3 / 6/ 2026

Thank you so much to the chaperones who helped out on our Field Trip on March 3rd. We appreciate you!  

📣 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, if needed. 
• Reminder about lunch drinks - please no glass bottles, soda cans, Kool-Aid, or fountain drinks. Thank you.

💡DATES TO REMEMBER

March 9th - 13th: NO SCHOOL (Spring Break)

March 22nd: Daddy/daughter dance 

April 3rd: NO SCHOOL (Spring Holiday)

💡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. 

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.

💡WHAT WE ARE LEARNING THIS WEEK 

📕LITERATURE: In Chapters 5-6 of My Father's Dragon, we read more of Elmer's adventure on Wild Island to find the dragon. Help your child practice retelling the story with transition words like (First, Next, Then, and Last).

📕 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: e has no job 

 

          rule 1: q is always followed by u, and together they say /kw/. 

 

rule 2: c before e, i, or y says /s/ 

 

rule 4: a, e, o, and u may say their names 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 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.

rule 11:Words ending with a silent final e are written without the e when adding a vowel ending.

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

 

                            rule 17: Double f, l, and s when following a single vowel. 

                            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

ap ple

rule 20:  s never follows x. 

rule 25: ck may be used only 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: 

• A.M./P.M.

• Never leave 'til tomorrow what you can do today. 

• 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

📕POETRY:

Poetry recitation this week was over the following poems:  There Once was a Puffin, The Swing, Washington, or My Shadow.

📕MATH: We practiced more subtraction problems this week. We will take a subtraction test after Spring Break. 

📕HISTORY:  This week, we started learning about the different American Symbols. We are making a book of all the symbols we learned. We started with the American Flag.

📕SCIENCE: We continued with our unit on Simple Machines. We explored catapults, levers, wedges, and screws.

Thank you for your continued support! Have a great Spring Break!

1st Grade Teachers

SaveSaveSaveSave

2 / 27 / 2026

📣 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. 
• Reminder about lunch drinks - please no glass bottles, soda cans, Kool-Aid, or fountain drinks. Thank you.

💡DATES TO REMEMBER

February 21st: Medieval Faire

March 3rd: Field trip to Herberger Theater to see Childsplay' s Hare and Tortoise

March 5th: K - 5 Athletic Field Day - see below for dress code guidelines:  

• No spandex, leggings, yoga pants or other tight fighting bottoms.
• Athletic pants, joggers, or long shorts may be worn as long as they are not tight fitting and reach the top of or past the knee
• No tank tops
• T-shirts may be school spirit shirts, a favorite team jersey, or another T-shirt without pop culture references or inappropriate messages.
• All tops must be long enough to cover the midriff even when hands are raised above your head.

• Athletic shoes of any color are permitted (no pop culture-themed shoes or light-up shoes)
• Please ensure students apply sunscreen and come with a positive attitude

March 6th: Half Day Dismissal (12:30pm)

March 9th - 13th: Spring Break - No School

March 22nd: Daddy/daughter dance 

💡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. 

All first-grade classes are in need of reading volunteers! Please use the sign up located under your teacher's page. 

💡WHAT WE ARE LEARNING THIS WEEK 

📕LITERATURE: We read up to chapter 5 of My Father's Dragon, where we find Elmer going to Wild Island and encountering some animals there. Help your child practice retelling the story with transition words like (First, Next, Then, and Last).

📕 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: e has no job 

 

          rule 1: q is always followed by u, and together they say /kw/. 

 

rule 2: c before e, i, or y says /s/ 

 

rule 4: a, e, o, and u may say their names 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 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.

rule 11:Words ending with a silent final e are written without the e when adding a vowel ending.

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

 

                            rule 17: Double f, l, and s when following a single vowel. 

                            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

ap ple

rule 20:  s never follows x. 

rule 25: ck may be used only 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: 

• A.M./P.M.

• Never leave 'til tomorrow what you can do today. 

• 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

📕POETRY:

Washington 

by Nancy Byrd Turner

He played by the river when he was young.

He raced with rabbits along the hills, 

He fished for minnows, and climbed and swung,

And hooted back at the whippoorwills.

Strong and slender and tall he grew - 

And then, one morning, the bugles blew.

Over the hills the summons came,

Over the river's shining rim.

He said that the bugles called his name,

He knew that his country needed him,

And he answered, "Coming!" and marched away

For many a night and many a day.

Perhaps when the marches were hot and long

He'd think of the river flowing by

Or, camping under the winter sky,

Would hear the whippoorwill's far-off song.

Boy or soldier, in peace or strife,

He loved America all his life!

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.

There Once Was a Puffin 

by Florence Page Jacques

Oh, there once was a Puffin 

Just the shape of a muffin, 

And he lived on an island

In the bright blue sea!

He ate little fishes,

That were most delicious, 

And he had them for supper 

And he had them for tea.

But this poor little Puffin, 

He couldn’t play nothin’, 

For he hadn’t anybody 

To play with at all.

So he sat on his island,

And he cried for awhile, 

and He felt very lonely,

And he felt very small.

Then along came the fishes, 

And they said, “If you wishes, 

You can have us for playmates, 

Instead of for tea!”

So they now play together,

In all sorts of weather,

And the Puffin eats pancakes, 

Like you and like me.

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! 

📕MATH: We started with 2-Digit Subtraction this week -- learned different ways to decompose the numbers to subtract, and subtracting with/without regrouping using the tens/ones chart. 

📕HISTORY:  Scholars continued to learn about Benjamin Franklin, and made a kite about his inventions. This week, we also learned about George Washington who is on our quarter. We learned how he led the untrained American army to freedom from Britain. We did a coin rubbing in our blue journals, and made a craft of Washington.

📕SCIENCE:  Scholars will investigate the question, 'What kinds of devices do people use to perform tasks with less effort?' We read about a trip to an 'old time farm' to begin to relate devices, their makeup, and implementation, resulting in less effort to perform tasks. Scholars will identify examples of things people use to move other objects around. We also began to look at forces and their consistent existence in our world. Scholars were introduced to the inclined plane (ramp), the pulley, and the wheel and axle. Scholars recognized many examples of wheels and axles while reading and viewing images together.

 

Have a great weekend!

1st Grade Teachers