First Grade News

April 13, 2015

Curriculum Highlights
Math Geometry
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Connected spellings, connected meanings
Procedural Writing and Reading - Verbs, transition words
Reminders
Friday April 17th Red Hat Dress Up Day Bring RM5 to support
charity
Word Study connected spellings, connected meanings

ear
where

hear
two

heard
twin

here
twice

there
between

News From Ms. Tindalls Class

Time continues to be a challenging concept for many students as it is so

abstract not something they can physically hold and manipulate. It is
valuable for us to try to make it as relevant to childrens lives as possible.
At home, notice what time you do things and how long they take. Talk about
how you plan your time. EG, I need to wash the car, write a letter and have
a shower before seven oclock. Now its 5:30pm so that gives me an hour
and a half. I should be able to wash the car in about half an hour. That
leaves one hour to write the letter and have a shower. I think Ill have my
shower first because that only takes a few minutes and then Ill have the
rest of the time to write the letter. Look at both analogue and digital
clocks. Help your child match the time from a digital clock to an analogue
clock and vice versa. Talk about how long activities take. EG. You can brush
your teeth in a few minutes, but to go to the movies you may need a few
hours. Exposure, not mastery, right now is the most important thing.
*** Coming Up: Our final unit for the year is I Was, I Am, I Will Be. It is a
history unit where children will be discovering their own personal timelines.
Photos, memorabilia, stories from grandparents about how life was when
they were young etc are all valuable resources. Start dusting off your old
photo albums (and external drives)! More to come as we draw closer.
In partnership,
Ms. Tindall

Monday
Reading: Look for verbs and transition words. (Verbs are action words eg cut, draw, run,
jump, slide. Transition words move you from one idea to the next eg next, then, after that,
before, the next day, in the morning, after lunch, at noon etc)
Math: Find shapes in your home. Notice the properties of shapes. How many sides? How
many points? Straight or curved lines? How do different shapes fit together around you?
Look at tiles, windows, doors.
Word Study: Study the words carefully. Highlight any connections you see.
Science: How does your family reduce waste? Have a discussion. Be prepared to share at
school.
Tuesday
Reading: Look for verbs and transition words.
Math: Find 3 dimensional shapes in your home. Talk about their attributes: size; shape;
colour; thickness; material; texture. EG The TV is a large, thick, black rectangle. Its smooth
and made of plastic and glass.
Word Study: What is the difference between hear and here? How can you remember the
spellings?
Science: What does your family reuse? Have a discussion. Be prepared to share at school.
Wednesday
Reading: Look for verbs and transition words.
Math: Find 3 dimensional shapes in your home. Talk about their attributes: size; shape;
colour; thickness; material; texture. EG The TV is a large, thick, black rectangle. Its smooth
and made of plastic and glass.
Word Study: Whats the difference between their, there and theyre. How can you
remember the spellings?
Science: What does your family recycle? How do you prepare materials to be recycled?
(EG wash out cans, separate paper etc) Where do you take your recycling? Have a
discussion. Be prepared to share at school.
Thursday
Reading: Look for verbs and transition words.
Math: Find 3 dimensional shapes in your home. Talk about their attributes: size; shape;
colour; thickness; material; texture. EG The TV is a large, thick, black rectangle. Its smooth
and made of plastic and glass.
Word Study: What do twin, twice, two, between have in common? Can you think of any
other words that might be related? Hint: Use a dictionary to find other words with tw.
EG: twig (place where the branch splits into two)
twist (move from side to side 1, 2, 1, 2)
Friday
Reading
Poem Collection