Welcome to First Grade
Welcome to First Grade!
Brooke Harris – Room 307 - Errick Road School
Phone: 215-3240 – Cell phone: 531-6089 – Webpage: nwcsd.k12.ny.us
Dear Families,
Welcome back to school! First grade is a year of tremendous growth and progress for children. We have so many exciting plans to encourage and motivate your children to learn this year! This booklet will fill you in on our curriculum and classroom policies – they’re as easy as ABC!
Please feel free to send a note, call or email me with any question or concerns you may have. All of my contact information is listed above for your convenience. Please plan on coming back to school for our Open House on Thursday, September 11th from 6:00-7:30. Your child will be excited to show you around the classroom and give you a peek at what we are working on!
Table of Contents
Names to Know……………………………………………………………………………….………….…….2
Literacy……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……...3
Author Studies
Handwriting
Spelling
Math……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Science/Social Studies…………………………………………………………………………………..6
Service Projects
Parent Involvement………………………………………………………………………………………….7
Daily Schedule………………………………………………………………………………………………….8
Curriculum Extension Schedule…………………………………………………………………….8
Homework……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…9
School Supplies…………………………………………………………………………………..…………...9
Lunch and Snack………………………………………………………………………………………………10
Birthday Celebrations…………………………………………………………………………………….10
Holiday Parties………………………………………………………………………………..…….…………11
Field Trips……………………………………………………………………………………….………………..11
Names To Know
Principal: Ms. Nora DiMatteo
Vice. Principal: Ms. Andrea Kwiatkowski
1st Grade Teachers: Ms. Barth, Mrs. Harris, Ms. Krug,
Mr. Udy, Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Wido
Classroom Aide: Mrs. Dullen
Library Media: Mrs. Greene/Mrs. Heilemann
Art: Mrs. Raimondi
Physical Education: Mrs. Kane/Mrs. Hayes/Mr. Vekich
Music: Ms. Fredericks/Mrs. Gould
Reading Specialist: Mrs. Small/Mrs. Warham
Special Education: Mrs. Leible
School Counselor: Mrs. Thurman
School Psychologist: Mrs. Coulter
School Nurse: Mrs. Fish
Latchkey Program: Mrs. Voekler
OT: Mrs. Sentman
Speech: Mrs. Rotunno
Literacy
We use a balanced literacy model at Errick Road. This means that there are a variety of reading and writing activities that foster literacy growth each day. These activities are built into our day in predictable routines. Some of these activities include small-guided reading groups, independent reading and writing, shared reading, and modeled writing.
Each day students will be reading independently, listening to reading and practicing reading skills (word work). They will also be writing daily and practicing the steps of the writing process in order to publish their own stories and ideas.
The daily lessons and focus of instruction in the classroom comes directly from the NYS standards. You can find these standards at several sites on the Internet. Here is a link that I find specific and helpful.
Click on “Core Curriculum Research Guide” on the left
Click on English Language Arts
Click on a document style under “English Language Arts Core Curriculum”
Author Studies
Each month we will study a new author. Author studies are an invaluable way to excite and motivate students about reading. Our authors are like familiar classroom friends and promote reading fluency. We will use our author studies as springboards to explore genres and comprehension strategies.
|September |Dr. Seuss |
|October |Kevin Henkes |
|November |Laura Numeroff |
|December |Tomie DePaola |
|January |Mem Fox |
|February |Cynthia Rylant |
|March |Chris VanAllsburg |
|April |Leo Leonni |
|May |Jack Prelutsky |
|June |Mercer Meyer |
Handwriting
We use manuscript (Zaner Bloser) printing. Handwriting is important so that student’s writing can be easily read. However, the ability to write neatly corresponds to fine motor skills and will vary with each student. I encourage students to do their best to write neatly but do not want discourage students from writing freely and enjoying the process. We will begin each morning with a writing “warm up” that will give students the chance to practice their handwriting while reinforcing essential skills.
Spelling
We will be using the Rebecca Sitton spelling program. This book is used in each grade at Errick Road. This is a meaningful and relevant program that will help students practice words that they are using in their writing each day.
I will send home the five spelling words for students to practice for the following week. We will work on spelling words and word concepts each day.
I will also send home ‘bonus’ words. These are completely optional words that your child may want to practice for an extra challenge.
On Friday students will complete a dictation that includes the spelling words and the bonus words.
Math
The math program is divided into six major units:
Number Sense and Operations
Algebra
Geometry
Measurement
Statistics and Probability
Problem Solving
During these units we will encourage and foster student’s abilities to:
Solve problems
Use reasoning to investigate problems
Make connections between concepts
Communicate their thinking
Use representation to solve problems
Students will have the opportunity to learn and practice problems in these units throughout the year. Our math program spirals and revisits essential skills and content in order to give students a solid foundation.
We also practice math facts to 10 (addition and subtraction) throughout the year. These facts are an important skill for students to master before second grade.
More information about these standards can be found on the Internet at:
Click on “Core Curriculum Research Guide” on the left - Click on Mathematics
Click on a document style under “NYS Mathematics Core Curriculum”
Science & Social Studies
The majority of our science and social studies units are imbedded in our literacy block. This means that we will be listening, reading and writing about science and social studies topics each week.
Our main focus in First Grade is citizenship, geography, government and understanding traditions and diversity in our world. In science some of our units include: lifecycles of plants and animals, a study of the rainforest and tracking the weather.
The class will also be participating in two service projects this year that will help to foster our social studies standards as well as teach the children about the power of empathy and philanthropy.
