March 28th, 2010

Hello First Grade Families!

Happy Spring to all! The students have been keeping track of all of our lamb and lion days. It looks like March will go out like a lion. We will see if our prediction is correct. March has been a busy month academically. We finished Theme 4 in Storytown and will be moving on to Theme 5...Where We Live. In literacy, we continue to review Characters, Setting, Beginning, Middle, and End. We will also be talking about cause and effect, as well as problem and solution. These are skills that will be reviewed throughout the year and focused on in our reading groups. The children have been doing a terrific job retelling the stories we have read. Keep up the great work!

It was wonderful to have Mrs. Senier come in and share a literacy activity with us. She read There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick. The extension activity was super! The children did a think,pair & share to retell the story using story props (provided by Mrs. Senier). They also re-read the story in a pocket chart. It was a wonderful hands on activity, As you may remember, your child brought home a chick, egg, straw,candy, etc. I am sure they can retell the story @ home. Thank you Mrs. Senier for sharing your talent of teaching with us!

I have been very impressed with our reading and writing development. To Welcome Spring The children created a Spring acrostic poem. The ideas were great...some children mentioned Playing outside, flowers growing and ice cream at Socs,yum! These poems are displayed outside our classroom.

Mathematically, we continue to review our facts to 12. The children have been creating fact families to 12 and beyond, as well as working with dominoes to make fact families. We also have been working in groups to solve problems. The children have been identifying key words in problems to help them complete the number sentence...how many in all? how many are left? how many join? Great job boys nad girls! They continue to enjoy different math games introduced. Let's Make a Bunny is a popular choice! This week we will be working on solid figures and plane shapes. We will be making many math connections to literature. Our first book we will read is called The Greedy Triangle. The story talks about a triangle who is just not happy being a triangle, so he visits the shape shifter and makes many requests to become a
different shape.

Please stay tuned for news about Opening Day. The Kindergarten and First Grade will be celebrating Opening Day this Thursday April 1st, 2010. We are looking forward to seeing all our Red Sox fans in their favorite Red Sox attire. Thank you in advance to the Hitchman Family for providing hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as the hot dog stand we have seen on Yawkey Way! We are so lucky!

Have a super week!
Jennifer Flynn