First Grade News
We had an exciting and productive first week of school! First graders have been thrilled to be with their old friends and to meet new ones. We had such a wonderful day on our apple picking field trip. The first graders picked more than enough apples for the whole school for Rosh Hashanah!
In the first week of school, we began our “kindness chain.” Each time a student in our class does something kind, they can add a link to our paper chain. Our goal is to have the chain stretch from the General Studies classroom to the Judaics classroom by the end of the year. We already have so many links of kindness on our chain!
First graders have been learning the routines of our classrooms. We have been so impressed with their ability to transition into a new grade with new routines. They completed a classroom scavenger hunt, learned about how to take care of our classroom supplies, and practiced borrowing books from our classroom library.
We introduced our sharing circle which focuses on giving students speaker power. This gives students a chance to share with group. Students practiced being in their best listening position while focusing on the speaker.
We had so many read alouds in the first two weeks of school. One of our favorites was Ish by Peter H. Reynolds. The first graders drew their own ish picutres to add to our Ish Gallery! In Reading we also spoke about how to pick just right books. First graders also painted beautiful self portraits that are now hanging around our classroom.
First graders started learning math by reviewing numbers one to ten. We also practiced recognizing the numbers in digit and word form. First graders started working in their new math workbooks too!
We started handwriting this week. First graders have learned “magic c,” “o,” and “s.” We call the letter “c” magical because it can be turned into the letters o, d, a, g, and q.
First grade writers got to work on the very first day of school and wrote about what they love. They decorated their writing folders with beautiful pictures! First grade writers are writing small moment stories: stories that zoom in on a particular moment in their lives. We read Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements as an example of a small moment story. We’ve learned the first four steps of our writing process: think of an idea, plan, write, and revise!
In Hebrew, we all shared our Hebrew names and introduced ourselves in Hebrew. We learned how to write the letters tav and mem and what sound they make when we add the vowels, kamatz and patach.The first graders were so excited to get their first classroom assignment. We also added words to our word wall like tapuz (orange), tof (drum), tarnegolet (chicken), tut (strawberry) and tamrur (traffic sign).
In Yahadut, we spoke about the meaning of Tefilah (praying).We decorated our Siddurim (prayers book) covers and made the first page of our Siddur, which is about the tefilah modeh ani. Each student shared about what he\she is thankful for. Everyone did a beautiful job! We learned about Rosh Hashanah. We discussed how Rosh Hashanah is the world’s birthday and learned some of the important symbols of this special holiday, which are apples, honey, the shofar, a pomegranate, and a round challah. We also spoke about Yom Kippur and that it is a day where we reflect on the year and we say that we are sorry. We learned about Tashlich and we reflected on the things we wish to keep from last year, as well as what we would like to throw away. Next week we will have our own Tashlich ceremony which the first graders will draw outside with chalks the things that they want to throw away and then wash them away with water.