Books of Hope
Books of Hope is an amazing not-for-profit project that was founded by graduate student Ben Schumaker at the University of Wisconsin. The project allows students to create original books that are then given to children in schools and shelters in Uganda, Africa. These children are experiencing extreme challenges as they are caught in the middle of a horrendous civil war.
For our purposes, it is a way to reach out to children who are less fortunate than us and provide them with a moment of escape and joy while helping them to read (English is the official language of Uganda!). It also provides our students with some inspiration to create a book that they think the children in Uganda will enjoy. A variety of writing and social studies standards are met during this lengthy project. We will work on this project throughout the year with our 3rd grade reading buddies in Mrs. Arnone’s room.
Coins For Carly
In February and March we will be collecting coins in our class piggy bank that will be donated to Carly’s Club at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Carly’s Club is a group that funds pediatric cancer research and provides programs to make life more manageable for children diagnosed with cancer.
Each week we will sort, count and graph the coins we collect in our bank before making our donation. This will be a meaningful way to practice our currency skills!
Please consider sending in some change for this project or have students earn some money by doing additional chores around the house.
Family Involvement
Families are a critical ingredient in student success! We always welcome your involvement in our classroom.
During Open House night there will be a sign up sheet for you (or someone from your family…grandparents, aunts and uncles are welcome!) to set a date to come into our classroom and share your expertise about a topic.
Here are some ideas for your visit: discuss your job, share a talent, make a favorite recipe, read a book, share pictures from a trip or bring your pet! Family involvement builds classroom community and enriches our program!
Schedule
|9:00 |Arrival and Unpack: lunch choice, put away snack & teacher notes, choose ‘free book’ to bring home for the evening. |
| |Good Morning Journal: spelling, writing conventions and sight word activity rotation |
|9:25 |Announcements |
|9:30 |Morning Meeting: calendar, days of school, weather, morning read aloud with comprehension strategy mini-lesson or practice |
|10:00 |Literacy Block |Friday: |
| |Independent Reading | |
| |Gradually increasing from 15 minutes |Science and/or Social Studies through |
| |Eat snack during reading |literacy…special project, activity or |
| |Book Write |event. |
| |Write about morning read aloud | |
| |Literacy Centers |Also read ‘Time for Kids’ and S.S. |
| |Buddy reading, listening, poetry, computers, word work, big books or continue to read |Magazine with a buddy. |
| |independently | |
| |Guided Reading Groups | |
| |Small groups meet with Mrs. Harris throughout this time to read books at their level. | |
|11:25 |Shared Reading: big book or poem (poems also in student binders) |
|11:45 |Lunch |
|12:15 |Read Aloud: chapter book, vocabulary study, book talk |
|12:35 |Writing Workshop |
|1:20 |Math Block |
|2:10 |Free time: extra work time, 1:1 help |
|2:30 |Curriculum Extension: Schedule will be finalized and sent home |
|3:15 |Afternoon reflection and class poem |
|3:25 |Dismissal |
Homework
Errick Road School’s homework policy is 10 minutes a night for first grade students. However, research is clear that the best readers are students who read for 20 minutes each day. This includes independent reading and listening to reading. We hope that you choose to include reading for 20 minutes as a part of your child’s daily schedule all year long!
I will be sending home a reading log to keep track of books that children read and listen to each night. We will collect the logs to keep track of the books we read as a class.
Students will have 5 spelling words to learn each week beginning in October. We will provide activities to help practice spelling these words at home. We will also work on spelling at school.
Finally, each student will practice reading ‘sight words’ at their level. After an initial assessment I will send home a folder with a list of words to practice reading (but not spelling!).
School Supplies
Thank you for all the school supplies you provided!! These tools will help students reach their learning goals in an organized and creative way!
If we need additional supplies during the school year I will let you know!
Lunch and Snack
If your child is buying lunch at school, please send their money in a change purse or baggy with their name.
It would be helpful to read the school lunch menu with your child before school so that they will be familiar with the lunch choices in advance! Thank You!
We will be eating snack in the morning during reading workshop. Please send a healthy snack with your child’s name on it. Since we will be eating in different areas around the classroom I would prefer ‘finger food’ snacks that are easy to eat and clean up!
We also try to be as “green” as possible in our classroom. You can help us reduce our daily garbage by sending snack in a reusable container or just send in a piece of fruit and use nature’s wrapper. (
You may also send in a labeled water bottle for your child to keep at their desk during warm weather. We do have a water fountain in our classroom.
Birthdays
We will celebrate birthdays in the morning during our snack time. You can send typical birthday treats or breakfast items (doughnuts or muffins). Surprisingly the children always seem to enjoy the alternative of fresh fruit! You may also send in juice if you like. We have 20 students in our class.
You can drop off birthday treats in the morning or send them in with your child.
**Allergy Alert**
Please do not send peanut/nut products to the classroom!
Field Trips
We are looking forward to complimenting our curriculum with a few field trips during the year. In October we will visit Murphy’s Orchard in Newfane to do some up close learning about the apple lifecycle. In the spring we will go to the Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve to deepen our understanding of forest habitats. We also will go to the public library and visit a theater to see a dramatic performance.
Information about field trips will be sent home as the dates approach!
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Holiday Events
We will have classroom “gatherings” for or before Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter break, Spring break and at the end of the year. I try to combine student performances with these celebrations to make them more meaningful for students.
You are invited to join us in the classroom for these events. We will also have author celebrations throughout the year. I try to vary the times of these events to make it easier for you to attend. There will be refreshment sign up sheets posted on Open House night.
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