Grade 1-2

Families,

Bravo to all our fine poets! It is not easy to write and then read your own poems in public. It takes real confidence and courage. They were so proud. I hope you enjoy the anthology for years to come.

We started to write non-fiction work. We begin this unit with “How To” books. There is a very specific format, unlike personal narrative or poetry. Each child has chosen a topic. There are books about making pizza, brushing teeth, making a snowman, and getting ready to ski. Each child will write several pieces and then select one to publish.

We combine our study of Geometry and Geography in many projects. We studied towns using a survey. We shared the results learning tally marks. Then they were asked to create a 2-D mural of a town that included some of the common municipalities of our local towns. It was a cooperative effort. The mural is displayed in the classroom. They also used their knowledge of shapes to draw a snowscape of their homes. Each child now knows his or her address and town. We are now learning the vocabulary of 3-D shapes: vertices, edges, faces, rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, pyramids, cones, spheres, and ellipses.

Story time is a favorite time of the day. I am reading “Freddy Goes To Florida”. It is about a group of farm animals who migrate from Vermont to Florida. We tracked their adventures on our map. Then the children made maps of the story, using a legend and a compass rose. These maps are also displayed in the classroom.

We are reading non-fiction as well. Many of the books have glossaries and an index. The children are learning how to navigate a variety of non-fiction books. Biography is an important genre and we started with Martin Luther King Jr. Now we are studying Abraham Lincoln. As you know each child will report on another biography of their choice. After everyone has reported we will be able to see common characteristics of these amazing people. Some of these people influenced each other (Ghandi, Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther).

Alaska Day was fantastic! We had freshly fallen snow, blue skies, and warm sun!. The children had options like: skating, sledding, ice sculpture, hot chocolate, making Alaskan flags or totems, panning for gold, dog sleds, and s’mores (the favorite of course).

Welcome to our new student, Raseel. Every student has made an effort to make her feel comfortable and welcome. We are trying to learn a few Arabic words. Your child can say “Good Morning” in her language.

We have had a few birthdays. Happy birthday to Timmy, Sam, and Bryce!

Thank you for sending in outdoor gear. All the first graders are well prepared for recess.

Fondly,
Ms. Milani

Happy New Year! It is great to be back at school. The children seem to be rested and I do believe everyone grew at least 1 inch in the 2 weeks of vacation. We enjoyed welcoming each other back and sharing adventures of our time away from school.

This week was filled with beginnings and endings. We reviewed all the math that we have done in the last 4 months and then each child was assessed. As a whole, the students were very successful. Individual results will be shared with you in your child’s Progress Report, which is distributed later this month.

We started learning Geometry. We will be looking at 2D and 3D shapes, learning their attributes, and recognizing how they are part of everything in our world. We will make, draw, build, and reconstruct shapes. There is a lot of rich vocabulary in the world of Geometry. This is a very hands-on unit and you will see many projects appear in the classroom that are related to our work. The students are also continuing to practice math facts. They are learning double facts to 20. There is a song that we sing to help us memorize these facts. After that we will go on to “doubles plus 1” or “doubles minus 1”. We want the students to be able to compute these facts in a snap! You could help them practice.

We also started a unit on Geography. The children will be studying maps, land forms, earth, water, continents, oceans. By the end of the unit they should be able to tell you their street address, town, state, country, continent, and planet. We have already made connections between Geometry and Geography. The globe is a sphere, which is divided at the equator, to make the northern and southern hemispheres. There are many great connections.

We are finishing poetry. Each child selects two poems to publish for our anthology. He or she will read those poems at our Poetry Reading later this month. The exact date will be revealed shortly. Look for your invitation.The next genre is non-fiction (How To) books.The children will be starting to read non-fiction during Read & Rest. Expect to see non-fiction coming home in their book bags. They will be reading and writing non-fiction all winter. This prepares them to write a research paper in the spring.

Our Pajama Day was a great success! It was a blustery, cold day and we were all warm and toasty in our PJs. We had donuts and orange juice for snack. Skizza Day was draped in freshly, fallen, snow and the temperature was moderate. Life is good at BCD!

Greetings and congratulations to the First Grade who recently celebrated a milestone in French class.  As you may know, there is a paper apple tree hanging in the French classroom.  Every time the children worked together during the Fall, they earned an “apple” for the tree.  Recently, they earned the 33rd apple and enjoyed an apple crisp party with Miss Milani, Mrs. D.P. and Ms. Rossie.  At the start of our celebration, the children recited the poems that they know and sang so sweetly.   Some of the performance is available for viewing here.  Then we all sat down and enjoyed apple crisp with whipped cream!  Many of the children asked for the recipe which I will post soon.

We have now begun a new unit on the colors in French.  The children are coloring in their French notebooks or “cahiers.”  More on that soon and on the other activities that we will begin after Winter Break.  Stay tuned!

Mme Downes