Week 12 October 29th - November 2nd

Thank you parents for reading this week's First Grade News. Last week we had quite an exciting week with our class halloween parties and the costume parade, great job to all the students for their active participation during this spooky time! This week we have another exciting week of learning, please read below what we will be exploring in classes:

WHAT WE WILL BE LEARNING THIS WEEK:

READING

This week in first grade we will be closing up our Nonfiction unit in reading. Our students have learned to navigate their informational books by looking at all the text features when comparing and contrasting topics with their partners. As we finish up the unit, we are going to continue to practice our reading strategies to become more fluent readers. We will also begin to read some fiction books during our Read Alouds in preparation for our "Readers Meet the Characters" unit that will begin next week. We can't wait to get started!

TP18: Compare and contrast information from non fiction texts. Students will use sentence prompts such as: "on the page/but on this page", "I think in this book/but in this book...", "The difference between this book and that book is...", "What's the same about these two books is..."

TP19: Listening with our ears, eyes, and body we can learn about different topics from our reading partners.

End of Unit Celebration Preparation.


WRITING

This week, our first grade writers will practice all the skills that they've learned so far to complete the teaching books that they've started by: adding more details, adding craft moves, and using a checklist to edit their books step-by-step. At the end of the week, we will meet with our other grade one classes to celebrate and teach each other about a topic we have been working on during our non fiction unit.

TP18: Using craft moves we learned during our small moment unit such as speech bubbles and pop out words we can grab our readers attention.

TP19: Editing checklists -  students will focus on checking their non fiction writing for spelling, capitals, end marks, spacing,  and no capitals in the middle of words.

End of Unit Celebration Preparation



MATH

This week our students will be using the “make ten” strategy in different ways to solve problems. They will be using 9 and 8 as addends, and comparing/contrasting problems, to find out how making ten helps them to be more efficient in solving problems. They will also be looking at problems to make true number sentences that match their problem statements. At home you can support your students by: Continue to practice finding partners for any given number, e.g., how can we make 8? 10? • Talk about how we can find “tens” in other, larger numbers • Make up and discuss short story problems that involve simple addition and subtraction.

L 5: Compare efficiency of counting on and making ten when one added is nine
L 6: Use the commutative property to make 10
L 7: Make 10 when one addend is 8
L 8: Continue to make 10 when one addend is 8
L 9: Efficiency of using the strategy of making 10 on a 10's frame as opposed to counting on

 Parent Tips Topic B

SOCIAL STUDIES

We started our unit last week, and our first graders were so excited about getting the family conversations started. We drew our family members and read different books about different families, learned a fun song and had very interesting discussions. On Thursday, we sent our “dinner plates”, to promote the conversation at  home about your own families and the rules and roles that they have in place. We hope that you had a chance over the weekend to talk to your children about it, as we will be sharing everybody’s findings this week. We truly appreciate your support!

Shadow Puppet Show:

This Monday students in the ES have the opportunity to view a puppet show in the school's theatre. Students will attend this puppet show with their class and be dismissed from the ES lawn at 11:30am to go home. A little bit about the show is as follows:

The performance is adapted from the homonymous illustrated book (published in Brazil in 2016) using the language of shadow puppets, by the book's authors: Egyptian-Brazilian writer Habib Zahra and Spanish visual artist Valeria Rey Soto.  Valeria plays the violin and melodica while Habib manipulates the shadow puppets, which talk, walk and dance, not only on the screen, but also on the walls, floor, and ceiling. The language of the show will be Portuguese.

The plot: Mr. Biu is an old man who does not let his age nor death end his joie de vivre. Despite living alone and being the target of much criticism and envy, he lives smiling and dancing, cheerful and carefree. He's got music, dancing and, above all, an acute awareness of his deep connection with nature.  One day, Death decides to come fetch him. But, upon arriving at the old man's house, she is received in a totally unexpected manner...

