First Grade

Happy New Year! Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the time with your children! The first grade had a great time making ornaments and gingerbread houses. They did a fantastic job!

January News 

Math- we will be studying addition and subtraction to twenty. We will be making flashcards to take home to memorize math facts.

English- writing words and sentences

Printing-reviewing lower case and upper case letters

Language Arts-writing stories, poems, phonics and making story maps

Religion-reading bible stories

Social Studies-rights and responsibilities of citizens

Science-plants

Spanish-new vocabulary-fruits and vegetables-we will make flashcards to study at home

Computer-addition and subtraction fact websites and lifecycle of a plant power point

First Grade News

Social Studies and Science

- The first grade are finishing a unit on plants. They have learned the different parts of plants and the life cycle of a pumpkin. They will be planting grass in November. They will also work with lima beans and pumpkin seeds.

-The students had a wonderful Firefighter presentation with Firefighter Terri Fogarty. They also wrote facts about firefighters. They also will be learning about community workers.

Reading and Language Arts

-The first grade are continuing to work on writing complete sentences. They are being introduced to nouns and verbs. They are also reviewing sentence capitalizing and punctuating.  In writing, we continue to write short stories with a beginning, middle and end. They are reading wonderful literature with comprehension and vocabulary activities.

Math

-The class is working on addition and subtraction problems. They also have started to work on short word problems. The class is also learning to compare numbers.

Religion

-The main themes this month are being holy as God, making good choices and treating others with respect. We continue to read stories from the bible. We also talk and write about saints.

Halloween Learning

-The students will be graphing with candy corn, dem bones candy and spooky cookies.

Fieldtrips

-Thursday, November12-California Academy of Sciences

-Thursday, December 17-Ice Skating

Dear Families,

This will inform you about our activities for September.

Language Arts: The children will read from the book “Under the Hat” which are stories about animals.  They will learn comprehension skills and will write short stories.  We will learn Phonics.  We will continue to learn to write complete sentences.  We are playing phonics games to learn the sounds of letters.

Math: We are currently working on a chapter about counting 0 through 10 objects. The chapter teaches the children to read and write numbers. In addition the children use patterns to solve problems.  We will use manipulatives to learn.  In addition to the daily work from the book, your child has many opportunities to reinforce skills learned through a variety of different activities in class.  One of these activities is working on the computer. The two sites we will be using are: www.mathsurf.com and www.aplusmath.comIf you have access to the internet at home, you are welcome to use these sites at home.

Social Studies: We will study map skills, community workers, and people we depend on to help us in our lives.

Science: We are currently studying reptiles, amphibians, and mammals.  We will learn the life cycles of animals.

Religion: The students are learning that the readings at Mass come from a special book called the Bible. The children learn about St. Augustine.  They learn to do a listening prayer.

Fieldtrips: October 8 - Pumpkin Patch Fieldtrip

                 November 12 - California Academy of Science

Dear Parents,

Thank you for preparing your child for our May Liturgy.  Each first grader helped us honor the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Their prayerful manner was a blessing for us all.

Please return your child’s “home reader”.  We are now in the process of taking inventory for the next school year.  

As always, I am very grateful for your support and concern.  Thank you for allowing me to be part of your life and family.

Important Upcoming Dates

• Friday, April 3rd: Coloring Easter Eggs
• Monday, April 6:th Egg Hunt at Palega Park (11:30-12:30)
• Friday,  April 24th: Earth Movie - Century 21 Theater, Daly City (9:00)
• Wednesday, April 29th: Grandparent/Elder Friend Day 9:30 am - 12:00 pm

We are grateful to the following parents who faithfully drove on all our field trips:

Mr. Abranches, Mr. & Mrs. Blanco, Mr. Buckley, Mrs. Hanson, Mrs. Choy, Mrs. Lanuza, Mr. Lanza, Mrs. Lezcano, Mr. & Mrs. Lopez, Mr. Moore, Mr. Santos, and Mrs. Young.

During the Season of Lent, we encourage students to attend 8:00 a.m. Mass once a week. This little “sacrifice” is intended to help deepen your child’s relationship with God, the parish, and the school community.  Thank you for encouraging your child to attend.

During the month of April, First Graders will be enjoying and mastering new skills. While on their journey, they will discover challenges in Reading, Mathematics, and Science.

In Book E (our reading program) students will continue to explore comprehension strategies, exercise decoding strategies, and enhance grammar in the usage and mechanics of written speech.

In Math, students will use whole number concepts, explore number theory, add, subtract, and compare numerical values using a number line.  They will also count and identify amounts using a combination of coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.)  Students will add and subtract 2-digit, 3-digit, 4-digit, and 5-digit numbers.  They will identify fractions (halves, thirds, fourths) as parts of a whole.

In Science, students will learn about the earth, the weather, and the sky. They will learn how people use land, air, and water and what they can do to protect the land.  They will also learn about the sun, the moon, and the stars.

In Computer class, students are continuing to develop Math and Phonics skills using a variety of educational programs.  They are also learning beginning keyboarding skills.

Click here to see some of the pictures from our Coyote Point field trip.
Scroll down to see the slideshow.

Dear Parents,

Your child completed reading BK. C and has been assessed for competency in skills taught. We begin reading BK. D. In this selection, children will continue to develop more comprehension strategies: drawing conclusions, identifying cause and effect, patterned text, main ideas, and supporting details, comparing and contrasting characters and events, using context to recognize unfamiliar words. Children will be taught initial digraphs: ch, sh, th, wh; initial blends: dr,cr,gr,pl; long vowels: a,e. They will receive instruction in grammar usage and mechanics including verb endings, capitalization, past, tense and time order. Upon completion of those text, children will be assessed for mastery.

Your child has also completed CHAPTER 4 in Math and now begins CHAPTER 5. In CHAPTER 5, children will continue finding differences through 10, using various strategies. They will also learn to subtract with zero and will learn to subtract doubles. Children will be expected to use related number facts and families of facts. Upon completion children will be assessed for mastery.

In Science, your child continues exploring Life Science: completing a unit on plants and beginning a unit on animals. In this unit, children will learn about different kinds of animals, what animals need to live and grow, how they move, and how they protect themselves. Children will also learn about animal habitats and their differences.