During writer’s workshop, the students have been working hard on their “How-to” books.  Students are writing about topics like how to make cupcakes, do a cartwheel, make a mask, and make Rice Krispie Treats to name a few.  During this project the students are learning how to use transition words to explain a step by step process. We’re also understanding how to edit, revise and add to our writing.  Later, we will begin writing our Mother’s Day books.

Next week we will begin wrapping up our unit on changes in our Reading Street books.  The students enjoyed reading about the changes that occur in nature. Specifically, we reviewed the butterfly life cycle and discussed the differences between caterpillars and  butterflies.

In Math, the students have been using strategies to add two digit numbers to a one digit number, and two digit numbers to a two digit number.  We continue to work on our addition and subtraction fact fluency. In the weeks to come, we will be reading and making picture graphs, bar graphs, and tally charts to represent data.  We will also be using the data to solve word problems.

In Social Studies, we explored the lives of our first presidents and of Dr. Seuss.  In Science, we discovered what makes a rainbow and why the snow is white. We are very excited to start our Science unit about light and sound.  Finally, first grade is anxiously awaiting Mrs. Seelig’s arrival to learn about healthy lungs in April!

March News 

First Grade has been very busy this winter!  We were lucky to have Mrs. Seelig and her colleagues visit us from the Hunterdon Healthcare System.  They taught us about our hearts and how to keep them healthy. We saw our veins using a special light, listened to our own heart, and even got to touch a real heart!  Additionally, we celebrated our 100th Day of School, Valentine’s Day, and will be performing in front of the school for our Fairness Assembly. In March, we look forward to celebrating Read Across America Day on Dr. Seuss’s birthday and St. Patrick’s Day.

During writer’s workshop, we’ve done a lot of “small moment” writing where we “zoom” in on a past event to paint a picture for the reader filled with many details in our writing and pictures.  We also learned that good writers answer these W questions: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. In the weeks to come, we will learn how to write “How-to” books and friendly letters.

In our Reading Street Unit, we read about changes that occur in communities, nature, and in people.  In the weeks to come, we will begin a new unit that focuses on the question “What do we treasure?”. The students will enjoy reading realistic fiction, fairy tales like Cinderella, and works of nonfiction. We will continue to work on our reading fluency by rereading text, reading with appropriate expression, and practicing our weekly poems.

     In Math, the students have learned how to apply addition and subtraction strategies they’ve learned to solve two-digit addition and subtraction problems.  Later, we will draw models to add and subtract tens, use a hundreds chart to find sums, and use tens and ones to add two-digit numbers.

    In Social Studies, we studied Ruby Bridges as part of our Fairness Assembly.  The students learned that sometimes fairness means that everything is equal, but sometimes fairness means that each child gets what they need.  In Science, we wrapped up our unit on the sun, moon and stars. We will begin our unit on light and sound soon.