Friday, October 25, 2019

October 21st- October 25th



Dear Families,
We had a full and wonderful week in 1S!

We are really enjoying our bird work time. We continued to discuss the function and anatomy of feathers and have even started our own class collection! We also began our exploration of bird anatomy. We were lucky to have 'Noah Falcon' in class to help us learn and label important body parts of a bird as we compared them to our own human bodies.








In math, we are continuing to practice counting by 5s and used this to learn more about tally marks. We played a fun game with spinners to practice these skills! We also used the 100's chart to add and subtract by 10s. We will be learning a new game next week that will require using all these skills.
 



We were very, very excited to start Reader's Workshop with Debbie. Debbie modeled some great first grade reading strategies for the large group. We then got the opportunity to browse and choose books to practice the skills independently. We LOVED reading new books as we practiced these strategies.... and we did not want to stop!



On Friday, we got to practice reading with a partner. We loved sharing stories with each other and were excellent readers and listeners!





In ethics this week, Laura shared the story You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith. This lead to a discussion about the ways we figuratively 'hold each other up' as a class, as family, as friends or as a community by being kind and supportive.


Image result for you hold me up

We had the pleasure of having two special Mystery Guests this week!

Our first visitors were Eva's dad, Osvaldo, and Vera's dog, Darcy! We learned about how dogs were first domesticated, how dog training works, and even how to safely greet a dog!
 


We were also very fortunate to have Milani's mom and dad come and teach us about Diwali, the Hindi New Year, that they will be celebrating this Sunday. We learned about the Diya, a special candle that is part of the celebration and even got to decorate our own. Your child may ask if they can light it this Sunday in honor of Diwali!


We ended the week with another special nature walk/ campus walk with Howie, our Green Dean, and 1L. On our walk we worked together as a class to complete a nature scavenger hunt! We were surprised by how much we could see right here on our Fieldston Campus! 

Thank you all for coming to Math Night last night. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone and sharing our math curriculum and math games with you. We hope you have a wonderful and relaxing weekend. 

Best,
MY and Amanda















Friday, October 18, 2019

October 16th- October 18th


Dear Families,

We had a short week that seemed even shorter as it was filled with a trip and a movie (or half a movie...)

On Wednesday, we went on a neighborhood walk to Indian Pond with our Green Dean, Howie. It was amazing to see and learn so much about the trees and birds in our Fieldston community. At Indian Pond, we had our snack and spent time observing and drawing nature.  Thank you, Howie!




During this week's bird work times, we continued finding birds in our bird guides and drawing them.



In Math, we explored the pattern of counting in 5s and traced our hands. We will continue to practice counting by 5s as it is an important skill to have in first grade. Please help your child practice at home as well. A great way to reinforce counting in 5s, 10s and 1s is counting money!



In Ethics, we read a book called, 'When Aiden Became a Brother' by Kyle Lukoff as we spoke about gender identity.


Here are a few links that might be helpful in speaking to your children about this topic:
In P.E., we had the Manhattan College students lead another great period with fun filled activities. 

And of course, last but not least, we had a blast on our playdate with 1L today! We continued (and finished) watching 'Rio' together and had a wonderful out time!



If we do not see you at the carnival, we wish everyone a warm and relaxing weekend! 
Happy Carnival!

Best, 
MY and Amanda

March 2nd- March 6th

Reminder:  Please send your child in with a water bottle. We want to be extra careful with our community germs and are trying not to use ...