What Is Screen-Time Really Doing To Children:

Many parents are under the belief that technology and gadgets are essential for a child's development, but can you go too far? How much time should a child spend in front of a screen? Is the amount of time your child spending on technology affecting their concentration and mood? These questions and more are addressed in the following article:

What screen time can really do to kids brains.

Important Dates:

Sunday October 29th: Story Telling workshop for parents in the Grade 1 common room at 8:30 - 9:30am.

Monday October 30th: K-2 Handwriting and Reading parent session in the Grade 1 common room at 8:00 - 9:00am.

Monday October 30th - Early release day - Students will be sent home at 11:30.

Tuesday October 31st - House Event - please come dressed in your house colors

Wednesday November 1st will be a Monday Schedule

Wednesday November 1st -  21st Century Libraries for Parents: Digital Citizenship 8:00 am to 9:00 am, MHS Library

Wednesday November 1st - Parent Map Session 9:00 am - 9:30 am, MS Room 115

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)

Week 11 - October 22nd. - 26th

Thank you parents for reading this week's First Grade News. We had quite and exciting week with Global Math week activities, visits to our tortoises, journal making in the library and closing up our first Science unit about plants. First grade scientists will continue to care for their garden, and they have plans for what they planted there....stayed tuned!

Visiting our tortoise and learning about them with Mr. Saaid!

From the ES library

21st Century Libraries for Parents: Digital Intelligence

Join us on October 25 for a talk with CAC Information Services Director, Mr. Santha Kumar, We will discuss what it means to be digitally intelligent and how we can promote digital intelligence in our children.
Also check out these pictures of the Diaries that first graders have been working on at the library, they had a blast!

WHAT WE WILL BE LEARNING THIS WEEK:

READING

This week our first grade readers continue to work with their partnerships, making them stronger and more efficient, by really practicing being prepared, being good listeners, knowing how to take turns, and using accountable talk for their discussions.

TP15 Readers continue their partnership work by agreeing on a topic, researching it, and talking about it.
TP16 We talk about our books by asking and answering questions about the topic we are reading.
TP17 We work with out partners to compare and contrast books, to research topics, and to have meaningful conversations.

WRITING

This week, our expert nonfiction writers are up to big jobs:

TP14 Fixing up our writing by pretending to be a reader.
TP15 Writers use all they know to plan for new chapter books.
TP 16 Writers do research, like finding images or photos, to help them say more.
TP 17 Writers learn how to do "editing on the go"

MATH

L 1 Solve word problems with 3 addends, two of which make 10.
L 2 Use associative and commutative properties to make 10 with 3 addends.
L 3 & 4 Make ten when 1 addend is 9.
L 5 Compare efficiency of counting on and making 10 when 1 addend is 9.

Parent Tips Topic A (click on this link)

Math is fun, math is hands on, math is working with our partners!!!!

SOCIAL STUDIES

We are very excited about starting Social Studies! Mrs. Jackson-Jin sent all first grade classes a letter, asking us to help her do some research about families at CAC. As researchers, we will begin our journey by brainstorming "What is a family", and what are some differences and similarities between families. We will talk about our own families, and who are part of them.
To continue the conversation, we will need your help. Either by the end of this week, or beginning of next, your child will begin to bring home "Dinner Plate" sheets. Each dinner plate has a focus for a conversation that your child can have at home with you. After the conversation has taken place at home, we ask that they record their findings on the back of the dinner plate, and they return it to school. Recordings can be made with words in the shape of sentences or lists; or with drawings and labels.

Dates to Remember

October 24 - No assembly
October 26 - Halloween Parade 2:30pm (Parents welcome)
October 27 - Halloween Carnival (2pm - 6pm)
October 30 - KG-2 Handwriting / Reading Parent information session.
October 31 - House Event

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)

                                             

Week 10 - October 15th - 19th

Dear first grade parents, thank you for taking the time to read our weekly news. It's hard to describe last week after the tragic incident that occurred on Sunday. Please let us know if your children need any support from our counselor to understand the event.
We had a great turn out for our DEAR assembly, it is always fantastic to see students, staff and parents engaging in this fun experience!

