2 / 7 / 2025

📣 ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Students need to bring a water bottle with name on a daily basis for proper hydration!
• Please make sure they have utensils in their lunchboxes. 

💡DATES TO REMEMBER
February 7th: Half Day Dismissal (GHA In-Service)
February 17th: NO SCHOOL (President's Day) R&R weekend
March 5th: Kindergarten/First grade Athletic Field Day - Half Day Dismissal
March 7th: Half Day Dismissal (12:30pm)
March 10th - 14th: Spring Break - No School

💡REMINDERS:

1. Please double check your child's uniform to make sure they still have 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: This week, we learned the values of responsibility and wisdom from the Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, the Tale of Jeremy Fisher, and the Tale of Tom Kitten. 

All first-grade classes are in need of reading volunteers! Please use the sign up located under your teacher's page. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer at a different time, please contact your teacher.

📕 SPALDING: Continue practicing at home the phonograms they 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 1: q is always followed by u, and together they say /kw/. (queen)
                      

                       rule 2: c before e, i, or y says /s/. (cent, city, cycle)

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

rule 5: I and y may say /i/ (si lent, my)                                           

rule 6: y, not i, is used at the end of an English word. (try, fly)                  

rule 8:  /er/ can be found in "Her first nurse works early".

rule 9:  1-1-1 rule: One syllable words with one vowel followed by one consonant need to double its last consonant before adding an ending beginning with a vowel. (hop + p + ed)

rule 11: Words ending with a silent final e are written without the e when adding a vowel ending. (come - com + ing)                       

                   rule 13: sh is used at the beginning or end of a base word 

                  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

📕 SAYINGS: 

•  The more the merrier. 

• 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

📕MATH: This week, we finished up our chapter on Numbers 1 to 120 and had a test. We have another test on counting money next week. We also introduced our new chapter on addition and subtraction within 100. Kindly see the letter about this chapter that was sent home today, Friday, February 7th.

📕POETRY:

My Shadow  
by Robert Louis Stevenson 

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. 
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; 
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. 

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow— 
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball, 
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all. 

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed. 

📕HISTORY: We read the story, "The Other Side" by Jacqueline Woodson and discussed how we can move past being different. We studied why the Boston Tea Party happened and how it is important in our unification as America. We had a fun coloring page where we pretended to "dump the tea" like how the colonists did it in protest. We also read and talked about Benjamin Franklin's political cartoon, "Join or Die". 

📕SCIENCE:  This week - in our Ocean unit - students started learning about whales. On a mini "field trip" outside, students were shown just how long dolphins and whales are by using a string and rolling it out, which showed in feet how long different whales can be. They also started a foldable on whales. 

  

Have a great week!

1st Grade Teachers