1st Grade Newsletter
May/June 2021
Tuesday, June 8th will be virtual for all teachers and students.
ALL school-issued laptops must be returned to Dogwood on June 11th. Laptops will not be kept over the summer. If a student is attending summer school, another laptop will be provided once summer school begins. More details on drop off and collection procedures will be coming soon.
Language Arts
What are we learning?
Reading & Writing:
- Readers notice stereotypes in text and illustrations.
- Readers explore perspectives that are included and those that are absent.
- Readers explore advantages and disadvantages of characters.
- Readers decide whether or not to accept the messages of the text.
- Writers work to clarify their own writing.
PYP Connections-
- Learner Profile Attributes: Risk Taker
- Approaches To Learning: Social Skills
Home/School Connection
- Students should be working on Imagine Learning at least 15 minutes every day.
- Read books for 20 minutes every day on Pioneer Valley Literacy Footprints or Myon.
- After reading or listening to a story, tell someone what the author wants you to learn in the story.
- Read a story and name the characters, tell where the story took place and retell all the important events with details.
- Read or listen to a story and tell someone how you are connecting to the problem in the story.
- Tell someone what strategy you used to figure out a tricky work in a book you read.
Math
What are we learning?
- Demonstrate fluency with addition and subtraction within 10
- Create and solve story/picture problems with sums or differences to 20
- Represent story/picture problems with equation
- Explain reasoning used to solve addition and subtraction problems
- Use the equal sign to represent equality of addition and subtraction expressions (e.g., 3 + 4 = 10 – 3)
PYP Connections-
- Learner Profile Attributes: thinker, knowledgeable
- Approaches To Learning: communication skills
Home/School Connection
- Students should be working on ST Math at least 15 minutes every day.
- What are 2 ways to make 10?
- Explain the meaning of = to someone
- How many doubles facts can you show using both fingers or “bunny ears?”
- Count by 5s to 100.
- What numbers do you say when you count by 2s to 50?
- Create a story to match this equation: 7 + 6 = ?
- Create a story to match this equation: 12 - 9 = ?
Social Studies
What are we learning?
- Understand that people make choices because they cannot have everything they want.
- Understand that people save money for the future to purchase goods and services.
PYP Connections-
- Learner Profile Attributes: Balanced, Reflective
- Approaches To Learning: Research Skills
Home/School Connection
- Explain why saving money for the future is important
- What is the difference between a need and a want?
- Explain why it might be difficult to choose a need before a want
Science
What are we learning?
- Understand the basic relationships between the sun and Earth:
- the sun is the source of energy and light that warms the land, air, and water; and
- the sun’s relative position in the morning is east and in the late afternoon is west.
- Understand that natural resources are limited.
- identify natural resources
- Identify factors that affect air and water quality
- Understand recycling, reusing, and reducing consumption of natural resources
PYP Connections-
- Learner Profile Attributes: Inquirer, Reflective
- Approaches To Learning: Research Skills
Home/School Connection
- Explain how the sun can change the temperature of water and land
- Why is the sun so important to the earth?
- What does a thermometer do?
- What natural resources do you use every day?
- Why are reducing, reusing and recycling important?
- What is something you can do so that our natural resources don’t get used up?
Important Dates and Reminders
- Monday, May 31 -Memorial Day - Student Holiday
- Friday, June 11- Last day of school/students released at 1:30
Technology Information:
- ALL school-issued laptops must be returned to Dogwood on June 11th. Laptops will not be kept over the summer. If a student is attending summer school, another laptop will be provided once summer school begins. More details on drop off and collection procedures will be coming soon.
- Dogwood’s Tech Help Desk is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 AM to 11 AM if you find that there are problems with your child’s laptop or the MiFi.