 

Global Math Week

From the 15th to 19th October the CAC elementary school will be celebrating Global Math Week, the world’s biggest community mathematics event. The aim of the event is to unite one million students around the globe in a shared experience of joyful uplifting mathematics. During this week at CAC there will be a number of different mathematical activities going on for students and families to enjoy. These include:

• During their math class that week, students will participate in the Global Math Week focus activity - Exploding Dots!
• A Math Trail will be set up around the elementary school grounds. Students and families can complete the tasks during recess or after school and submit their responses each day. At the end of the week a display will showcase the most creative solutions.
• A Problem of the Day will be posed to challenge our most dedicated mathematicians. Parents are allowed (and encouraged) to help!
• A Parent Workshop will provide an opportunity for parents to share in the joy and fun of Exploding Dots alongside their children, and will share some tips for keeping the math fun going at home.

The ultimate goal of Global Math Week is to change the way the world sees math. We want to help our students appreciate math as joyful, relevant, meaningful and creative. Join us in celebrating the wonder of math!

From the ES library

21st Century Libraries for Parents: Digital Intelligence

Join us on October 25 for a talk with CAC Information Services Director, Mr. Santha Kumar, We will discuss what it means to be digitally intelligent and how we can promote digital intelligence in our children.

WHAT WE WILL BE LEARNING THIS WEEK 

READING

This week, our first grade readers will learn:

Teaching Point 10 - Readers pause to reflect and envision information they are reading, by making a movie in their minds.
Teaching Point 11 - Readers use a multitude of strategies to figure out tricky or unfamiliar words.
Teaching Point 12 - Readers don't just figure out how to read a word, good readers also figure out what the word means by rereading, looking at the picture, or looking at the glossary.
Teaching Point 13 - Readers work with their partners to research topics together, by comparing and contrasting books.
Teaching Point 14 - Partners come ready to work with all their materials. They also know how to take turns to listen, how to discuss and give feedback.

Reader stopping, jotting and thinking about her jots

WRITING

This week, our first grade nonfiction writers will learn:

Teaching Point 9 - Writers add tables of contents to their books.
Teaching Point 10 - Planning and writing nonfiction chapter books.
Teaching Point 11 - Writers add details and help readers understand by using comparisons.
Teaching Point 12 - Nonfiction writers can use different types of writing in their teaching books, like how-to, stories, and persuasive writing.
Teaching Point 13 - Learning to write introductions and conclusions.

First grade writers revise their books using revision strips

A masterpiece in progress!!!

MATH

Our first grade mathematicians will

Lesson 35 - Relate subtraction facts using fives and doubles.
Lesson 36 - Relate subtraction facts using partners to ten.
Lesson 37 - Relate subtraction from 9 using what we've learned.
Lesson 38 - Using reasoning, structure and the subtraction chart to solve subtraction problems.

Need help learning the language of the lessons to help your child with their homework? Don't forget to check our parent's tip sheet:

Parent Tips Topic I

Parent tips Topic J

We are excited about math this week! we are already starting to take risks and trying to solve the problem of the day, of trying the challenge problems!

Mathematicians at work!!

SCIENCE

This will be the last week of our Plant units for our first grade scientists. They will review all the information that they have learned so far about a plant's life cycle, and parts of the plant; and they will conduct some research with their partners, using their Science library. To close up the unit, they will conduct observations and recordings. Between this week and the following, first grade classes will also visit their tortoise and they will learn about their habitat and habits.

1C met the first grade tortoise, Speedy

October 17 - Global Math Week parent workshop (8:30 - 9:30) in the first floor common room.

October 26 - Halloween Parade 2:30pm (Parents welcome)
October 27 - Halloween Carnival (2pm - 6pm)

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)

                                             

October 8th - 12th

Dear parents, thank you for taking the time to read our First Grade News. We had a busy week in our Reading and Writing units, we have continued to water and taken care of our garden, and we have recorded observations about our bean. In Math we are approaching the end of Module 1 of Eureka math, and we are now all used to routines in all subjects.

