First Grade - Mrs. LoPresti
Teaching Assistant: Jennifer Porcelli
Contact information: jennifer.lopresti@bdms.org
Memory Words covered up to date:
I, he, she, my, his, her, why, who, what, when, where, which, a, show, how, have, do, me
Social Studies Topics for the year:
School
Communities
Work
Our Earth and Resources
Markets
Our World, Our Country
Please remember: We cannot microwave any lunches for students. In first grade the children eat in the gym/cafeteria and no microwave is available.
We are very excited about continuing with the Super Kids reading program that the children worked with in Kindergarten! The program includes a three week review of skills learned during the previous school year to help students recall information presented in the past. This review program called Welcome Back Super Kids, also gives children who are new to our school a chance to meet the wonderful characters who help the students stay motivated and make real life connections to their learning.
This year, after our brief review period, the students will be working on exciting new spelling patterns and developing comprehension, fluency, and grammar skills. They will be learning more about the Super Kids and activities they do in our first grade units: Adventures of the Super Kids and More Adventures of the Super Kids. Another fantastic feature to this program is a new writing program that will help students connect to the characters and their experiences.
Students will be given various opportunities to work in a whole group setting as well as small groups so that individual learning needs and styles are addressed. Core curriculum will be presented in a large or whole group setting so that all students are able to enjoy the stories, activities, and lessons together. After core curriculum is presented, students will be given opportunities to work in smaller groups with guidance from the teachers to review presented sounds and skills in ways that help the students learn. Motivating centers, games, and incorporated technology will be included so the children are active participants.
Listening comprehension is another important part of of early literacy development. Along with small reading groups, our class will participate in whole group read alouds. Read alouds are a great way to focus on listening comprehension and discussion. Read alouds also provide for a great assessment of prior knowledge. Books chosen for read alouds will be tied in with topics being discussed in class or related to a special day or theme.
Writing is a huge part of the first grade curriculum. Everyday we will develop our writing skills, as they are so closely related to reading skills. Students will be given daily grammar practice as part of morning work. Early in the year sentences will be grammatically correct to familiarize students with basic sentence writing structure. As we move through the language arts curriculum, morning work will serve as a class editing activity. We will look at a sentence on the board and fix it while writing. Other opportunities for writing will happen each day through the use of interactive and shared writing experiences. Students will also be given pictures or topics to write about during the language arts class.
Our approach to Math is "hands-on". We will use manipulatives to explore math concepts whenever possible. Some manipulatives we will use are unifix cubes, base 10 blocks, shells, counters, and many other objects to count, estimate, problem solve and develop math skills. Advanced skills in money and time will be covered as well as two digit addition and subtraction.
Our Science lessons involve the use of hands on activities whenever possible. We will study the various areas of science within the disciplines of life, earth, and physical science. We will focus on content areas that expose children to possible topics found on the 4th grade New York State Science assessment. Early exposure to key content leads to improved comprehension of topics within the assessment.
In Religion we get to know God through Bible stories and lessons. Our curriculum follows the textbook series We Believe by Sadlier. To supplement these texts, bible stories will be read to students as they "take notes" to develop listening skills. Children will be drawing pictures as they listen to a bible story. These drawings will serve as notes to help students practice writing and describing what they drew. As the year progresses, students will begin to write sequenced responses to the bible stories before drawing pictures.
Our Social Studies curriculum involves topics such as getting ready for school, families, communities, our country, work, and our world. Scholastic news publications will also supplement our Scott Foresman curriculum. Focus on geography, holidays, and other appropriate topics will be part of the curriculum this year.
We will go on field trips when possible and appropriate throughout the school year. Parents will be notified of field trips well in advance.
We look forward to working with your children everyday!
Please note that home toys will not be allowed out during the school day as we have many fun games and activities for the students to play with during recess when there is inclement weather.
Scott Foresman Math & Science
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