M A R C H Math
NEWS
Brooke Grove
Elementary School
Olney, Maryland
M arch
Fir st Grad e
First Grade Newsletter
Introduction
We all loved the Valentine’s Day parties! Thank
you to everyone who helped make them such a
success. We would also like to thank all of our
fabulous classroom volunteers. You are all
superstars! If you would like to be added to the
volunteer calendar, please send a note in to your
child’s teacher giving times that work for you.
March brings us Daylight Savings time, the
beginning of spring and lots more learning! Read
on to find out what we will be up to in first grade
this month.
Ellen Herron/Linda Corrado
Mary Kay Hirsch
Kathleen Schwartz
VaRysa Williams
Mindy Oxman
Reading
In the reading curriculum, small group work on
leveled text will continue. Please support your
child’s reading by making many books available for
them to read.. At school, we encourage the
children to read quietly and independently. They all
can do it! Encourage this at home too. Make sure
to make available not only fictional chapter books
but non-fiction books on science and history topics
that your child enjoys! A bag of books kept in the
car is a GREAT idea too.
In class we will continue to work on asking and
answering questions about key details in a text,
identify who is telling the story at various points
and, and identify words and phrases that suggest
feeling.
Math
During the next several weeks we will be working to
develop many math concepts. These include
understanding the meaning of the equal sign. This will
include balancing math equations, such as 3+4=5+2.
Both sides of the equal sign are 7. We will start adding
and subtracting 2 digit numbers to both 1 digit and 2
digit numbers. Students will also work on identifying
missing numbers in both addition and subtraction
equations, such as 9=11- ____or 5+ _____=7. We will
also continue to develop strategies to solve numerous
types of word problems.
First Grade Newsletter Page 2
Writing
Science/Social Studies
In science, the children will be designing their own
playground! First they will work in “engineering”
committees to find important elements of a safe
and fun playground. The playgrounds also have
to have both human-made and natural features.
Then they will fill in a planning sheet and finally
they will design their own playground drawing
(blueprint) and present it to the class. The
students are always so excited about this project.
It’s great to see the creative playgrounds they
design!
In social studies we will describe how and why
people protect the environment and how people
adapt to changes in the environment. We will
read many fiction and non-fiction texts with this
theme.
The students have been working hard to complete
The Young Geographers research project. This has
been a multistep informative writing project. Each
student wrote about a place using group research.
To finish up this project each student will write an
opinion about which place they would like to visit.
The opinion piece will state reasons to support it
and a sense of closure. Who knows, some of you
may be convinced to take a family trip!
Upcoming Events
Reminders to Students

Bring in your February Go For the
Gold calendar.

Feb. 29-Mar. 4 Read Across
America week:
Monday: Wear RED, WHITE,
and BLUE to launch Read Across
America!
Tuesday: Fox in Socks day Wear
colorful, crazy socks.
Wednesday: Wear bright stripes
or colors for Dr. Suess’s birthday.
Thursday: Horton Hears a Who
Wear a crazy hat or silly hairdo!
Friday: Green Eggs and Ham
Wear GREEN!

Wed., March 16 – Science Share

Wed., March 23 - end of marking
period

Thurs., March 24 – NO SCHOOL
(professional day for teachers)

Fri., March 25 – April 3 NO
SCHOOL (spring break)