1st Grade Team

Mrs. Jennings	jennings.melanie@fcps.org	ext. 62906
Mrs. Spinnler	jessica.spinnler@fcps.org	ext. 62905
Mrs. Thomas	angela.thomas@fcps.org	ext. 62904
Mrs. Todd	suzanne.todd@fcps.org	ext. 62902

First Grade Newsletter

Spring 2008

Spring is officially here and we are all looking forward to the beautiful weather that accompanies this season. Our first graders have been working hard learning many new skills.
In Language Arts we are still working on reading strategies to help us to comprehend our stories better. Please continue to ask your child questions about the stories that he or she reads to you and stories that you read to them. Our first graders are also continuing the process of becoming better writers. They are working hard on editing to make sure their writing makes sense, sentences begin with an upper case letter and end with the correct punctuation mark. They are also expected to add more information and/or details to their writing. Please encourage independent writing at home.
We are continuing to help our first grade students develop good number sense. We are also working on identifying the different coins and their values, as well as telling time to the hour and half hour. Please provide opportunities for your child to identify coins and their values while shopping or at home. To reinforce the concept of time at home have your child use the clock to tell the time their favorite television show begins and ends. The integration of these skills at home will help the children to see that these concepts are an important part of their everyday lives. In addition, we will be working hard to teach our first graders how to add and subtract two-digit numbers, as well as use pictures to represent these operations.
We have finished our Science unit on Weather and the Liquids portion of our Liquids and Solids unit. We will be studying Maps and Globes and close the month of April with our study of Community Helpers.
We would like to give a belated thank you to all parents for their help and patience with our Valentine’s Day parties. All the children had a great time.
Please be aware that our schedules will change during MSA testing which begins on Tuesday, April 1st and concludes on April 8th. Our specials time will be first thing in the morning, instead of at the end of the day. In addition, our lunch time will be 11:05 instead of 11:20. We realize that this makes our afternoons very long for our little ones and will try to provide them with breaks throughout the day.
Now that it is spring, we realize that outdoor sports and extracurricular activities will increase. Please insure that your child maintains a healthy sleep schedule, so they can have continued success at school. Thank you, as always, for the support you have provided so far this school year. We look forward to your continued support and cooperation as we approach the last part of the school year!

Sincerely,

The First Grade Team.

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