Fire Safety

We have been studying fire safety. We had a visit from Hepburn Fire Company. We also made posters for the poster contest. This year's theme is "Stay Fire Smart- Don't Get Burned!" In class we listened to fire safety stories and did an interactive writing of tips for fire safety.

Life Cycles

Life Cycles

We have been studying life cycles. We have had a caterpillar in our class that we have observed. It ate many leaves then spun itself a chrysalis. We waited for a couple of weeks and then out came a butterfly!

Constitution Day

September 17, 2009

We learned about Constitution Day today in first grade. We read a big book and saw pictures of the actual Constitution. We saw a picture of George Washington and discussed why it was a painting and not a photograph. We also saw a picture of Independence Hall in Philadelphia were the Constitution was written. In addition we read Scholastic News and listened to the story Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peg Rathman. We reviewed rules for our country, school, classroom and for safety. We wrote safety rules and displayed them on our bulletin board.

Reading

For reading we have been working on identifying story elements. You can discuss story elements with your child. They include: the title and author of the story, the setting: when or where the story takes place, the characters: who the main characters in the story are, the problem or problems in the story and the solution. Which tells how the problem(s) are solved. By this point your child should be able to answer those story element questions. It reflects their ability to recall information and determines their level of comprehension. As your child progresses in their reading level, comprehension will become a bigger focus. That's why it's important now to help your child with understanding their reading. Fluency is a big indicator as to whether or not your child will comprehend what they read. Fluency deals with how smooth your child reads and the rate or speed they read. Phrasing and expression also play an important role in fluency.

Math

Parents for math we have been learning about shapes. Your children have been asked to bring in objects for our Shapes Museum. We have been reviewing the basic shapes and learning more about 3-D shapes like the cylinder, sphere and rectangular prism. All materials submitted to the museum will be returned in a few weeks. Thank you for your support!

Foss Science

We began our new Foss Science unit. It's called Pebbles, Sand and Silt. We have studied three different kinds of rocks. We did rock rubbings and tried to write with the rocks. We also sorted rocks by their attributes. We washed the rocks in water and then sorted them again. Ask your child about what we did.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher conferences will be held on November 12th and 13th. I will send out a confirmation of the date and time for your child. Any questions please call or email me. Thank you!

Accelerated Reader Program

Many students in our class have been participating in the AR Program. Many library books and some guided reading books have AR tests. After students have read the books a few times they take tests on our classroom computers. These tests ask questions to see how well the children read the books. Most tests are either 5 or 10 questions in length. The teacher monitors their progress to make sure they are passing the tests they take. If your child is reading on a Level H or higher they are participating in this program.
If you have any questions feel free to email Mrs. Gower at tgower@wasd.org.

Book-It

Parents this will be the last month for the Book-It Program. We will collect the book logs on Tuesday, March 31st and give out the last Pizza Hut coupons for those students that met their March reading goal. The students that met their goals for all six months will receive a certificate from Mr. Gonsar!

Social Studies Update

Social Studies update: We just finished learning about our National Symbols, Landmarks, Holidays and Heros. An activity to do at home would be to try and find symbols or pictures of landmarks that are national symbols. Our next unit of study will be to learn about the past. We will look at transportation, technology, schools and communities in Unit 4.

March Events

March has been packed full of reading activities. To start the month we had Puppy Pals night at school. We had eight service dogs come to our school for the first graders to read to. We had a nice turn out and a lot of fun! Thank you to all who participated. We just finished a week of Read Across America activities. We had dress up days and had a guest reader as well as reading buddies from across different grade levels. This month we'll be learning about St. Patrick's Day and spring.

February Events

February has been a busy month. We have celebrated 100 Days of School and Valentine's Day. Phil saw his shadow to begin the month so six more weeks of winter. We discussed President's Day by reading about some presidents like Abe Lincoln and George Washington as well as President Obama. We are learning about Dental Care this week and will have a visit from a dental hygenist. We have also studied Black History month.

Social Studies

We have started a new unit of study for social studies. We have been learning about U.S. History. We will be learning about patriotic symbols and National Holidays. This month we've studied Black History and have been reading about heros such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. We've spent time learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Science

We will be beginning a new unit of study for FOSS science. We will be learning about Pebbles, Silt and Sand. This is a fun interactive unit of study.