Online Resources

Here are some online resources for you to use at home:

Reading: Raz Kids--To login, student login is sdavisaaaaaaaz This will bring up the class list. They click on their name. This is a library of books at their independent reading level. They listen to the story, read it aloud by themselves, then take a quiz on the book. They earn stars and such as they go so it is like a game!

Compass-- This website is helpful for reading and math. This should be almost completely independent work. They are taught skills and practice them on here. Their login is their studend ID number which starts with a 7. Their password is ccsd. This website correlates with the MAP test your child takes 3 times a year.

Mrs. Dale's Tech Links-- Our school has come up with a list of websites that you may find helpful. Check them out!

More to come soon.... :)

Welcome to First Grade for Parents

In an effort to communicate better with everyone, I have created this blog. I would like to keep parents informed by using this. Also, I want the students and parents to be able to respond to questions I post and have a conversation with everyone! I hope this helps stay up to date with what we are doing in our classroom! I hope to update weekly or when we change what we are working in a subject.

Here is what we are working on in: 

Math:

Shapes

We are working at knowing the following shapes: Rectangles, triangles, squares, circles. We want to know how many corners and lines make up the shapes. Also, we are working on the solid shapes which include: Cubes, rectangular prisms, pyramids, sphere, cylinders, and cones.  We talk about what each shape is made of. For example, a rectangular prism is made of 4 rectangles and 2 squares. A sphere has no corners or lines and rolls. Your student needs to know the difference between roll, slide, and stack. This week we will be working on building things with the shapes which will be very exciting for the students. They are loving everything we have done with shapes thus far and their curiosity is really working this chapter! Some questions you may ask your student is: Which solid shapes can you stack? Roll? Slide? How many lines does a (rectangle, circle, square, triangle, etc) have? What is the difference between a rectangle and a square?
 Also, we have covered addition and subtraction within 10. By the end of first grade we will be fluent within 20. We want students to be able to take a timed test on adding and subtracting within 20 by the end of the year. I suggest flashcards to help them learn these. Also, counting to 120 by 1's, 5's, and 10's is something we have worked on. Please continue to practice at home. You can come up with story problems about ANYTHING :)

Reading: 

We are working on making predictions in stories. Your student should be able to read the title of the book and explore the cover to make a prediction. As they are reading they should be able to predict what is coming up or what is going to happen at the end of the story. It is important that you encourage your child to think about predicting and knowing that they won't always be correct when they predict. It is important to know that good readers think and make predictions even if they are wrong. You can always change your prediction as you start reading! :)

We have also learned how to retell a story. If a student is reading a book at home, to check for their understanding you may ask them to retell it to them. If they try to pretend they don't know how, remind them on their hand and each finger being something!

Spelling: 

This weeks words are from that tricky blue list from the district. There is no pattern for spelling them. We expect first graders to be able to read and spell the blue list of words. The words this week are:
know
let
live
of
old
once
open
over
put
round

No green vocabulary words this week.

Writing: 

In writing, it is important to work on handwriting with them at home. We don't find a lot of time in class to do handwriting. Their letters should ALWAYS start at the top. I am still seeing many students starting at the bottom of the letter. Although their writing looks okay now, when they get older it will get worse as they increase the amount of writing they do. Also, our class is really struggling at knowing where to put periods and capital letters. This is something you can always work on at home. Show your child that you write. Writing a grocery list, writing checks for bills, writing cards, all of these things show your child that writing is important and that you need it in the real world outside of first grade :)

There is your weekly update parents. Please look forward to more posts with questions to respond to with your child! :) Have a splendid week!

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."