October 1, 2025

Dear Parents,

     It’s hard to believe we have been in school for a month. The children are actively involved in their own learning. Thank you to all who have donated materials to our classroom. We are in need of baby wipes. We use at least 20 each day wiping down our desks after eating snack. Thank you for any assistance with this matter.

     We have spent the first month building relationships, creating classroom rules, establishing routines and expectations and reviewing foundational skills. It has been great learning about each other and making connections with similar interests and likes. The students are learning to turn and talk to partners, take turns playing math games and organizing their own materials. They created a wonderful list of classroom rules that sets the stage for future learning.

     During our writing time we are working on handwriting and forming the lower case letters correctly within the appropriate line space. The first graders are also expected to write their first and last name on every paper. Please work with your child if they do not know how to write their last name automatically. We are now beginning to learn about what happens during Writer’s Workshop. We will continue practicing routines and writing complete sentences with correct formation, spacing, capitalization and punctuation.

     The children have been introduced to reading routines for Reading Workshop. Our first Reading Workshop unit is titled: Building Good Reading Habits. This unit has three bends(topics) titled: Good Readers Have Good Habits, Using Good Habits Before, During and After Reading and Good Habits for Making Sense of Books. Throughout this month ask your child to share with you some of the habits they have learned and the ones they are still working on. During reading workshop time, first, the teacher teaches a mini-lesson. Then, the students are actively engaged trying out the new strategy. Next, the students read independently, books of their choosing at their current reading level. After that, they then partner read. Last, we end the workshop where we all come back together to share our learning and reinforce the reading strategy taught during the mini-lesson. 

     In math we are completing Unit 2 in Reveal titled Number Patterns. We will begin Unit 3 titled: Place Value later next week.  Please refer to your Unit 3 family letter that will be sent home next week as well as the Grade 1 Important References that were passed out at Open House for an explanation of this topic.  We are using UFLI for our phonics program. The first 10 lessons of the program introduce key concepts that will be reviewed throughout the core lessons. Students were introduced to the sound wall and the 44 phonemes. They have also been introduced to short a, nasalized a, short i and short o. During these lessons they say, write, build and read words with the same patterns. Students have already brought home 4 UFLI word home practice activities with directions. 

     In addition to our phonics curriculum, we are also using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Program. The lesson Components are Rhyming: Students identify if a word set rhymes, Onset Fluency:  Students listen to a sentence and isolate the beginning sound of each word, Blending:  Students blend the onset and rime into a whole word (r - ope   rope), Isolating Final or Medial Phonemes:  Students repeat words and isolate the final sound  (  web, tube    /b/), Segmenting:  Students segment a word into onset and rime ( well   w - ell), Adding Phonemes:  Add a sound to the beginning of a rime ( add /w/ to ax  wax), Deleting Phonemes: Students delete a sound (what’s bump without /b/  ump), and Substituting Phonemes:  Changing a phoneme ( Change /m/ to /h/ in me and the word is? he)

     We have been continuing with the social skills program We Thinkers which was started in kindergarten. Mrs. White comes into the classroom every Tuesday. Ask your child the difference between expected and unexpected behavior, group plan and hidden rules. We are also using the Wayfinder curriculum. 

     Remember first grade has no written homework. However, make sure you are engaging in the UFLI home practice activities, reading and taking time to practice  addition and subtraction facts to 20. Start with facts to 10 and as your child progresses add in the remaining facts to 20. Please make sure your child returns the signed Homework Log each Friday.

     We are having a good time learning! If you have any questions or concerns, please give me a call and we can discuss them.      

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gaspa