First Grade October Newsletter

F I R S T G R A D E N E WS
Here you will find some important
dates and reminders for the month of
October. Most of these activities do
not involve parent volunteers, but
please feel free to join us. Our door is
always open! Please keep your eyes
peeled for communication regarding
volunteer opportunities (Mystery
Readers, field trips, Halloween).
More detailed information regarding
some of these events and November
dates will be included in the weekly
Ask-Me-Abouts and November
newsletter.
Thank you for your continued support!
Please let us know if you have any
questions!
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*Friday, October 10th- SPIRIT DAY
- Wear spirit wear (CA sweatshirt,
tee-shirt, etc.). More details to
follow!
*Monday, October 13th -
COLUMBUS DAY - No School
*Friday, October 17th - Art Field
Trip - Pizzuti Collection
*Week of October 20th-24th -
Campre with 3rd Grade Buddies
(Wear dress down attire on campre
day - Look for specic information
in class Ask Me About)
*Week of October 27th - Canned
Food Drive
*Week of October 27th - BOOK
FAIR
*October 28th- First Grade Concert
at Assembly (8:15 in theater)
*Friday, October 31st - Halloween
Party and Parade
*Monday, November 3rd - No School
- Teacher Professional Development
Day
F I R S T G R A D E T H E M E N E WS
Columbus Academy First Graders are excited
to go global!
We have started our Going Global unit.
Students will make connections in all
areas of the curriculum, reading books
related to our theme, researching and
writing about children around the
world, completing mapping activities ,
and even solving some math problems
connected to this theme.

We hope to wrap up the unit with a trip
to The North Market. As we get
more information we will keep you
updated.
Week 1
My Place in the World
We will learn about maps and our place
on the map - our own country/state/city/
home. We will think about different
activities we can do in the community.
Week 2
Global Mapping
We will be taking a global view on
mapping this week. Our map skills
book will help guide our global discovery.
Weeks 3
Tooth Traditions
We are using the book Throw Your
Tooth on the Roof by Selby Beeler to
start talking about traditions around the
world. We will be discovering similarities
and differences among children in the
world.
Weeks 4-6
Around the World
We will use this as an opportunity to
broaden our study. We will create
essential questions to guide our
discovery of food, language, religion, and
art around the world.
goi ng global Uni t of Study

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Going Global
In the classroom...
F I R S T G R A D E N E WS
Math
We are currently working in Unit 2 in
our Everyday Math book. This unit
focuses on the use of numbers in real-
world contexts. Children will practice
how to tell time to the hour, how to
count collections of pennies and nickels
and other coins as appropriate. The
children will also continue to develop
counting skills, solve addition and
subtraction problems along with
number stories using a number grid.
Our math program continues to give
your child rich opportunities to
make connections between their own
knowledge and experiences and learn
skills in meaningful contexts so that
mathematics becomes real
(Everyday Mathematics).
Students have been using the Phonics Dance,
their Monster Words, new Hunks and Chunks,
and the Word Wall for different activities
throughout the day. We feel that all children
need many opportunities to work with word
chains, rhyming words, prefixes, suffixes, and
vowel/consonant patterns. All of these
activities help in spelling and increase word
recognition and word decoding skills, even for
our fluent readers.
We continue to practice many reading
strategies together as a class, in small groups,
with partners, or independently during our
independent reading time. Our goal in first
grade is to promote fluent readers who can
find enjoyment in just right books!
Literacy
Halloween
The Halloween Party and Parade will
be held on October 31st this year.
We ask that you send your child to
school on this day in his/her school
uniform and carry his/her costume in
a bag. We will give the students time
to change into their costumes for the
party and parade that afternoon. If
you would like to arrive early to help
the children get into costumes, please
arrive by 1:30. Our classroom party
will begin at 2:00 followed by the
parade at 2:30. Thank you to those
who have volunteered and to our
wonderful room mom for organizing!