1st Grade

Current Unit: Tomie Depaola Author Study/Persuasive Writing

Summary of Unit:

Students will participate in an author's study using three of Tomie Depaola’s books (Strega Nona, The Art Lesson, Adelita). First, students will dive deep into each book by Tomie Depaola. Students will revisit previous skills learned while reading and analyzing the three books. In addition, students will learn new reading skills while we are reading and analyzing the three books. After reading and analyzing three books by Tomie Depaola, students will then look deeper into the texts and compare the illustrations, point of view, and the moral of all three stories. Students will also continue to learn about opinion writing through persuasive letters. Students will use what they learned in reading about Tomie Depaolo’s books and write a letter to a friend to convince them to read one of Tomie’s books.

Reading:

In Unit 6, the students will be participating in an author study of Tomie Depaola. We will read and analyze three of Depaola’s works: Strega Nona, The Art Lesson, and Adelita. The students will be able to compare and contrast the three books based on morals, illustrations, and point of view. They will be able to ask and answer questions about the stories read. First graders will then practice the skills they have learned by reading books on their reading level. 

Home Connection: 

       READ! READ! READ! In addition to being read to, first graders are expected to read books of their choice for 20 minutes each day at home. They can choose to read books at home, Epic! or on RAZKids.  Please make sure they are logging into iReady for reading as well!

        Please encourage your child to retell the story back to you!  This is very important and will help with their comprehension skills.  As your child reads, check in with them to make sure they are understanding what they are reading. Ask questions after each couple of pages to make sure that information is not getting lost. Encourage them to respond in complete sentences. 

Writing:

Students will continue to learn about the importance of using the writing process while writing. This unit, the students will learn about opinion writing through persuasive letters.  First, the students will use the mentor text “I Wanna Iguana” to help them see how persuasive letters are written and why they are written. They will decide on an animal that they would want as a pet. They will then go through the writing process to write a letter to their family to try to convince them to get them the animal they want. Then, students will use what they learned in reading about Tomie Depaolo’s books and write a letter to a friend to convince them to read one of Tomie’s books. The students will include an introduction sentence to introduce their opinion, 3 details to support their opinion with partner sentences, and a closing sentence to restate their opinion. In addition, students will also continue to learn the importance of revising and editing their writing. 

Home Connection: 

       As your child is working on writing at home, please have your child try their best at sounding out unknown words to spell on their own. Encourage your child to use the personal word wall to help spell common words. Also, guide your child to always use an uppercase letter to start each sentence, the correct punctuation at the end of each sentence, and finger spaces between words. In addition, encourage your child to reread their sentences to make sure the sentences are complete and make sense. 

Materials:

Revising Checklist: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jWVJa_-6lCx_30CER759smvu4KTI7QP-aaOaOJ0xsdY/edit?usp=sharing

Writing Checklist for Editing: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p05p2Iq0XANV5VaMiU-WO8kEPvyzSD1p-ErhXlZBXNE/edit?usp=sharing

Personal Word Wall: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CnpzrCnKqLwJx0u0s8xzWoXVYeydkAv10M84lHtg96I/edit?usp=sharing

Math:

• In this unit, students will be introduced to time and money. Students will learn that each coin has a different value, it takes a different combination of each coin to make one dollar. Students will be interacting with play coins  as math tools, they will analyze the similarities and differences of each of the coins. They will then learn the hour and minute hand. The hour hand tells the hour, and the minute hand tells the number of minutes before or after the hour when telling time on a clock. Students will be able to tell the difference between which clock is an analog clock and a digital clock.  Using their understanding of time, students will be able to use reasoning to tell and write time. As mathematicians, students will continue to engage in conversations within their groups to communicate their understanding. Encouraging the use of math vocabulary and how they came to their answer. 

  Home Connection: As your child is working on math at home, please have your child try their best with the new strategy being taught. Bring the math to life by having your child make connections to money and time. Students can help sort out coins to buy a treat or help parents figure how much more coins are needed to buy something for one dollar. You can establish routines that require using set times throughout the day and have students check the time using an analog clock. In addition, encourage your child to explain their work to someone in the home. They can practice by saying “ the steps I took were,” “my answer is,” “ I know because ___.” 

  Materials:

  Math Vocabulary 

   

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LWYHzeDIe7GjldW_goeXVM7qlaZnLGpY/view?usp=sharing

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NhnPkFmbNXUaS1b2Fn8lxxh3poUtDQRV/view?usp=sharing

Art

First grade will make an ELA connection in art class by creating art inspired by the story The Art Lesson by Tomie Depaola. Students will learn about a wide range of artists and their styles/techniques. Students will discuss what is an artist, explore new materials and how to use them. Students will have gallery walks by walking around the room to view their own artwork and their classmates' artwork. Students will discuss how they created their art, what they like about it, and what they like and notice about their classmates' artwork. 

Music

First grade musicians will be working on identifying musical phrases, and connect their knowledge to poetry and reading. Their analysis will connect to their study of Tomie Depaola’s literary works. They will be discovering rhythm patterns in music including quarter notes (ta), eighth notes (ti-ti) and quarter rests.

Home Connection:  See the video resource below for making rhythm patterns with possible sticks with Ms. Florio!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18tQj0KCGRmTM1yOtzqxlloRxMCSyoS1V/view?usp=sharing

Parent & Student Voice

Students in first grade shared what their favorite part of Unit 5 was! Check out some of their responses below!  

Class 1-101

Saifan: “I liked learning about a glossary because it helped me by telling what the unknown words mean.”

Kainat: “ I liked standard algorithm because I can add big numbers.”

Kenny: “I liked learning about key details.”

Danna: “I like to read the solar system.”

Class 1-102

Abdur: “In math, I learned about standard algorithms. In reading, I learned about venn diagrams. In writing, I learned about the Solar System.”  

Zuhra: “In math, I learned about tens and ones. In reading, I learned about fact box.” 

Manha: “In math, I learned about standard algorithms. In reading, I learned about venn diagrams.” 

Class 1-103

Noah: “I like math and learn about the solar system.“

Penelope: “I like place value and using text features.”

Don: “I enjoyed learning about math place value chart.”