First Grade Blog: 11 / 13 / 2026

November 24th - Field Trip at the Phoenix Zoo (We need 10 parent chaperones for each class. Thank you for signing up to help.)
November 25 to 27 - Thanksgiving Break
December 9th - Winter Concert
December 15-17 Half-Day / 12:30 Dismissal
December 18-31 No School: Winter Break
January 1-5 No School: Winter Break
January 4-5 - Parent Teacher Conferences - invitation only (no students)
January 6 - Animal Report due

💡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 scholars empty it at home)

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

📕 LITERATURE / GRAMMAR: This week, we read more folktales: a Mexican tale about the Little Half Chick or "Medio Pollito" from Mexico, a Native American Tale from the Iroquois "Why the Owl Has Big Eyes", the Jewish tale "It Could Always be Worse", and "Too Much Noise".

We will start reading "The Bears on Hemlock Mountain" in the next few weeks. Kindly have your child bring the book in if he/she didn't at the beginning of the year. Thank you!

📕 POETRY

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.

📕SAYINGS:

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

📕 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).

📕 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.

rule 4: Vowels say their name at the end of a syllable
rule 5: i and y may say /i/ (long sound)
rule 6: y, not i, is used at the end of an English word

Jobs of silent final e:

       rule 7:  Job 1: e jumps over the consonant to make the vowel say its name
                        Job 2: English words don't end in u or v
                        Job 3: e makes the g say /j/ and c say /s/
                        Job 4: Every syllable needs a vowel

Job 5: e has no job

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

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


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

rule 25: /ck/ may be used only after a single vowel that says its short sound

rule 26: Capitalization proper nouns.

rule 28: ed has three sounds and its added to form a past tense of regular verbs
rule 29: Divide words between double consonants within a base word.
Key:
                                new rules covered
                               rules covered this week
  rules covered in the past

Students should practice 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.

📕 MATHEMATICS: This week in math we learned to use doubles to solve doubles plus one problems, and adding three one-digit numbers. We also talked about some of the different strategies in subtracting numbers 11 to 20 - like counting back and subtracting the ones from a two-digit number by subtracting from a ten.

subtraction with 20: subtract the ones

📕 HISTORY: This week, we talked about the Aztecs and the Incas from our unit on the Americas. We learned how their civilizations began. Ask your child if they remember why the Mexico flag has that eagle on their logo. The students also took home the sundials they created, which reminds us how they had their own calendar.

📕 SCIENCE: In our current unit, Plant and Animal Survival, we learned about the ways animals use their senses to survive. We also investigated how animals use their senses to experience and respond to their surroundings. On Friday we talked about how plants respond to their surroundings by considering how plants would respond to specific obstacles in place near where they are growing.

Have a wonderful weekend,

First grade teachers

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11 / 13 / 2026