Saturday, January 1, 2022

 January 1, 2022

Happy New Year!


I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2022. When we get back to school on Monday January 3rd, we will have our holiday party that we missed on Wednesday, December 22nd. I'm sure the kids were disappointed that we had to postpone it, but I bet they didn't mind having their Christmas break extended by a day!

The next six weeks between now and the February break are going to be very busy with a lot of learning taking place. The children will be working very hard!


In reading we are going to be finishing up theme 4. We will be working on the short u sound, blending and writing words with that sound. All of the spelling words will also have a short u sound in them. Next week we will begin theme 5. We will also start working on the long vowel sounds soon. We will work on the different ways that we can spell words with the long vowel sounds. That will be a new challenge for the kids! But I'm sure they will meet that challenge.


In math we are starting Topic 7, which works on teaching the students how to extend the counting sequence. They will work on counting by 1's, 5's and 10's. In this topic they will begin counting past the number 100. The next topic, Topic 8, will introduce place value to the children. We will work on showing numbers using place value blocks - tens and ones. We will also look at a set of place value blocks to determine what number is being shown. 


Our next writing unit that we will begin on Monday is our opinion writing unit. We will learn exactly what an opinion is and why it is an opinion and not a fact. We will work on writing our own opinions and then giving reasons why that is our opinion. This can sometimes be hard for first graders, but with practice they will get better and better at it. By the end of the unit they will be pros at writing their opinions!


In science we are going to be beginning our space unit. I love this unit! I know my first graders will, too. We will be learning about the sun, moon, stars and planets. You are going to be amazed at all of the things that they learn!


As I mentioned, it is going to be a very busy month and a half. But I'm sure the kids are up for the challenge!