Here we are last week as we eagerly awaited SPRING!  We're so happy to put away those snowpants and boots. Easter vacation is right around the corner now but we are very busy doing many things.  This week we are reading at Mass and in Religion class we are learning about God's forgiveness.  In reading we are now starting our last reading book.  It won't be long and we'll begin working on plays.  In math we are learning to tell time by the hour and half hour.  We are learning all about adjectives that help make some of our sentences alot more interesting.  And we are keeping track of the weather lately as we learn about weather and seasons in science.  No wonder the days go by as quickly as they do. But we are getting excited about some time off pretty soon.  All of us in first grade wish all of you a very HAPPY EASTER and also happy vacation!

First Grade Overview

Teaching first grade is like constructing a building. We need a strong foundation upon which everything else is built. From the first day of school, I work on organizational skills and good listening. What better way can we start our day except to begin organized and ready for learning! From the very beginning, our main goal is to develop reading skills with a strong emphasis on phonics. We work daily on vowels and other important comprehension skills. This strong background helps us in all other areas of our curriculum such as spelling, math(story problems), writing skills, science and social studies. Reading is the key to success and parents can play a very important role in this developing process. Encouragement and displaying one's own love of reading will set the tone for the year. Each day we begin with prayer and religion class which centers on Jesus as our friend. We learn to follow Jesus and live in His love. Our day is a constant motivation to do our best at work and play.

First Grade Curriculum

In Religion class we learn that Jesus is God's greatest gift to us, that we are followers of Jesus, that we belong to the church through Baptism, and that the Mass is a special meal that Jesus shared with His followers.

Reading- Our reading series is a strong phonics based program that helps develop the skills necessary to decode and recognize printed words. We work on comprehension and the strategies and skills necessary to read fluently.

Language- We learn about nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and how to write simple sentences. We learn about the different kinds of sentences and work on writing short stories. Everyday we write in our journal.

Spelling- We begin with a review of beginning and ending sounds. We learn to spell short and long vowel words and use phonetic skills to use spelling in our daily work.

Handwriting- All year we focus on correct posture and pencil grip. We learn the D'Nealian printing method which helps with the transition into cursive writing in second grade.

Math- Through many hands on activities first graders learn addition and subtraction facts through 18, place value and number patterns, problem solving, money concepts, telling time, measuring, 2-3 dimensional figures, fractions and 2 digit addition and subtraction.

Social Studies- First graders learn about our family at home and at school. working together in a community, celebrating American heroes, caring for the earth, and learning how to be good citizens.

Science- In science we learn about kinds of living things, earth's land and water, keeping fit and healthy, magnets, and weather and seasons.