Science

Do you remember being so curious about something that it’s all you could think about? Do you remember staring wide-eyed at a model of the solar system or the aquarium tank or the dinosaur skeleton? We can harness that curiosity and use it to spark interest that lasts months. In fact, that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday, when students entered the room to find microscopes, real insect specimens in jars, magnifying glasses, insect models, and lots and lots of books. The room was transformed into an insect laboratory. First Graders moved from station to station, making discoveries and recording their “wonders.” Afterwards, we watched some truly incredible insect footage from the BBC series “Life.” It was the perfect intro to our newest science unit.

Reading Workshop

It has been a great week of reading in the First Grade classroom. We focused this week on strategies for solving tricky words and then put them to immediate use. We learned to use picture clues to help us solve unknown words. We learned to “chunk it up” and break the word apart into smaller, more manageable parts. We learned to skip the word, read to the end of the sentence, and think “what would make sense here?” These strategies, introduced in First Grade, will serve students well for the rest of this year and well into the 2nd and 3rd grades… and beyond!

Social Emotional Learning

There is a a new fixture in our classroom called the Wonder Wall! Throughout the fall and winter, we will be recording our wonders and putting them up on the wall. We will also periodically take time to try and answer each other’s wonders, by asking adults and students, looking in books, and searching the Internet. We look forward to showing off our wonders to classroom visitors!

Important Dates

• Tuesday, September 20 – Parent Coffee Morning 8:15-9:15
• Thursday, September 29 – Curriculum Night, 5:30-6:30pm 
• Monday & Tuesday, October 10 & 11 – No School, Fall Break