JANUARY
NEWS
Brooke Grove
Elementary School
Olney, Maryland
January
First Grade
First Grade Newsletter
Introduction
Welcome 2016!
We would like to let you know what we
are teaching during the month of January
so that you can help support your child’s
learning.
Many thanks,
Ellen Herron
Mary Kay Hirsch
Kathleen Schwartz
VaRysa Williams
Mindy Oxman
Reading
In Reading we will continue to work on
reading and understanding informational
books. Students will ask and answer
questions about key details in a text to help
determine or clarify the meaning of words or
phrases in the text as well as distinguish
between information provided by pictures or
other text features and the words in the
text. Students build on knowledge and learn
a second way to determine importance: such
as: looking for patterns of details to identify
the main topic of a text and retell key
details. Students will identify basic
similarities in and differences between two
texts on the same topic.
Math
We will be working on word problems this
month with the missing information in
different places. The missing amount may
be what was started with, what was taken
away or added or what amount was at the
end. We will also be working with
comparisons, how much more or less.
We will also begin working on Measurement.
In this unit we will work on the following
concepts:
~Describe, compare, and order the length
of three objects
~We will work on measuring and comparing
length with non- standard units (paper
clips, blocks, etc.)
~Explain everyday applications of length
measurement
~Measure different lengths on an object
(height, width, length)
Writing
First Grade Newsletter Page 2
Science & Social Studies
In Science and Social Studies students
will name natural features of the earth.
We will talk about natural and manmade resources in our environment and
look for ways humans harm the
environment and ways humans support
our environment. We will also talk
about the continents, land forms, the
oceans and look at globes and atlases.
Reminders to Students
 Congratulations on bringing in the
most cans for our food drive!
 Go for the gold has begun! READ!
READ! READ!
 Go for the Gold Calendar due Jan.
5!
Writing
In Writing students will participate in the
Young Geographers 2.0 Project. During
this project students will work together
in shared research to write a short
informative piece to answer the question:
What is in a place? Students select a
place, examine an image of the place and
record notes about what they notice
about the place in the image. Based on
prior knowledge, students formulate
additional questions about the place and
use a digital resource to find and record
answers to their questions. The students
will then compose a short informative
text about their place that includes facts
from recorded notes. As part of this
project students will also work on the
following use of language indicators:
knowledge of prepositions, production of
complete sentences, common and proper
nouns.
Reminders to Parents

Go for the Gold Calendar Due
January 5!

No School Mon., Jan. 18 MLK Day

Dec. 17-Jan. 21 Coat Drive

End of Marking Period 2: Fri., Jan. 22

No School Mon., Jan. 25 Professional
Day for Teachers