Goshen Elementary School
November, 2015
Hello, Parents!
As we come to the end of the first quarter, we
have much to celebrate. All of our students have
made a very successful transition to first grade
and are making outstanding progress in all areas
of the academic curriculum. We are looking
forward to the opportunity to meet with each of
you to share your child’s progress at our upcoming
parent-teacher
conferences
on
th
Wednesday, November 11
or Thursday,
th
November 12 .
We would like to thank our wonderful first
grade room parents who planned, organized, and
helped with our great Fall Festival Parties. The
first graders had a fantastic afternoon! Thank
you!
We want to also extend a huge thank you to our
great volunteers for our trip to the farm.
We are very lucky to have such dedicated
parents supporting our first grade program. We
wish all of you and your families a very Happy
Thanksgiving!
Sincerely,
Your First Grade Team
Mr. Clark, Mrs. Czarnopys, Mrs. Geraci,
Miss Kim, Mrs. Mutiga, and Mrs. Robeson
November 2
Professional Day- No School
November 11
Early Dismissal @ 1:20/ Parent Conferences
November 12
Early Dismissal @ 1:20/ Parent Conferences
November 12
Report Cards distributed
November 16
Book Fair Week begins
November 17
Reading/Family Book Fair Night 6:30
November 24
Cultural Arts Assembly
November 25
Early Dismissal @1:00
November 26-27
Thanksgiving Holidays; No School
Happy November Birthdays to…
Laela Mohamed 11/4
Renzo Medina 11/7
Harmony Gbadyu 11/12
Jonas McFarlane 11/18
Kendrick Stokes, Jr. 11/27
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During the month of November, your children will
read fiction and non-fiction texts with a focus on
family, culture, and traditions including the
importance of artifacts. Topics include different
cultural types of foods, homes, celebrations,
transportation, and recreation. Please talk with
your children about your family’s special traditions,
heirlooms, foods, and other heritage related
topics. Your children are certainly welcome to
share a special family item or two with the class.
Please e-mail your teacher beforehand to let her
know you are sending something in and when, and
she will make sure it is kept in a safe place until it
is shared and returned to you. We only ask that
the item not be fragile, easily broken, or invaluable.
Lastly, to improve your children’s comprehension
of what they are reading, they will continue to
practice the strategy of asking and answering
questions in multiple ways. Also, they will
determine the author’s message of a story and the
main topic/idea of a non-fiction text.
Throughout November, your children will work
on pieces which complement what they are doing in
reading and social studies. These works will include
the writing of an informational paragraph about
how they “live, work and play”. They will also write
another personal narrative. Each new writing piece
provides an opportunity to use the editing and
revising skills they are gaining.
During the first half of the second marking
period, your children will focus on the following
place value concepts and skills:
 Understanding that the two digits of a twodigit number represent amounts of tens and
ones,
 Composing and decomposing 2-digit numbers in
multiple ways,
 Understanding the meaning of the equal sign,
writing equations, and determining if equations
involving addition and subtraction are true or
false, and
 Demonstrating fluency for addition and
subtraction facts less than 20.
Your children will be engaged in many learning
activities, including using the equal arm balance to
solve for the unknown in equations, using DigiBlocks or other manipulatives to solve age riddles
or to determine the unknown in addition and
subtraction word problems, using strategies such
as making ten to add single digit numbers, and
lastly, playing number sense games. Tasks such as
these will help your children become FLUENT place
value concepts and skills.
We are also working on fluency with facts. We
will be revisiting the addends that make “ten”, and
we will build on those facts to twenty. Just as
your child reads daily to improve fluency, you are
encourage to have your children practice their
basic math facts for addition and subtraction
daily so they become fluent with numbers.
Our students can also log on to their ixl
accounts, just like they are doing in class. This site
has lots of practice problems, activities, and
games. Please let your child’s teacher know if you
need your account information sent again.
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In social studies, we will begin our unit on family
traditions and customs around the world by
identifying what is special about each of our
families. Then, we will examine and compare the
many different cultures of our school, community,
and the rest of the world.
 Your children should continue to read their
guided reading books every night! Regular
practice (10-20 minutes per night) is
essential for the growth of their reading
skills.
 Check your child’s white Goshen Grizzly
folder every night, and then please return
this to school every morning.
In science, we will begin
our unit on movement, magnets, and electricity.
This month, we will conduct investigations of a
variety of objects in our classrooms. We will
identify the materials from which they are made
using terms such as wood, plastic, cloth, glass, and
paper. Then we will examine and compare the
materials by describing them as bendable, hard,
soft, rough, smooth, and transparent, to name a
few. Additionally, we will observe and compare how
different objects move. Lastly, we will investigate
and describe the ways in which the motion of these
objects can be changed.
In Physical Education, first grade students will be
working on executing an underhand throw in addition
to catching an underhand thrown ball.
In Music for the next few weeks, first grade will work
on comparing musical sounds: fast/slow, loud/soft,
high/low, and long/short. We will also work on
performing the steady beat on classroom instruments.
In Art during November, First graders will focus on
Lines (direction, types), shapes (geometric, organic),
textures (types, how things feel), and patterns
(repetition, center of interest), in the environment. We
are going to learn about artist Paul Klee and his
underwater pictures while creating an underwater
scene using oil pastels and water color.
 Don’t forget to sign the top page of your
child’s completed homework packet and have
your child return this page every Friday.
 If you are sending in money for your child’s
lunch account, please place it in a sealed
envelope and write his/her full name and
PIN on the front.
 Please help us to keep all toys and trinkets
at home. These types of items disturb our
classroom learning.
 Conferences will be held on November 11th
and November 12th. Reminders will be sent
home. If for some reason you do not get a
reminder note or if you need to change the
time of your conference, please contact us
at the school.

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