Homework
I'll start sending home weekly homework packets beginning in September. The packets are a good review of content the students should know. Please expect your child to to their best work. The packets should be completed using a regular pencil and crayons when coloring is required. The packets will be sent home at the start of each week and are due at the end of each week.
There are a few special homework projects that the students will do in place of the weekly homework packet. In December, there will be a Flat Gingy project. The students will be designing and making their own Leprechaun Traps in March. In April the students will be creating Animal Research Project Boards (using a rubric I provide). All special projects will be sent home at the end of the week so that the children also have the weekends to work on the projects.
There is a heavy emphasis on learning sight words, reading bag books, and participating in AR (Accelerated Reader). The first sight word lists will be sent home the first full week of September. Sight words are checked three times each month when it is convenient for us. We will start sending Bag Books home once we feel comfortable in our routines with the children. When we start sending Bag Books home, the Bag Books will go home on a Friday and be due on the following Wednesday. Your child will stop with Bag Books and start AR when all 90 sight words are known.
How to Help with Homework & Support the Learning Process
There are several ways that you can work on academic skills at home with your child. Increasing academic performance and retention of material is our shared common goal. Your child will benefit if ideas that are introduced at school are being reinforced in the home and vice versa.
- Have an established routine for completing homework. A regular time and a well-lighted, distraction-free area with the necessary supplies on hand is helpful.
- Ask your child about his/her day at school! Show an interest in his/her day. Take time to sit together and go through your child's backpack and take-home folder.
- Teach your child how to be organized. Putting supplies away in the correct place, putting the homework into the take-home folder when completed, and returning library books to the backpack each night are all examples of what your first grader is capable of doing.
- Stress personal best at ALL times! No one is perfect, but there is never a good reason for not putting forth a best effort. Expect neat printing and coloring for each assignment.
Math
Children work out number problems by using real objects. At home, try to provide a collection of small objects for counting, such as beans, buttons, or pennies. When working on problems at home, your child may use pictures, numbers, words, or a combination of these to keep track of the work. All are important ways of showing mathematical thinking! Let your child find his/her own way to solve problems and record work. Keep a container of coins handy to work on recognizing coins (and their values) as well as skip counting by ones, fives, and tens
Writing
When you ask your child a question, get him/her into the good habit of answering with a complete sentence. This applies to verbal and written responses.
Your child's writing will change dramatically this year! At the start of this year, your child may choose to draw pictures along with a few words. By the end of the year, your child will be expected to write two complete sentences about a given topic! Give your child meaningful opportunities to write in real life.
Here's a writing checklist that you can use with your child:
*My whole name is on my paper.
*I started each sentence with a capital letter.
*I used punctuation correctly (.,?,!).
*I checked my spelling.
*I read my work, and it makes sense and sounds right.
*I did my personal best!
Here's a writing checklist that you can use with your child:
*My whole name is on my paper.
*I started each sentence with a capital letter.
*I used punctuation correctly (.,?,!).
*I checked my spelling.
*I read my work, and it makes sense and sounds right.
*I did my personal best!
Spelling
When your child is writing, encourage developmental spelling! It is exciting to see the thoughts spilling from your child's mind onto the blank page! For example, if your child writes "kmptr" for the word "computer", compliment your child for using good word attack and phonics skills. Then show your child how the word is spelled in a dictionary.
Reading
It's important to read to your child each day and also to have your child read to you. When a text is new, ask your child to make predictions about the text based on the title and the book cover. As you read to your child, use a pointer finger and ask questions like, "What do you think is going to happen next?" Repeated readings will help your child gain ownership of a text.
As your child reads, ask comprehensive and factual questions:
*What is your favorite part of the story?
*What happened at the beginning of the story? The middle? The end?
*What is the title?
*Who is the author? The illustrator?
*What is the problem in the story? The solution?
*If I could ask the author one thing, I would ask...
*I would like to learn more about...
If your child has difficulty with a word, there are five things that your child can do:
1. Look at the pictures.
2. Look at the beginning sound.
3. Try reading the word.
4. Does it sound right.
5. Go back and read it again.
As your child reads, ask comprehensive and factual questions:
*What is your favorite part of the story?
*What happened at the beginning of the story? The middle? The end?
*What is the title?
*Who is the author? The illustrator?
*What is the problem in the story? The solution?
*If I could ask the author one thing, I would ask...
*I would like to learn more about...
If your child has difficulty with a word, there are five things that your child can do:
1. Look at the pictures.
2. Look at the beginning sound.
3. Try reading the word.
4. Does it sound right.
5. Go back and read it again.
Religion
Share the Gospel and pray on a regular basis with your child - prayer is not just talking to God! Foster an attitude of giving and volunteerism. Take your child to Mass each week, and expect your child to behave like the kindergarten student that he/she is! Sit, stand, sing, kneel (the correct way!) and participate appropriately. Use the restroom before and after Mass.