Great Hearts Northern Oaks First Grade

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Q1 W7 9/20-9/24

First Grade News

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great weekend! It was so much fun to see all the Griffin spirit last week as we celebrated Homecoming. Thank you for making it so special.

Please send in the next Classics to Keep, Frog & Toad Together. We will begin reading this together in class on Monday. If you do not have a copy, please let your scholars' teacher know.

This week in Science, we will finish our unit on Matter with an investigation of ways to change matter from one state to another. We will also introduce the Layers of the earth and volcanoes. Lots of fun and exploration happening this week. Thank you to those who volunteered to put the volcanoes together for our scholars to enjoy! We couldn't offer all these memorable activities without your help!

In Math, we will wrap up addition and use all the skills we have learned with number bonds, counting on and number stories to begin our unit on subtraction. This switch from addition to subtraction can be difficult for some students. Keep practicing math facts within 10 at home to build a solid foundation.

Thank you for your partnership and have a blessed week.

Go Griffins!

A Peek at the Week

Language Arts
Spalding phonograms
Spelling Words
Frog and Toad Together
Trickster Tales
Identify Beginning, Middle, End
Elements of Narrative text
Common and proper nouns
Beginning capitals and ending punctuation

Math
Review/Test Addition Unit Subtraction Number Stories Comparing Addition and Subtraction

History/Science
Changing States of Matter Volcanoes/Layers of the Earth

Upcoming Events

September 24 – Early Release Friday
September 27- NO SCHOOL, Professional Development
October 1- Full Day Friday
October 8 - Early Release Friday
October 18-22 - NO SCHOOL; Fall Break
October 26- Ancient Egypt Celebration

Monday, September 13, 2021

Q1 W6 9/13-9/17

First Grade News

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great weekend. We are celebrating Spirit Week this week as a GHNO family with our Upper School community. Students will be working on coloring/drawing projects as a contest for Spirit week as well as participating in a canned food drive. Canned foods may be dropped off at the front office this week. Friday is early release and students may wear any spirit shirt as well as a mum to celebrate HOMECOMING! (please see GHNO newsletter for specifications on mums).

This week we will wrap up our unit on Mesopotamia and jump right over into Ancient Egypt. This unit is always a favorite among our first grade scholars! On Friday, the scholars will be sent home with a project to complete. They will be making their own Egyptian collars. Supplies are included, but please feel free to embellish (or bedazzle) to make your scholar's project really shine! This is a very fun project that we hope you enjoy making with your scholar as much as we love to see all the creative ideas sent in each year! The collars will be used later in our unit for a special celebration (more details to come later on this).

Thank you for your partnership and have a blessed week.

Go Griffins!

A Peek at the Week

Language Arts
Spalding phonograms
Spelling Words
In Which Tigger Comes to the Forest
Identify Beginning, Middle, End
Elements of Narrative text
Common and proper nouns- places
Beginning capitals and ending punctuation

Math
Number Bonds
Making ten
Addition within 10 Counting On

History/Science
Wrap up Mesopotamia Unit Begin Ancient Egypt Unit

Upcoming Events

September 17 – Early Release Friday
September 24 – Early Release Friday; Spirit Shirt Day
September 27- NO SCHOOL, Professional Development
October 1- Full Day Friday
October 8 - Early Release Friday
October 18-22 - NO SCHOOL; Fall Break

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Q1 W5 9/7-9/10

First Grade News

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a fun-filled and relaxing holiday weekend. This week we will delve into the states of matter in science. This is always such a fun unit for the scholars with lots of hands on experiences looking at solids, liquids, and gases. We will talk about the properties of each type of matter and learn a fun new song to help us remember them.

Don't forget to join us this Wednesday, Sept. 8th for Curriculum Night. You will hear about and experience our Great Hearts curriculum, including a mini version of a typical day in the shoes of your student. Be ready to participate and ask questions! ☺ This will be a virtual event this year and we hope you can join us. Please log in a few minutes early to the zoom link sent by your scholar's teacher and have your printed materials ready to work!

