First Grade October Newsletter F I R S T G R A D E N E W S

Here you will find some important dates and reminders for the month of

October. Most of these activities do not involve parent volunteers. Please

keep your eyes peeled for communication regarding volunteer opportunities (Mystery Readers, field

trips, Halloween).

More detailed information regarding some of these events and November dates (such as our North Market field

trip on November 6th) will be included in the weekly “Ask-Me-

Abouts” and November newsletter.

Thank you for your continued support! Please let us know if you have any

questions!

Calendar of Events

*Friday, October 9th- SPIRIT DAY - Wear spirit wear (CA sweatshirt, tee-shirt, etc.). More details to follow!

*Monday, October 12th - Fall Holiday - NO SCHOOL!

*Week of October 19thwith 3rd Grade Buddies

grade/buddy only activity. No parent volunteers needed.)

*Week of October 26th - Canned Food Drive

*October 26th - October 30th - BOOK FAIR

*October 27th- First Grade Concert at Assembly

*Friday, October 30th - Halloween Party and Parade

*Monday, November 2nd - No School - Teacher Professional Development Day

F I R S T G R A D E T H E M E N E W S

Columbus Academy First Graders are excited to go global!

Global ActivitiesMy Place in the World We will learn about maps and our place on the map - our own country/state/city/home. In addition we will be exploring a variety of places and cultures around the world, focusing on the daily experiences of the kids who live there.

Global Mapping We will explore maps and globes. The students will also have the opportunity to investigate the OddIzzi website,

with videos, games and interactive maps.

Global Read Aloud We will be part of The Global Read Aloud Project. Classrooms from all over the world will be reading books by the same author over the same time period. We will discuss the book via Skype, e-mail, and Twitter - sharing our thoughts and showing any related projects. This year's GRA author is Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

going global Literacy Connections

Weekly Events

Going Global

In the classroom... F I R S T G R A D E N E W S

MathWe are currently working in Unit 2 in

our Everyday Math book. This unit focuses on introducing strategies for solving addition problems. Children will continue to learn strategies that help

them become fluent with addition within 20 as the year progresses. The

children will also begin modeling number stories and use numbers and symbols to write number models that

represent these problems.

Our math program continues to give your child rich opportunities to

“make connections between their own knowledge and experiences and learn skills in meaningful contexts so that

mathematics becomes real” (Everyday Mathematics).

Students will be using the Phonics Dance, their Monster Words, new Hunks and Chunks, and the Word Wall for different activities

throughout the day. We feel that all children need many opportunities to work with word

chains, rhyming words, prefixes, suffixes, and vowel/consonant patterns. All of these

activities help in spelling and increase word recognition and word decoding skills, even for

our fluent readers. We continue to practice many reading

strategies together as a class, in small groups, with partners, or independently during our independent reading time. Our goal in first grade is to promote fluent readers who can

find enjoyment in just right books!

Literacy

HalloweenThe Halloween Party and Parade will be held on October 30th this year. We ask that you send your child to school on this day in his/her school

uniform and carry his/her costume in a bag. We will give the students time to change into their costumes for the party and parade that afternoon. If you would like to arrive early to help the children get into costumes, please arrive by 1:30. Our classroom party will begin at 2:00 followed by the parade at 2:30. Thank you to those who have volunteered to help with

planning this party.