August in Mrs. Whitson's Class
HELLO EVERYONE!
As promised, I'm back again with all the information about what we'll be doing in August. I usually arrange the blog by subject area, then put the important dates or other information at the end.
MATH
For the first week we'll be reviewing skills learned in kindergarten. This will include coins; calendar; number words; writing numbers and counting to ten; basic shapes; more, fewer and same as; ordinal numbers; following directions. Then we'll start adding to ten vertically and horizontally.
Two of our School Improvement Plan (SIP) goals are in math. The two math goals for the entire school are Computation and Problem-solving. The goals for first grade are as follows:
Computation: By the end of the year, students will be able to compute 50 addition problems, up to a sum of18, in 5 minutes.
Problem-solving: From an individual baseline score on a word problem involving the use of problem-solving strategies, students will progress one level in their ability to solve this type of problem by the end of the year.
READING
Until we begin Guided Reading groups after Labor Day, reading activities will include teacher-read books with student activities related to the book. These activities can include writing activities, comprehension and sequencing of events, and character and plot identification. The children will have time every day to read silently at their seats or with partners. The first week or so of school, Mrs. Snook and I will combine our classes to read Junie B. Jones, First Grader (at last!) and do some literacy activities to go with it.
Starting August 20th, we will be having Book Buddies with Mr. McGill’s 5th grade class every other Wednesday from 1:15-1:45. Each child will have a buddy or two, and they will read together and sometimes do projects together.
PHONICS
We will review all letter sounds, rhyming word, and blending 3-letter words with median vowels, such as bat, cup, sit, etc.
HANDWRITING
The children will begin to learn how to write the lowercase letters in D’Nealian font. The letters will be presented so they go with spelling and phonics practice, and will not be taught in alphabetical order. Once the students have learned to make a letter, they will be responsible for making it correctly in their writing. At Open House you will receive a copy of the D’Nealian font and how each letter is made.
WRITING
We’ll begin the writing process. We will begin with class stories and books, and simple sentences from teacher prompts and student brainstorming.
Garrison Mill’s third SIP goal is Writing Conventions, which includes capitals, periods, capitals, commas, etc. We’ll take a baseline writing sample for every student the first few weeks of school, and the goal is to have them advance one level from the baseline by the end of the year. The rubric we use for this is from the program, 6+1 Writing Traits. I will provide you with a copy of the conventions section at Open House.
SCIENCE
Our first science units are Weather and Water.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Our first unit concentrates on cardinal directions, and finding our city, county, state, country, and continent on a map and globe.
OTHER INFORMATION
Tuesday, August 19 is Open House for K-2 parents. There will be a PTA meeting at 6:30 followed by Open House. Please try hard to attend. You miss it and you miss a lot!!
Thursday, August 14 is Room Parent training
Friday, August 15 is Sally Foster fundraiser kickoff, and kids can wear their vacation t-shirts.
Friday, August 28, families new to Garrison Mill (and Kdgt. families) are invited to an ice-cream social.
*** Our student teacher, Pame (pronounced Pam) Timbs, will be slowly taking over teaching responsibilities starting next week. By September 8, with my guidance and input, she will be teaching most subjects. She will be sending you a short, separate blog telling you about herself soon. Her tenure with us will be over in mid-November. Think of it as having two teachers in the classroom instead of one.
Thank you for reading all the way through this long first blog! Please get in touch with me if you have any questions or concerns. I do not check my phone messages regularly, you need to email me or send me a note attached to your child’s behavior calendar if you want me to get your message!!
Diana
