*Weekly homework will be sent home every Monday.
Grade 1 homework will start next week (Monday, Sept. 6th). We wanted to take a moment to discuss how to best support your child when they complete their assignments and how much assistance should be given to your child when you see a mistake, especially in the sentences they have written for spelling homework.
We are in the process of helping our students become more independent in their school work and are strongly encouraging them to read, evaluate, then correct their own work before bringing it to the teacher to be checked. As we work toward independence, these skills are still new and we are asking parents to check their child’s homework and provide support to correct it as needed.
We are recommending the following steps to helping correct your child’s homework:
Ask Questions
Start with questions when they have finished, such as:
- "Have you checked that you have everything you need, such as capital letters, end marks, and correct spelling?"
- "Can you see any words we should check for spelling?"
- "Have you used your best handwriting?"
- "Is anything missing?"
Guide Their Attention
If you see mistakes, guide their attention toward the area that has the mistakes.
- "Let’s check the end of the sentence again."
- "What should we do at the beginning of a sentence?"
If they still haven't picked up on any mistakes, you can give your advice to your child on what you would do.
- "I think we should fix that spelling here, what do you think?"
- "Maybe we should use a capital letter here, what do you think?"
- Spelling Correction - If it’s a weekly word from school, it should be spelled correctly in your child’s work. If it’s a new word, ask your child to sound it out and do their best to write the letters they hear. You can write the correct spelling above your child’s spelling. We will be able to look at the word and know if your child should be spelling that word correctly based on what letters and sounds have been taught at that point in the school year.
We believe that if you keep correction student-led and positive, this will help your child’s confidence while also encouraging them to speak more at length about their work and writing. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email us.
Thank you for your support!
- Mr. Hassey & Ms. Allison
On the first day of school our class read the books First Day Jitters by: Julie Danneberg andThe Kissing Hand by: Audrey Penn. In the stories, the characters have lots of different feelings about going to school. The students shared how they were feeling on the first day of grade 1, understanding that we don't all feel the same way and that's okay! Students wrote their name and drew a picture of themselves, then we created a graph together using their drawings. Students also worked on making their own Kissing Hand craft and drew a picture of someone who is special to them.
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Name Song (example):
This is Taiyo!
Taiyo starts with T!
Taiyo!
T for Taiyo!
We ended the week learning about handwriting in grade 1 and practiced the letter Cc together. Students will be practicing handwriting when they arrive in the morning as part of their morning work for the next few weeks. We are not practicing the letters in ABC order because we are focusing on how the letters are formed. For example, you start c at the same spot you start o, a, d, etc.
"If you can make a c you can make an o! If you can make an o you can make an a! If you can make an a you can make a d!"
This year UST has four school agreements:
- We are safe.
- We are caring.
- We are respectful.
- We are responsible.
Our class thought about what we can do and say to help our school be the best place it can be. Students drew pictures and wrote about our agreements, which Mr. Hassey and I will post on the wall in the shared 3F space. Ms. Ashly, our Guidance teacher, also created posters to put around the school to help remind students of our school agreements and encourage them to be safe, caring, respectful, and responsible throughout the school day.
GoNoodle Brain Breaks
During the school day, students will participate in GoNoodle brain breaks and stretches. These activities are great for getting students up and moving! After a lesson or activity, we will often do a brain break to "give our brains a break" because our minds have been working so hard! You can also use GoNoodle at home by visiting the website https://www.gonoodle.com. |
I'm looking forward to a WONDERFUL year in G1A! : )
- Ms. Allison