DEAR Assembly this Tuesday!

This Tuesday morning, October 10 at 7:55 am,  join us on the elementary lawn to Drop Everything And Read! Bring a book (and probably a hat or sunglasses because it will be sunny), and join the elementary students for some sustained silent reading. Please make sure to pack a book for your child so they can get right to it when we start our reading. We hope you will join us. Modeling reading with your children is a great way to highlight the importance and joy of reading. Please have your child drop their bag at their assembly spot, and come to the lawn.

Global Math Week

From the 15th to 19th October the CAC elementary school will be celebrating Global Math Week, the world’s biggest community mathematics event. The aim of the event is to unite one million students around the globe in a shared experience of joyful uplifting mathematics. During this week at CAC there will be a number of different mathematical activities going on for students and families to enjoy. These include:

• During their math class that week, students will participate in the Global Math Week focus activity - Exploding Dots!
• A Math Trail will be set up around the elementary school grounds. Students and families can complete the tasks during recess or after school and submit their responses each day. At the end of the week a display will showcase the most creative solutions.
• A Problem of the Day will be posed to challenge our most dedicated mathematicians. Parents are allowed (and encouraged) to help!
• A Parent Workshop will provide an opportunity for parents to share in the joy and fun of Exploding Dots alongside their children, and will share some tips for keeping the math fun going at home.

The ultimate goal of Global Math Week is to change the way the world sees math. We want to help our students appreciate math as joyful, relevant, meaningful and creative. Join us in celebrating the wonder of math!

Global Math Week Parent Workshop

Tuesday 17th October, 8:30 - 9:30am

What will we be learning this week

Reading

This week our first grade readers will learn: 

Teaching Point 6 - Readers always think what our book is mostly about, the main points and how they link together.

Teaching Point  7 - Reading partners can help each other understand the information from our books by asking and answering questions.

Teaching Point 8 - Non-fiction readers stop and jot ideas that come to their mind as their reading.

Teaching Point 9 - Readers can explain their jots after they read, and have reactions to the information from their books.

Teaching Point 10 - As readers, we envision what we're learning by making a picture or movie in our mind, and pausing to reflect.

Writing

This week, our first grade writers will learn to:

Teaching Point 5 - Using Fancy Words to teach others about a topic.

Teaching Point  6 - Non fiction writers use readers to help them add and/or subtract information from their pieces.

Teaching Point 7 - Writers self-assess their pieces by asking: what have I already learned, and then we set goals by asking: what do I still need to work on?

Teaching Point 8 - Non fiction writers edit their pieces, and look at their spelling, capitals, and punctuation.

In writing we are learning that our pieces don't have to be perfect, that they are a work in progress, and that we can always go back to revise and/or edit. Expect to see writing pieces where there are words crossed, sentence paper strips glued that stick out of their books, and other things. Writing is a process, and in first grade we are learning that our published pieces can show all the work that we've been through to get to a final product. 

Students' daily handwriting practice

Math

Lesson  28 - Solving take-away math stories, using drawings, true number sentences and statements; by crossing off what's taken away.

Lesson  29 - Solving take apart math stories, using drawings, true number sentences and statements; by circling the part that we know.

Lesson  30 - Relating addition and subtraction in our math stories to find the unknown part.

Lesson 31 - Using counting on or counting back to solve math stories.

Lesson 32 - Solving put together and take apart stories with unknown parts.

Parent Tips Topic H

Science

Our first grade scientists will have a very busy week conducting and recording observations of their garden, their class bean, and having discussions about the changes they observe. As they learn about plants and parts of the plant, they will conduct an experiment with a stem (celery) and record their observations. Finally, they will talk and learn more about a plant's life cycle, and conduct some research with partners or independently.

