First Grade: October 20 - 24, 2025
Dear First Grade Families,
Thank you for attending our all-school meeting and for your ongoing support of our community. Our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 7th, at 12:30 pm.
Your children have almost made it to the end of their journey through the 21 consonants! They have dramatically improved their ability to decode/encode each letter and isolate and substitute the onset (initial sound) of words. They are now ready to learn the five vowels, which will breathe life into the consonants, enabling students to build words more purposefully and confidently. Students have begun to experiment with spelling independently by engaging in “kid writing,” drawing on their phonemic awareness to write words and sentences. This practice will continue and provide the class with further opportunities for applying their growing knowledge.
Fall has well and truly arrived! The class celebrated with a painting. Beginning with orally recalling from their Circle poem the colors yellow, crimson, and purple, students carefully selected fallen leaves in the forest and then painted the trio of colors on watercolor paper before pressing leaves into the wet paint. The following day, the children removed the leaves from their dried paintings and marveled over the impressions their leaves had made in colors redolent of the season.
Another fall painting students have recently completed is the main piece of their lanterns for Lantern Walk! Each child lent their unique touch to the paint design before punching holes in the paper to allow more light to shine through. Lastly, each child made a yarn handle for their lantern. Students had a choice of yarn work styles of varying difficulty: two strands twisted together, finger chained, or finger knitted. Some students opted for learning finger knitting, which will serve as a springboard into knitting with needles, the next Handwork skill.
Announcements & Reminders:
October 29, 10:45-11:30: Parents are invited to Music class to practice Lantern Walk songs
November 6: Lantern Walk, 6:00 pm (Kindergarten through First Grade students, and their families)
November 21: Thanksgiving Luncheon at 11 am (All family and students are invited)
November 24 - 28 Thanksgiving Break (No School)
Warmly,
Ki Michelle
