12 / 19 / 2025

Important Dates and Reminders: 

• December 19-31 No School: Winter Break
• January 1-6 No School: Winter Break
• January 5-6 - Parent Teacher Conferences - invitation only (no students)
• January 7 - Animal Report due (half-day)

Math: Students continued working on the unit on length.

History:  Students started learning about the Early Exploration of the Americas this week. They learned about the explorer, Christopher Columbus, as well as the other conquistadors who conquered the land of the Aztecs and Incas (the Early Americas).  

Science: We finished the second quarter with an experiment on candy canes. We had a cup of Sprite, a cup of cold water, a cup of hot water, a cup of cooking oil, a cup of lemon juice and a cup of vinegar. We looked at 5 - 10 minute intervals to see what was happening to our candy canes. We were experimenting on which one dissolved the slowest and which one dissolved the fastest.

Literature: Students listened to the teacher read The Fir Tree story by Hans Christian Andersen and colored their own Christmas Tree.

Have a safe and restful break!

1st Grade Teachers

12 / 12 / 2025

📣 ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Winter Concert was a blast. We're so proud of our scholars! Thank you all for your support.
• Students need to bring a water bottle with name on a daily basis for proper hydration! 

• From the desk of our headmaster - Mrs. Brady - Let's celebrate upcoming Winter Break with Winter Spirit Week at Archway Chandler. Please avoid pop culture images. Santa and the Grinch are not considered pop culture. The rest of the uniform should be typical dress code.

Important Dates and Reminders:

• December 16-18 Half-Day 12:30 Dismissal 
• December 19-31 No School: Winter Break
• January 1-6 No School: Winter Break
• January 5-6 - Parent Teacher Conferences - invitation only (no students)
• January 7 - Animal Report due (half-day)

💡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 LEARNED THIS WEEK 

📕 SAYINGS: 

•  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: Poetry recitation and memorization continues (All poems listed below, except for The Pasture).

                                                  The Pasture 

                                                by Robert Frost

                                        I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;

                                        I'll only stop to rake the leaves away

                                        (And wait to watch the water clear, I may):

                                        I sha'n't be gone long.—You come too.

                                        I'm going out to fetch the little calf

                                        That's standing by the mother. It's so young,

                                        It totters when she licks it with her tongue.

                                        I sha'n't be gone long.—You come too.

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

by Henry Alford

                                                Come, ye thankful people, come,

                                                raise the song of harvest home;

                                                all is safely gathered in,

                                                ere the winter storms begin.

                                                Wheat and tares together sown

                                                are to joy or sorrow grown;

                                                first the blade and then the ear,

                                                then the full corn shall appear.

                                                Come, ye thankful people, come,

                                                raise the song of harvest home;

                                                all is safely gathered in,

                                                ere the winter storms begin.

                                     The Goops (Table Manners)

                          by Gelette Burgess

           The Goops they lick their fingers,

           And the Goops they lick their knives;

           They spill their broth on the tablecloth--

           Oh, they lead disgusting lives!

           The Goops they talk while eating,

           And loud and fast they chew;

           And that is why I'm glad that I

           Am not a Goop--are you? 

 

             Rope Rhyme

by Eloise Greenfield 

Get set, ready now, jump right in                      

Bounce and kick and giggle and spin

Listen to the rope when it hits the ground        

Listen to that clappedy-slappedy sound           

Jump right up when it tells you to                    

Come back down, whatever you do                   

Count to a hundred, count by ten                     

Start to count all over again

That’s what jumping is all about                         

Get set, ready now,

            jump                                                     

               right                  

                   out!

 

October's Party

  by George Cooper 

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came

The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing

                                                     Professor Wind the band.

📕 READING: Thank you to our parent reading volunteers! We are now accepting sign-ups for the month of January. 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). 

 

📕 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 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

 

📕 LITERATURE / GRAMMAR: 

We thoroughly enjoyed reading about Jonathan and his trip up and back Hemlock Mountain. Yes, there ARE bears on Hemlock Mountain. We practiced reading with expression and pacing.

Scholars learned what a pronoun is. We learned that "I, me, my, mine" can be used in place of your own name. We also learned that "you, your, yours" can be used in place of the name of someone to whom you are speaking. We also talked about the pronouns "he, she, him, her, it, his, hers, its". Scholars wrote these pronouns in their grammar book and also pronouns that mean more than one person. Those pronouns are "we, us, our, ours."

📕 MATHEMATICS: We started our unit on length. 

📕 HISTORY:  Students learned about Islam and that Allah means god in the Arabic language and Muhammad is their prophet. They learned that there are Five Pillars- faith, prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage and every Muslim must abide by these pillars.

📕 SCIENCE:  Scholars reviewed weather types and reflected on the significance of finding out about the weather in advance. The class will discuss appropriate dress and activities based on the weather. Scholars also read about ocean naturalists and how they help solve problems the animals in the ocean experience. Scholars were also challenged with an advanced sea turtle drawing tutorial to add an artistic element to their ocean naturalist science journal entries. Scholars will get to know the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Wangari Maathai. The scholars will discover more about what a Nobel Peace Prize signifies and why Wangari Maathai was chosen as a recipient.

Have a wonderful weekend!

1st Grade Teachers