Course Syllabus
General Information:
Snack: The children are encouraged to bring a nutritious snack to school. We will eat it around 10:00 every day. Some suggestions include pretzels, raisins, apples, popcorn, crackers, dry cereal, granola, and cheese. Please do not include anything that includes peanuts or tree nuts because we are a nut-free classroom.
Birthdays: Birthday treats are always welcomed! Please make sure you bring enough for the entire class. Sometimes students also like to bring extras to pass out to other teachers around Maryland Elementary. Please write me a note or email to let me know what day you will be sending in the treat. Also, if your child has a summer birthday, you may send in a treat at their half birthday or wait until the end of the year.
Zero the Hero: In first grade, we celebrate every tenth day of school with Zero the Hero. In our morning meeting, we count the number of days that we have been in school. We work on also skip counting by twos, fives, and tens as well as learning place value of the numbers. On every tenth day of school, Zero the Hero comes out and helps us count. The child who brings in the Zero the Hero item puts in in a mystery box. Our class plays twenty questions to guess what is inside. Please feel free to sign up on our calendar to bring in a Zero the Hero item. It should be something that is shaped like a zero, circle or ball. Please make sure you bring enough for every student in our classroom.
Homework: Your child will be getting homework on a weekly basis. This will include reading logs and math worksheets. Reading logs will go home on Mondays and will be returned back to school on the following Monday. The math homework will be turned in the next day. I understand that families might have prior commitments with family, friends, sports, etc. and I am flexible for when work is returned to school.
Language Arts:
Ohio has adopted new standards in Language Arts within the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). These standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn and they are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. The areas of focus include the following sections:
- Reading Literature
- Reading Informational Text
- Reading Foundational Skills
- Writing
- Speaking and Listening
- Langauge
We will incorporate the new standards throughout our reading and writing workshops. As I teach the skills in each domain, the students will have time to practice them within their own reading and writing.
Daily 5/Reading Workshop:
The Daily 5 is more than a management system or a curriculum framework - it is a structure that helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing, and working independently that will lead to a lifetime of literacy independence.
During Daily 5, students have choices to help build their reading, writing, and word skills. Everyday students must choose 20 minutes of reading. Our class has been working very hard to build our reading stamina to reach 20 minutes. Soon students will have options to not only read-to-self for 20 minutes, but also read-to-someone, listening to reading, working on writing, and word work.
As students complete these rotations daily, I will be meeting with students in guided reading to strategy groups to work on different components of learning to read and write including phonemic awareness, high frequency words, word families, comprehension, reading strategies, fluency, inventive and conventional spelling, writing and reading for meaning, and modeling.
Students will meet in a reading group about two times a week. We will work on specific reading skills and strategies with individual texts that will go home with them to practice reading at home. Return the books on their reading day so they can get new books to practice their reading. If for some reason the child forgets their books, I will hold on to the new books until they return the old ones. If a book gets lost, you will be required to pay for it.
Writing Workshop:
During writing workshop, students will have a chance to work on a variety of writing activities. In first grade, we have journal writing where students will retell the events of their lives, write about a specific topic, or have free choice of what to write about. Our class will also have assignments of specific writing to work on skills with the CCSS and correlated to the Writing Units of Study from the Teacher’s College. This may include writing with beginning, middle, and end or including character traits. The goal is to expose students to writing stories, poems, and reports that correlate with our units of study. As students develop their writing, I will also work with them to edit and check their writing for capitals, punctuation, spelling, and making sure their writing makes sense. We will also make sure that our writing includes legible handwriting and spelling of core and no excuse words from our spelling program.
Handwriting:
Our district uses the program Handwriting Without Tears to teach handwriting skills to our students. In this program, we work on correctly printing uppercase and lowercase letters and writing of the numbers. The goals for first graders are to become fluent with their handwriting, use correct printing skills, and make their writing legible. In first grade, reversals of some letters (for example b and d) and letters are very common. However, my goal will be to help point out to students the mistake and help them to practice to write their letters and numbers correctly. A copy of the letters and numbers is provided in the curriculum packet.
Spelling:
Our district uses the program Sitton Spelling and Word Skills. In this spelling program, first grade will work to learn spelling strategies, word skills, and high frequency words. We will use a spelling book that correlates with the program throughout the year. In this packet there is a NO EXCUSE WORD list. These are words that should be spelled correctly in their classroom writing and help to move students to be more conventional spellers. The no excuse words are words that we work on and introduce to our word wall so students can refer to the correct spelling. I encourage your child to practice these words in order to spell them correctly.
Phonics Dance:
We will learn the Phonics Dance in first grade this year. It is a quick and easy way to teach phonics skills, phonemic awareness and increase the reading and writing skills of every student. The Six Step Program incorporates fun and motivating rhymes, movement and chants. As our class builds on phonemic awareness, students become confident, successful writers. In the process they develop strong decoding skills through the use of “hunking and chunking” to build poise and fluency in reading.
Math:
Just like Language Arts, Ohio has adopted new standards through the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). With the new mathematical standards, the idea is to ensure that students learn the skills and knowledge of concepts on a deeper level and with more meaningful understanding. There are four main domains of the CCSS:
- Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
- Measurement and Data
- Geometry
Included with the learning of these domains comes the mathematical practices:
- Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of other.
- Model with mathematics.
- Use appropriate tools strategically.
- Attend to precision.
- Look for and make use of structure.
- Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
In order to achieve these goals, we are using the math program called My Math. Included in this curriculum packet is information in regards to the CCSS for mathematics and how is correlates with the My Math program.
Units:
Through the year, we will have units of study that focus on language arts, social studies, science, and health. Here are some of the units that will be taught in first grade. During the school year, first grade will focus on the seasons, weather, holidays, and current events.
- Seuss: Welcome to School
- Five Senses
- Forces and Motion
- Citizenships, Rights, and Government
- People Now and Long Ago
- Clifford
- States of Matter and Changes
- Ezra Jack Keats
- Economics: Wants, Needs and Money
- Sun, Weather and Energy
- Living Things
- Our Community and the World
Special's Schedule:
Monday:
Gym 10:55-11:30
Art 12:35-1:10
Tuesday:
Music 9:40-10:15
Library 10:20-10:55
Wednesday:
Buddies (Every other Wednesday)
Gym 10:20-10:55
Art 10:55-11:30
Thursday:
Guidance 10:55-11:30
Music 1:10-1:45
Friday:
Spanish 1:10-1:45
Please remember to check that your child wears sneakers to school on Monday and Thursday for Gym.
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
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