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In first grade, we will learn all the time, every day, and will come to understand how everything we learn is connected. First graders will study ponds throughout the school year, incorporating reading, writing, mathematics, and social studies into this typically science-based theme. We will read books about pond life, write about our daily and weekly ecological observations, and measure both temperature change and plant and animal growth. Through this unit of study, we will explore habitats, ecosystems, the water cycle, animals and plants which live in and around the pond, pollution, infestation, the life cycle of frogs and toads, and a bit of genetics. During our weekly hikes, the class will learn to identify different plants and animals, as well as the roles they play within their forest, wetland, or grassland habitat. In social studies, we will learn about government, laws, US history, citizenship, and geography, and support these topics in the classroom by building a collaborative community based on working hard and becoming good friends. We will practice reading and writing daily, and throughout the year will develop math concepts including patterns, time, money, shapes, and math facts through our morning calendar routine and daily math lessons. By participating in these academic rituals daily, students will develop a sense of how the skills we practice in school help to make them successful, deep intellectual individuals.
We look forward to your participation and collaboration throughout the year! |
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Our first graders have become incredible independent readers and writers already this year! In the classroom, students participate in Reader’s Workshop each morning and Writer’s Workshop three afternoons a week to continue building these skills. The students love reading and writing on their own, and are able to practice new concepts independently. During Writer’s Workshop, they engage in a short lesson before racing back to their seats to eagerly write the next installment of their story, conference with a peer or teacher, or begin a new story of their choosing. Reader’s Workshop is a chance for students to sit with a book at their level and read it with a friend, teacher, or on their own. It’s amazing how many books have been read in first grade!
First graders at Green Woods are “budding” botanists, and have germinated several types of seeds this winter, along with planting a batch of bulbs outside and another batch inside. The indoor plants are shooting up, which provides great daily opportunities for measuring by inches and centimeters, key math skills. The students are also learning more about money, adding and subtracting, and lots of new math games. As spring approaches, the students will learn about soil and the changes happening in the earth and above it. They will expand their thinking about our own ponds at the Schuylkill Center to wetlands in general, and after learning about the characteristics of wetlands and the ecosystem it provides the class will visit the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum to investigate such a habitat in person. At the end of the year, the students will design their own pond, create the necessary plants, animals, and structures, and then build a real model pond in the classroom for the school’s Museum Night.
Overall, the Green Woods First Grade continues to be a happy and cooperative group of young learners who raise excitement over reading maps and globes, measuring and counting, solving problems in math and within their peer group, and, of course, reading, writing, speaking, and listening every day!
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