Curriculum Night will begin at 5:45 p.m. and will last until 6:25 p.m..

Go Griffins!

A Peek at the Week

Language Arts
Spalding phonograms Spelling Words
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Making predictions
Elements of Narrative text
Author's purpose
Common and proper nouns- places
Beginning capitals and ending punctuation

Math
Number Bonds
Making ten Addition within 10

History/Science
States/Properties of: Solids, Liquids, Gases

Upcoming Events
Sept. 8th - K-3 Curriculum night; Zoom Meeting
September 10 – Full Day Friday
September 17 – Early Release Friday
September 24 – Early Release Friday; Spirit Shirt Day

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Q1 W4 8/30-9/3

First Grade News

Dear Parents,

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, Sept. 8th, our Curriculum Night. You will hear about and experience our Great Hearts curriculum, including a mini version of a typical day in the shoes of your student. Be ready to participate and ask questions! ☺ This will be a virtual event this year and we hope you can join us. Please log in a few minutes early to the zoom link sent by your scholar's teacher and have your printed materials ready to work! Curriculum Night will begin at 5:45 p.m. and will last until 6:25 p.m..

This Friday is early dismissal and an R&R weekend, (no homework, yay)! We hope you enjoy some fun and make lots of memories with your family as you celebrate Labor Day.

Go Griffins!

A Peek at the Week

Language Arts
Spalding phonograms
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Making predictions Elements of Narrative text Author's purpose
Common and proper nouns
Beginning capitals and ending punctuation

Math
Number Bonds Making ten

History/Science
Continents and map skills
Begin Mesopotamia Unit

Upcoming Events

Sept. 3rd – Early Release Friday
Sept. 6th – No School, Labor Day Holiday
Sept. 8th - K-3 Curriculum night; Zoom Meeting
September 10 – Full Day Friday
September 17 – Early Release Friday
September 24 – Early Release Friday; Spirit Shirt Day

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Q1 W3 Aug. 23-27

First Grade News

Dear Parents,

Next week is a BIG week in first grade! We will begin reading our first "Classic to Keep," Frog and Toad Are Friends. We will follow Frog and Toad on many adventures in the first quarter. Frog and Toad will teach us about friendship, perseverance, humility, courage, and many other virtues while we learn various listening and reading comprehension strategies. We will start our journey on Monday, August 23rd, so please be sure to send your student's copy of Frog and Toad Are Friends to school by then. We kindly ask that you only send one Classic to Keep at a time. Particularly in the case of the Frog and Toad series, families may think it's easier to send several books to be kept at school. However, few books can hold up to being stored in a first grader's desk or living in their backpack for a month.

A note about Classics to Keep: Each year we as teachers have the honor of sharing these beautiful texts with our scholars. It is always such a joy to watch the reactions of students as the plot of each story unfolds. Unfortunately each year there are also students who don't experience these moments of wonder as fully because they have already read the story and know what will happen next. We would be grateful if you would help us preserve these moments of wonder by waiting until after we read the text in class to allow your student to enjoy the text independently. Thank you very much for your partnership in this effort.

Next week our first graders will also complete their first project of the school year! Each student will create an island with 3-D representations of multiple landforms. It's exciting to see several weeks of procedures training pay off as students listen attentively and follow instructions while creating their islands. It is a moment of wonder and excitement for our students, and we can't wait to see the finished products!

Finally, be sure to mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 8^th and join us for Curriculum night. You will get to step into the shoes of your scholar and experience our Great Hearts curriculum, including a mini-version of a typical day in our classroom. Be ready to participate and ask questions, and make sure to practice your phonograms!

August 27^th is an early release day AND a Griffin Spirit Day! Students may wear any GHNO shirt with their uniform bottoms.

ROAR and SOAR Griffins!

A Peek at the Week

Language Arts

Spalding phonograms