Observing and measuring our plants

From the Counseling Corner

Interesting Article:

Aha! Parenting.com is a great resource that shares information and parenting articles spanning pregnancy to teenagers. I am passing on a recent article about growth mindset.  Growth Mindset is an idea based on the extensive research of Stanford University psychologist,  Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D..  Put simply, it is the idea that people are not born with a fixed intelligence. It is the idea that our brains act similar to a muscle that grows stronger with use. Take a look and let us know what you think.

Raise a Smart Kid Who Loves to Learn

Guidance:

In our weekly guidance lessons, first grade are continuing to learn about their own feelings and the feelings of others which will help them to better control their emotions and be more accepting of their peers.  During guidance time we will be covering Second Step lessons about understanding feelings and emotions.  Students look at facial expressions, tone of voice, body language and situational clues to better understand how others might be feeling.  Students will also be looking at ways that they can better identify their own feelings by noticing physical clues that happen within their bodies. We will discussing and practicing different strategies for managing feelings in appropriate ways. We will do this through books, activities, role play and lesson discussions.  

Important Dates

October 10  - 7:55am DEAR assembly in the ES lawn

October 11 -  Christy Curran: How to promote writing with your child.    First floor common room                              (2pm- 3pm) Bring a pen 

October 17 - Global Math Week parent workshop (8:30 - 9:30) in the first floor common room.

October 26 - Halloween Parade 2:30pm (Parents welcome)
October 27 - Halloween Carnival (2pm - 6pm)

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)

                                             

Week 8 - Oct. 1st to 5th

Dear parents, we want to thank you for taking the time to read our blog to see our highlights of the week; and also to find out what will first graders be up to in the next few days. It's hard to believe that we are already in week 8 of our learning journey!. We had a fun week of celebrations of learning in Reading and Writing, where proud first graders showcased the fruits of their hard work. We also closed the week with a great Celebration of Respect, where students participated in the banner gallery walk as they enjoyed a popsicle treat sponsored by the PTO. We want to thank our room moms for helping us to make the writing celebration a fun and sweet one :).

Our Core Value of the month is Responsibility, we will be reading the book "I Wanna Iguana" by Karen Kaufman Orloff. We have a copy in the library. Also, if you are interested in reading it at home with your child and reinforcing this value but you can't find it at the library, you can borrow our class copy, please just contact your teacher directly.

 

What will we be learning this week?

Reading

Our first grade readers had a great week that closed up with a fun celebration, where they were able to show KG students, what good readers do. They had a great time! We finished our first reading unit, and we will start this week our new unit: "Learning About the World, Reading Non Fiction"

This week our first grade readers will learn: 

Teaching Point 1 - Getting our class library ready to explore differences between Fiction and Non-Fiction books.

Teaching Point  2 - Using everything we know (text features) to help us understand our books.

Teaching Point 3 - Using Headings to help guide our reading.

Teaching Point 4 - Using every visual (images, labels, captions, etc) to understand more about subjects.

Teaching Point 5 - Reading our books like a reporter to emphasize main points

Practicing reading with partners in preparation for their celebration

Reading Celebration with KG

Reading with KG

Reading with KG

Writing

What a fabulous writing celebration we had! First graders shared with their parents and peers the result of all the hard work and skills that they've been learning during our "Small Moments" unit. Thank you for being part of this small-big success!. Now it's time for them to start learning how to write "All About", and "How To" Non Fiction books. At home you can support your child by talking about the things that they are "experts" at, or things they know how to do well.

Teaching Point 1 - Writers get ready to write by teaching All About topics

Teaching Point  2 - Writers tell information across their fingers, sketch, and then write.

Teaching Point 3 - Writers keep readers in mind, writing to answer their questions.

Teaching Point 4 - Non Fiction writers teach with pictures, as well as words.

Also this week, first grade authors will take a walk around the school to brainstorm things that they know a lot about, or things that they are really good at.

