Sunday, August 27, 2017

Week 3


Thank you for taking the time to read this week's first grade blog. Last week we had a full week of learning and the students are beginning to understand and feel more comfortable with routines and expectations in first grade. We enjoyed our first ES assembly on Tuesday and it was wonderful to see so many of our parents at Back to School night.
ES Assembly

Reading

This week during readers workshop students will continue to build stamina and learn to be independent while they are learning how to be great readers.
Teaching Point 5 - Readers reread. We reread to notice details in the pictures and words we might not have noticed the first time. We reread to practice reading in our best story telling voice. We reread to give us a chance to focus more on what's happening in the pictures.
Teaching Point 6 - Even the best readers get distracted. Students will think about ideas and learn strategies to practice to help them get straight back to their reading.
Teaching Point 7 - Readers can work with their reading partners. Read and enjoy a book together and help each other with tricky words.

Writing

This week during writers workshop we will continue learning how to write small moment stories.
Teaching Point 3 - Students will learn that a writer's job is never done. Writers finish a piece and then go back and revise by adding more. Writers think about Who? Where? When? What? and How? and make sure they answer these questions in their stories.
Teaching Point 4 - When writers want to write tricky words they've got to work hard to hear and write all the sounds. Writers say the word while they slide their finger slowly accross the page, listening for all the sounds.
Teaching Point 5 - Writers write about teeny tiny seed stories instead of writing about big (watermelon) topics. Inside a watermelon topic their are hundreds of tiny seed stories waiting to be written.

Writing folders

Please could you send a collection of photos or magazine pictures of places your child has visited over the summer. The students will be using these pictures to decorate their writing folders.
The pictures will also help students think of ideas to write about during our first writing unit. If you are unable to print them at home, please email them to your classroom teacher so that we can print them for you.
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Math

In this module students make significant progress towards fluency with addition and subtraction of numbers to 10 as they are presented with opportunities intended to advance them from counting all to counting on, which leads many students then to decomposing and composing addends and total amounts.
This week: 
Lesson 6 & 7 - Students will learn to represent put together situations with number bonds. Count on from one embedded number or part to totals of 8 and 9, and generate all expressions for each total. 
Lesson 8: Students will represent all the number pairs of 10 as number bonds from a given scenario, and generate all expressions equal to 10.

Parent Tips for topic B

Mathletics

Mathletics passwords were given out at Back to School Night. 
This is a great way for your child to do extra math practice of concepts students are learning at school. It is also a fun way for your child to practice math fluency and compete against friends and others around the world.
Please read the Mathletics letter for parents for more information.

Science

Last week we started our science unit with a walk around CAC. We brainstormed ideas about how we could make CAC more beautiful. Our first grade students came up with some wonderful ideas. 
A popular idea was planting more flowers. So in first grade we've decided to learn about plants before we start our own planting. We recorded what we already knew about plants and started looking in books for some more information about plants.

Sharing what we know about plants.

What do we need to know about plants?
This week we will continue a science experiment to investigate what plants need.
We will observe three plants and record our results.
1) A plant with water and light
2) A plant with water but no light
3) A plant with light but no water
Students will continue to learn about plants from books, videos and expert gardeners.

Home Learning

This week students will be bringing home reading books each day in their folders. It is their responsibility to change their book each morning. If you notice the same book coming home two days in a row please remind your child to change their book.

Math homework will be coming home on Wednesday and needs to be returned to school the following Tuesday. Encourage your child to complete this independently if possible.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CELEBRATES
EACH PERSON AS THEY MAKE
CAC THE BEST PLACE TO BE!

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ELEMENTARY BANNERS

Students, faculty & staff are invited to draw, paint, sew, or image their self portrait on a banner provided by school. Our self portrait banners will be displayed around our division to celebrate each of us and our school community.

