First Grade December Newsletter
It was great seeing you all during the Parent-Teacher Conferences!
Reading
Math
Writing
Five areas are covered during the
second marking period.
*Narrative- Students recall familiar
experiences and use those to
compose narratives that recount
In December, your child will learn to
several events with details, sequence
demonstrate an understanding of
the events and provide a sense of
adjectives and verbs. Students will ask and closure.
answer questions about key details using
*Use of language- Students focus on
Junior Great Books stories & Our Culture using pronouns, verbs, and
Adventure Project. Students will
adjectives to include details in
recognize that individuals and groups
narratives.
share and borrow from other cultures.
*Informative/Explanatory- Students
Students will ask questions to clear up any will name a topic, supply facts and
confusion about a poet’s message.
provide closure.
Students will describe characters, settings, *Opinion- Students introduce a
and major events in a story using a story
topic, state an opinion, supply
organizer. Students will identify words
reason(s) for the opinion, and
and phrases that suggest feelings or appeal provide closure.
to the senses using a graphic organizer &
Process, Production and Researchdescribing settings in stories & poems.
Students focus on a topic, respond to
Students will compare and contrast the
feedback and add details to writing;
experiences of characters using
use a variety of digital tools to
comparison circles and T-charts.
publish writing; participate in shared
research and writing projects.
Social Studies
Students have had opportunities to learn
about cultures from different countries
around the world. In addition, we have
shared and compared our cultures within
our class. We will continue studying
cultures in December by sharing cultural
artifacts and stories. Also, we are learning
to identify differences between the past
and present.
Science
Students have had opportunities to
describe different movements of
living and non-living objects using
appropriate science vocabulary. Ask
your child about the following
vocabulary: attract, force, magnet,
motion, movement, non-living, pull,
push, and repel. This month we will
investigate the effects of magnets on
familiar objects. In addition, we will
compare the movements of these
objects.
For most of quarter two, the math
lessons will reinforce the concepts
introduced last quarter. Some of
the strategies we have been
working on are doubles and
doubles plus one, using a large
variety of manipulatives (i.e.,
cubes, links, number lines, tenframes, etc.), and drawing
illustrations to help us with our
problem solving stories. We are
also learning and using new terms
in math like sum and difference,
putting together and taking apart,
counting on or back, and
comparing. Our students will
continue to increase their
knowledge of solving for an
unknown in a subtraction/addition
problem. We will challenge
students by using larger numbers
when problem solving.
Dates:
12/14/15 – Winter Concert
12/15/15- Author visit
12/23/15 – Field trip –
Imagination Stage Center
12/24 – 1/3/16 Winter break