Picture Day!

 

Fire Drill

Woodstock Elementary School had its first emergency drill of the school year this week. First graders did a fabulous job being safe (quiet and attentive in our designated space) while participating in a fire drill during Spanish.

Literacy: Word Play and Word Study

As part of our district transition to structured literacy instruction, a "word play" block is woven into our daily schedule focused on phonemic awareness.  Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds, which are called phonemes. A child who is phonemically aware is able to isolate sounds, manipulate sounds, and blend and segment the sounds into spoken and written words. "Word Play" is quickly becoming a favorite part of our learning day. Ask your child to show you how to change the first sound in a word to another sound to create a whole new word! For example, change the /b/ sound in back to an /r/ sound and create the new word rack. 

In Word Study we are finishing up our first unit on letter and sound review. Next week we will begin a new unit with an emphasis on segmenting and blending three-sound short vowel words.  Kindergarten heart words came home in folders this week.  Please review these words at home with your child.  Thank you!

Math: Organizing and Representing Data

Unit 1 of our new math program has first graders focusing on organizing and representing categorical data. During this exploration, mathematicians began by sorting objects into categories of their choice, describing their categories, and counting the number of objects in each category. Currently, students are learning to collect data by conducting a survey and recording and organizing that data in a way that makes sense to them. Some represented the results using objects, symbols, tally marks, or numbers. They are also making sense of one another's representations. 

Second Step: Listening to Learn

As you may know, part of the Windsor Central Supervisory Union strategic plan includes developing  social emotional competence and wellness in district students in Kindergarten through 12th grade. Studies show that to be successful in school, students must be able to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behavior. This ability to regulate allows for more productive participation in learning activities and successful relations with peers and adults. This year, first graders are participating in the social emotional learning program, Second Step, to provide students with opportunities to learn, practice, and apply skills for learning, focusing attention, empathy, and problem-solving. On Wednesday, your child was introduced to the concept of Listening to Learn. Listening is a fundamental skill for learning that helps children focus and pay attention.  Learning and following the "listening rules" helps children comprehend directions and improves their ability to engage with content instruction and class discussions. They also learned "My Turn, Your Turn" a brain builder game that supports the development of attention, working memory, and inhibitory control.

PBIS PomPom Popsicles

First graders worked hard to learn new classroom routines, procedures, and expectations this week. They earned pompoms for acts of safe, respectful, and ready to learn behavior and we celebrated their efforts Friday afternoon with a popsicles and friendship. 

Math: Adding, Subtracting, and Working with Data

Woodstock Elementary School first grade students and teachers are participating in a pilot of a new mathematics program, Imagine Learning. Unit 1 targets are for all students to gain experience with adding and subtracting within 10 and representing and interpreting categorial data. This week, mathematicians reviewed counting a number of objects up to 20, rote coting up to 50, and patricipated in games (centers)  and activities that required them to match an mathematical expression to a visual image and find a sum for those expressions.  They also added 1 or 2 to numbers 0-5 with a focus on connecting +1 and +2 to the counting sequence (5+1=6 because we count 5,6; 5+2=7 because we count 5, 6, 7)

Literacy: Phonics and Fluency

irst graders are gaining confidence as new routines are introduced during word study. During the beginning of the year we spend time reinforcing proper letter formation and reviewing letter names and sounds, including the articulatory gestures that get our liips, teeth and tongue ready to properly produce each sound. Additionally Kindergarten “heart words” (words that are not phonetically spelled) are reviewed. During our reading fluency block, students are working in partnerships to reread familiar texts that are connected to the learning that is happening during word study.

A Little Housekeeping....

 Thank you for sending your child with a healthy, hearty snack each day! Please also remember:

• The school day begins promptly at 7:55. Please help your student get in the important habit of arriving at school on time! First graders are dismissed at 2:44 and pick up students meet in front of the school on the bricked area in front of Ms. Mills' office. 
• All students need a pair of headphones that will be returned at the end of the school year.
• Please make sure your child's daily dismissal plans are entered into PickUp Patrol. Contact Mrs. Hecker in the office (thecker@mtnviews.org) if you need help setting up a PickUp Patrol account.                                                               THANK YOU!

Thursday Folders

Plastic orange folders went home in student backpacks yesterday, Thursday, and will continue to come home most Thursdays of the school year.  These "Thursday Folders" usually include individual finished work and/or other important school paperwork.  The intent of sending student work home is to provide families with a snapshot of skills and activities first graders are working on and perhaps to be used as a conversation starter about your child's day or week.  There is no  need to "correct" or send the finished work back to school, just enjoy a glimpse into your child's development as a reader, writer, speller, mathematician, or scientist.  Sometimes "grown up" paperwork will require a signature or return, so please make it a habit to check this folder closely when it comes home each week.  The orange folder itself should be returned to school the next day, Friday.  Thank you!

Thank You!

 

Thank you for the generous donations of community-sized bottles of hand sanitizer. We are set for a healthy year in first grade.