First Grade: March 31 - April 4, 2025
Dear First Grade Families,
Welcome back to school! We trust that over the break you enjoyed the beauty and freshness that this time of year brings. Thank you for joining us at Grandfriends' Day, which was the perfect send-off to a well-deserved break for all. The children really poured themselves into the effort of learning and singing those songs from their hearts.
Before the break, the class deepened their understanding of near doubles strategies in Math, aided by their now strong knowledge of doubles in addition. They also began to learn to regroup within 20. Counting by fives has become more automatic for the children, which helps them when using number lines, their personal bead strings (where 20 beads are arranged in alternating groups of five), and as the foundation for the fives times table.
One way in which students practiced counting by fives and tens before the break was in sharing out the counting of an entire bag of dried black-eyed peas! The class was astonished to find that there were 1,544 peas in a single bag. Once all the peas had been counted by First Grade and encased in a glass jar, the other Grade classes took a crack at guessing how many peas there were. Unsurprisingly, a Seventh Grade buddy came the closest, with a guess of over 1,000. The Sixth/Seventh Grade class and their teacher won a set of beautiful watercolor bookmarks lovingly made by First Grade. Our class had a lot of fun revealing the actual total to the older students. The idea actually sprang from our last class read-aloud, The Children of Noisy Village, in which the six children of the story take a jar of peas around Noisy Village to play the same guessing game and award a large cookie to the character whose guess is closest. Such timeless games provide a lot of pleasure to the class and create stronger bonds with their school community.
This week, the last of the block, First Graders are cementing their understanding of the Math strategies they have been learning and also making new discoveries of number patterns. They will soon begin preparing for the class play, which is now less than a month away!
Announcements and Reminders for First Grade:
It is warming up! Each day, students should have:
Short sleeves and shorts worn on their own or under long sleeves and pants, not on top. Peeling off layers is far more efficient.
Two full water bottles
Bug spray
Lip/skincare items, as needed
4/25: Annual Auction Fundraiser - Half Day
4/26: Community Work Day
5/10: Community Work Day
5/12: First Grade Class Play at 5:30 p.m.
5/21: Field Day / Half Day for Kindergarten
5/23: Last Day of School - Full Day
Warmly,
Ki Michelle
