great long weekend!

1st Grade Teachers