Week 29: March 18 - March 22

Thank you for taking the time to read our weekly news. A big thank you to all the parents who met with us at parent conferences last week. Such a great opportunity to discuss progress and new goals for trimester three. The home-school partnership is invaluable to your child's success so please remember our door is always open should you need to discuss anything about your child's learning.

We had an exciting week last week enjoying the new playground and our first grade students are having some great conversations about perseverance and how we show this in and outside the classroom.

From the Curriculum Corner

Readers Workshop

Dramatizing Characters

Essential Questions:
- How do you bring characters to life?
- What is the role of the director?
This week week we continue to learn about character inference. Readers will be thinking deeply about the important moments in the middle and end of the story so that they can step into the character's shoes and understand them better.
This week we will also begin readers theatre where students learn about the director and actor's role. Students will be given scripts where they can take on a new role.

Students enjoy thinking about character feelings.

Writers Workshop

From Scenes to Series: Writing Fiction

Essential Questions:
- How can I use what I have learnt from other authors to help me?
- When I want to tell my story to other people, what steps can I take to revise my first draft to make it better?

This week as the students continue their series writing they will be exploring what makes realistic fiction realistic. Writers will also remind themselves to show not tell by focussing on tiny details in their writing. Finally this week students will learn about how writers include chapters in their books.

Thank you to all those families that sent cereal boxes to school. We now have enough.
So no more cereal boxes needed.

Math

Identifying, Composing and Partitioning Shapes

Essential Questions:

• What are the characteristics (attributes) of a shape?
• How can circles, squares and rectangles be divided into equal parts?
• How are numbers used to show a fraction?
• How are portioned shapes used to show fractions?

This week our first grade mathematicians will be combine shapes to create a new composite shape. Students will identify the name of the new shape and the the name of each shape that forms it. We will also be identifying shapes made from equal parts and shapes made from unequal parts.
Students will also partition shapes and identify halves and quarters of circles and rectangles.

Parent Tips Topic B

Parent Tips Topic C

Practicing our fluency

Exploring composite shapes

Science

Essential Question: Why and how do scientists change matter?

After being introduced to the concept of matter and understanding what a scientist does, first graders are ready to conduct their first experiment. This week we will begin to discuss our essential question, how and why scientists change matter by turning a liquid into a solid. In our first experiment we will be making butter.

 

CIRCLE SOLUTIONS:

1C This week we will continue discussing cooperation and fairness and how to be a good friend to others. 

1M This week we will continue to focus on positive communication skills to promote effective interactions, with the goal of fostering motivation and opportunities to interact; promoting self-confidence, interest in others and clarity of meaning, expression and articulation.

1S  This week we will be focusing on strengths, students will learn about what character strengths they possess and how to recognize these in others.  

Library this week

Due to our field trip this week our library times have changed. See below. Students are still more than welcome to bring their library bags on Tuesday and we will keep them safe until they visit the library.
1C - Thursday
1M - Wednesday
1S - Tuesday

ES Talent show

The ES Talent show will be on May 3. Auditions will be held on March 18, 19 & 20. 

For further in formation please click here

Founders Day Assembly

On Tuesday, March 20 at 2:30pm we will be celebrating our 72 Founders Day by saying           "Thank You" to CAC.
Students will be writing cards expressing what they are thankful for at CAC. We invite parents to use the note cards provided outside to say "thank you" to CAC.

Interesting Article

Recently my own child said, "Mom, I'm bored." As a parent this often makes me feel like I need to solve this problem. After doing some research I have learnt that, children being bored is a good thing in an over stimulated world. It helps them learn to be creative and manage their own time which are both excellent skills needed for learning. For further ideas read this interesting article  Handling Boredom: Why It's Good For Your Child

Important Dates to Remember:

March 18: ES After School Activities - Session 3 Begins
March 20: 1S Assembly
March 20: Field Trip
March 20: Founders Day assembly 2:30 - 3:00 (Parents are invited)
April 1-9: Spring Break
April 10: Character Book Parade


If you have any other questions or concerns about this week, please don't hesitate to contact your classroom teacher.

Your Partners in Learning,

Taryn Carr (tcarr@cacegypt.org)
Gaby Morales (gmorales@cacegypt.org)

Charlie Saunders (csaunders@cacegypt.org)