March will bring us Read Across America, St. Patrick's Day, and the first day of Spring, which we are ALL looking forward too! We will learn about Dr. Seuss and the contributions he made to helping children learn how to read. We are reading Fairy Tales this month. If you have any at home, they still make great bedtime stories!
During the month of March, our whole school is continuing the character education work out. We are spending time with lessons on courage, optimism, respect, responsibility, empathy, citizenship, and trustworthiness. These are great qualities to reinforce at home.
This month I will travel to Columbia Teachers College for their Reading and Writing Project Saturday reunion. This is an amazing event, free to all teachers, and thousands of teachers will be there. I can't wait to try all of the new things I will learn there with my group of first graders.
We will conduct a science unit on Balance and Motion. We will use the FOSS kit to explore balance, motion, counterweights, rolling, spinning, axles, wheels, rotation. This is a fun, hands on unit using various manipulatives. Look for a parent letter to come home. Students will want to share all we are doing in class with this unit!
In math, we are beginning Unit 7. This unit is on Geometry. Key concepts include sorting attributes blocks according to attribute rules, extending familiarity with polygons, identifying 3 dimensional shapes, and exploring symmetrical shapes. Please continue to practice basic addition and subtraction facts.
Writing Workshop will focus on narrative stories. The students have been working so hard in Writing Workshop, this unit will be a little more "free" for them to express themselves.
Have a great month!