First Graders preparing their pieces for their celebration

Math

First grade mathematicians will begin this week putting to practice everything they have learned so far about numbers, parts in numbers, and addition; in the mid module assessment that will take place on Sunday; followed by a review day when we will give students feedback about it.

Lesson  25 - Using counting on to solve math stories with unknown parts, and relate them to subtraction.

Lesson  26 & 27 - Counting on to find the unknown part using the number path.

Parent Tips Topic G

First Grade mathematicians working with their partners

Science

First grade scientists are becoming experts in observing and recording their findings. When you're on campus, please encourage them to show you their garden and explain to you the parts of the plants, and what changes they have observed. At the end of last week, we planted beans in ziplock bags to confirm or change our predictions about wether or not plants need soil to sprout and grow. This coming week we will continue to record observations on both our garden, and our ziplock bags; and we will also learn about the life cycle of a plant.

First Grade Scientists observing and recording

Collaborating with partners

HOW TO PRAISE AND PROMOTE A GROWTH MINDSET IN CHILDREN

One key to coaching mindset beliefs in children lies in how parents and teachers praise and motivate children .

“Many of the things we do to motivate our kids are sapping their desire to learn,” says Dweck.

It was once thought telling children how smart they are would give them confidence in their abilities, the desire to learn, and the hardiness to withstand difficulty.

“The self-esteem movement got it wrong. Praising children’s intelligence may boost their confidence for a brief moment, but by fostering the fixed view of intelligence, it makes them afraid of challenges, it makes them lose confidence when tasks become hard, and it leads to plummeting performance in the face of difficulty”

Research shows that praising the process—children’s effort or strategies—creates eagerness for challenges, persistence in the face of difficulty, and enhanced performance.

“What we’ve found in study after study is that ability-praise backfires. Emphasising effort gives a child a variable that they can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasising natural intelligence takes it out of the child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.”

8 tips for promoting a growth mindset in kids:

1. Help children understand that the brain works like a muscle, that can only grow through hard work, determination, and lots and lots of practice.
2. Don’t tell students they are smart, gifted, or talented, since this implies that they were born with the knowledge, and does not encourage effort and growth.
3. Let children know when they demonstrate a growth mindset.
4. Praise the process. It’s effort, hard work, and practice that allow children to achieve their true potential.
5. Don’t praise the results. Test scores and rigid ways of measuring learning and knowledge limit the growth that would otherwise be tapped.
6. Embrace failures and missteps. Children sometimes learn the most when they fail. Let them know that mistakes are a big part of the learning process.
7. Encourage participation and collaborative group learning. Children learn best when they are immersed in a topic and allowed to discuss and advance with their peers.
8. Encourage competency-based learning. Get kids excited about subject matter by explaining why it is important and how it will help them in the future. The goal should never be to get the ‘correct’ answer, but to understand at a fundamental, deep level, and want to learn more.

PTO: Halloween Carnival Help Needed

October 27th, 3-7pm

The Elementary School Halloween Carnival is an amazing afternoon of fun and games run by the PTO and parents with the help of high school students organizing the activity booths. We need candy donations for the trick or treat lane. Without the candy, there won’t be a trick or treat lane this year. There is a box labelled Candy Donation in the ES/MS/HS Office.

In addition, we will have a bake sale every Tuesday from 3--4 by the front gate to raise funds for the carnival. Any baked goods or cash donations are highly appreciated. Cash donations can either be given to Mr. Reda our cashier in a sealed envelope labelled Halloween, or during bake sales we will have a box labelled Halloween. Thank You for the needed support.  

Age Group and Tuesday Swim School

Reminder to make sure that you have paid the fees to the school cashier. Final reminders will go out next week with swimmers being held out of the programs if not paid by October 5. The payment sheet can be found here if needed.

Important Dates

October 5th - 3:30pm Booster Club School store opening 
October 5th - Tuesday Swim school payment due date.
October 11th - 2:00 - 3:00pm Christy Curran Writing Workshop for parents 

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)