The fabric will be sent home on Monday and we look forward to seeing your creative designs! Please be sure to put your name on your banner and enjoy working on these at home. We ask that the banners are submitted to your class teacher by Tuesday, September 5.

Counseling Corner

Dear CAC Parents,

Welcome to the new school year!  This year I am fortunate in that I will be meeting with your child’s class once a week.  The first few weeks will be dedicated to “getting to know you” activities.  In a couple of weeks we will begin Second Step guidance lessons.  This is the guidance curriculum that we use in the elementary school K-5th grade. This program is designed to help students think about, develop and practice positive social skills.  Research shows that children who learn and use these skills are more likely to get along with others and do better in school.  Throughout the course of the year, students will learn about skills for learning, empathy and understanding feelings, how to use problem-solving skills, and how to manage strong emotions such as anger or fear. 

Throughout the year I will be updating you on general areas of social and emotional learning but also on specific skills that you can help support at home.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Dana Purpura
CAC School Counselor

Important Dates

  1. Parent / Teacher day - August 27 (No school for students)
  2. First House Event - Tuesday, August 29
  3. Eid El Adha holiday - August 31 - September 4
  4. ASA Session 1 begins - September 5
  5. Sunday Schedule - Wednesday, September 6
If you have any questions or feedback for the first grade team please don't hesitate to contact us.

Your Partners in Learning
Taryn Carr (tcarr@cacegypt.org)
Gaby Morales (gmorales@cacegypt.org)
Charlie Saunders (csaunders@cacegypt.org)


Sunday, August 20, 2017

August 20



Welcome to our First Grade Newsletter Blog! This is the venue we will use to communicate with our first grade families this year at CAC.
We had a great two days with the new first graders last week.  
We spent time playing games, learning routines and getting to
know each other.        

As we launch into our first full week of learning there are many new routines and expectations our students will be learning and your support with the following is greatly appreciated.

  • Please remember children may only come up the ramp to the classroom at 7:45am when the music starts. Before this time teachers are preparing for the day or may have meetings and may not be able to actively supervise your child. 
  • After school you are asked to wait on the ES lawn or at the bottom of the ramp. It is very important that children pack their own backpack and are dismissed by their teacher independently.
  • First graders are learning to be responsible and look after their own things. Please can you help your child by labeling all their belongings clearly with their name and room number.

Home Learning

Each day your child will bring home their "take home folder" which needs to be returned to school the following day. The folder may contain the following:
  • A reading book which should be read at home. We ask that first grade students do 20min of reading each day. This may include their independent reading or being read to by an older sibling or parent.
  • Notices for parents
  • Finished pieces of work which should be kept at home.
  • Math homework will be sent home on a Wednesday and needs to be returned by the following Tuesday. This will be a revision of what your child has done in class.
  • Mathletics passwords will be issued this week and this can be done as part of home learning to revise prior knowledge and concepts being taught. We recommend ten minutes per day where possible.
  • Lunch envelope. You only need to send this to school on the days your child will be having a hot lunch from the cafeteria. Please remember that Monday children need to bring cash, but every other day they will need a lunch card. This can be purchased before school outside the cafeteria.

Reading, Writing, Math and Science

This week we will begin formal instruction. For an overview of what will be taught in first grade please refer to the Curriculum Calendar

Readers Workshop

We are pushing ourselves to be the best readers we can be. Readers are learning how to be organized for the week by book shopping for "just right books". We are learning how to warm up just like runners do.  We are reviewing the skills and strategies we used in kindergarten, i.e. we warm up, we set goals, we build stamina, we reread and we regain our focus when we lose it.


Writers Workshop

  • This week we will be having our writing on demand assessments to see what we have remembered from Kindergarten. 
  • On the other days we will begin writing personal narrative stories, called “small moment stories.” Our lives are full of stories to tell. Some of the strategies we use include planning, using pictures, stretching words, focusing in on small moments, and rereading what we have written.
  • Please could you send to school some photos or pictures of places your child has been over the summer. We will use these to decorate our Writing folder and this will help when students are thinking of ideas to write about.

