First Grade News May 12, 2014

Curriculum Highlights

Math Adding and Subtracting 2 digit numbers, exploring symmetry, capacity, heights,
fractional parts of a whole, comparing fractions
Writing Information Report Review Who am I now?
Social Studies I was, I am, I will be
Spelling: Review - Words that sound alike but are spelt differently have different
meanings.
Reading Self monitoring for comprehension

Reminders

Tuesday May 13 No School Wesak Day
Please check around your home for reading books from grade 1 and library books.
We are missing quite a few books. As we rely on having multiple copies of books for our
small group book studies just having one missing can render the rest of the set unusable.
Please make an extra special effort to recover these books and return them to school.


Word Study

to two too their theyre
for four see sea c


News From Ms. Tindalls Class
The conversations children are having at school about their personal histories are just lovely. It
has been wonderful listening to children excitedly tell stories of their past. Thank you for making
this unit so special. This week each child will have a chance to share their memories with fellow
students and work on some writing pieces. As youre talking with your child about their past
please include some anecdotes from your past too. How were things different/the same when you
were a child? What toys did you play with? What did your weekly schedule look like? What
expectations were different/the same? How was school different/the same? How can you find out
about the past? (Is interviewing a person always accurate? Photos? Books? Artifacts?) Please
remember that you dont have to make things sound all rosy and perfect for your children. They
need to know that life can be challenging and that they can develop strategies and attitudes to deal
with it. By hearing about your struggles and also what you did to get through and what you might
do differently helps give children courage and strength to know that they too can deal with
unpleasant situations if they arise.

In partnership,
Ms. Tindall




Monday
Reading: What strategies are you using to self-monitor comprehension?
Word Study: What does each word mean? How are they alike and how are they different?
Whats a strategy you can use to remember the different spellings?
Math: Solve: 39 +25. Draw a representation and a number model. Explain to an adult the
strategy you used to solve the problem. Now use a different strategy. Again draw a
representation of your strategy. Again explain your second strategy. Compare the strategies.
Which was more efficient?
Social studies: Look at old an photograph. It can be from your life a few years ago or a
really old photograph. Any picture from the past will do. Look at it carefully. What can you
tell about that time just by looking at the picture? How can you learn about the past from
photos? Be prepared to discuss this at school tomorrow.

Tuesday
Reading: What strategies are you using to self-monitor comprehension?
Word Study: Say each word in a sentence. How can you tell what the word means if you
dont see it spelt?
Math: Show different coin combinations to make these amounts. (You can use US coins, P,
N, D, Q or any currency you have enough of such as RM or Sing $)
78 cents $1.33 $1.21 $3.49
$1.05 14 cents 98 cents $2.87
Social Studies: Find a thing or picture of a thing from the past. EG an old toy (such as a
spinning top), an old tool (such as an old razor blade used for shaving), an old bicycle,
phone, aeroplane etc. What can you learn by looking at the artifact? What theories do you
have about the past because of this object? How can artifacts help us learn about the past?

Wednesday
Reading: What strategies are you using to self-monitor comprehension?
Math: Solve: 42 - 11. Draw a representation and a number model. Explain to an adult the
strategy you used to solve the problem. Now use a different strategy. Again draw a
representation of your strategy. Again explain your second strategy. Compare the strategies.
Which was more efficient?
Social Studies: Ask your parents to describe one of their saddest memories? Why was it
sad? How did they cope with the sad feelings? What did they do to get support? Would they
do anything differently if the same thing happened again? What do you do when youre
feeling sad?

Thursday
Reading: What strategies are you using to self-monitor comprehension?
Math: Grab mixed piles of coins. Sort and count. Write the total amount in cent notation,
then dollar and cent notation.
Word Study: Can you think of any other homophones - words that sound the same but are
spelt differently and therefore have different meanings?
Social Studies: Ask your parents to describe one of their happiest memories? Why was it
happy? What did they do? What do you do when you feel happy?
Friday
Reading
Poem Collection
Social Studies: Ask your parents/ grandparents what do they think the biggest change has
been/ difference is, from the time they went to school to the present time. What is one thing
they have learned that they want you to remember as you grow up?