Math

Students will begin to understand that they can use a variety of strategies to add and subtract numbers to 10. We will be using number bonds to help us understand sums and differences to 10

Library

Please make sure your child has a library bag at school on Tuesday for their library lesson and that it is clearly named.

Back to School Night / Parent Day

We look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday at our Back to school night.  This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know one another so that we can build a strong home school partnership. Parents will meet the elementary team and learn about the many learning opportunities throughout the year such as; the grade’s curriculum, how students learn at CAC, how we communicate, student leadership, field trips, library, student services, and nitty gritty essentials.


Also our Parent Day is August 27. Meetings are 15 minutes. Please sign up for a time through Skyward, on the Parent Dashboard.
The purpose is for parents to share invaluable insights and goals to help the teacher to know your child. Your perspective is important and supports building a strong home/school partnership.


Please click here for further details and please take the time to read our Grade One Back to School Night slide show

Important Dates


  1. After school activities sign up begins tomorrow (August 21st) Click here for further details
  2. Back to school night - August 22 (5pm-7pm)
  3. Parent / Teacher day - August 27 (No school for students)

Room Moms

Each class needs a "Room Mom" to help organize class parties and events. If you would like to fill this very important role please contact your child's teacher.


We have lots of exciting things planned over the coming weeks and we look forward to partnering with you to ensure your child has a successful, fun year in first grade. Please don't hesitate to contact the first grade teachers if you have any questions or concerns.


Your Partners in Learning
Taryn Carr (tcarr@cacegypt.org)
Gaby Morales (gmorales@cacegypt.org)
Charlie Saunders (csaunders@cacegypt.org)


Sunday, August 13, 2017

August 13

    
Welcome to the first grade blog. This blog gets posted each week on a Sunday and will be our main venue to communicate with our first grade community. It is there to inform parents and caregivers about what is happening that week and remind you about any upcoming events. We are so excited to meet our new first graders and can't wait to get started!



First Grade Team:


Charlie Saunders - 1S - Room 101
Heba Ezz El Din - 1S teacher aide - Room 101
Taryn Carr - 1C - Room 103
Sarah Hafez - 1C teacher aide - Room 103
Gaby Morales - 1M - Room 106
Ranya El Khafif - 1M teacher aide - Room 106
Gill Penney - Learning Support Services Co-Teacher
Jackie Redhage - English Language Learner Co-Teacher

Swimming


  • Swimming starts this week. Your child will be swimming during their 60min lesson.
    • 1C - Sunday
    • 1S - Monday
    • 1M - Thursday
  • It is highly encouraged that in the mornings you apply sunscreen to your child on these swim days.
  • Please bring a separate swim bag from your regular backpack and library bag.      In your swim bag, please bring a towel, goggles and wear slip-on shoes. Remember to label all items.

Library News

Welcome back from the ES library. We hope you did a lot of reading this summer and we can't wait to hear about it! In fact, stop by the library outside of your class time and tell us what you read and we'll give you a little surprise to celebrate. 
And don't forget: ALL summer checkouts are due back on August 16.

All elementary students need to have a cloth bag to transport their library materials to and from school. The school's new and improved Spirit Store has bags for sale, but you can use any CLOTH bag as long as it is large enough for books and is labeled clearly with your name. Bring it with you to school on the days your class is scheduled for check out. The library has some bags that we can lend on a temporary basis, but everyone should have their very own. We suggest you keep it far away from your swim bag!Hope you have a year full of reading fun!


Look for our next newsletter on Sunday, August 20, for more information to help you and your child have a successful week in first grade.


If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact your classroom teacher.


Your Partners in Learning,
Taryn Carr (tcarr@g-cacegypt.org)
Gaby Morales (gmorales@g-cacegypt.org)
Charlie Saunders (csaunders@g-cacegypt.org)