January Happenings

Career Day
On January 22, 2016
Today we saw some great professionals at school, who taught us a lot about what it takes to do their job. Students came to school dressed in an outfit that represented a career that they are interested in. They had to do research on that career and present what they learned to the rest of the class.  What a fun day of learning!

Thank you for all of the support at home. It made career day a success at school!!
The Monarchs Visit
On January 21, 2016 we had a great treat at school--a visit from a few members of the 2015-16 Manchester Monarchs!

Several players came to visit a few first grade classrooms and read the book “The Bulliest Dozer” as part of the Monarchs Against Bullying program.

After reading the book, students got to ask the players questions regarding their job. We learned that the Monarchs practice for an hour and a half a day, play approximately 65 games per season, and eat very healthy. We also learned that there are close to 1000 hockey sticks in their equipment room!  The players told us that most of them went to school beyond high school (one player was from Canada--they have a different system of schooling!) and had to keep learning before becoming professional hockey players.

It was an exciting visit and we thank the Manchester Monarchs for a great afternoon!

Holiday Celebrations...Oh what fun!!!

Gingerbread House Construction

Beginning Stages

Ready to begin!

Ready to begin!

Grinch Day - Making Grinch Grime

Grinch Day - Making Who Pudding

Elf Day

Our Class Giving Tree - Recognizes students in the act of giving

December 2015

December 2015

Reading

Our new reading theme is called "Our Neighborhood at Work". We will be working with the following skills.

• Using text and graphic features, such as photographs, illustrations, captions, and labels
• Story structure (characters, setting, problem, solution)
• Understanding author's purpose

We will be working with the following comprehension skills.

• Sequence of events (first, next, and then, last)
• Cause and effect
• Questioning (who, what, when, where, why, how)

During phonics, we will work on reading and writing syllables (closed syllables and -le syllables).

We will also be reviewing short vowel sounds/spellings, r-controlled vowels (-ar, -or, -er, -ir, -ur) and diagraphs (-sh, -ch, -th, -wh).

Please continue to help your child practice reading sight words with speed and accuracy. Automatic recognition of sight words will help your child become a more fluent reader. 

When reading with your child at home, remember to use these strategies.

• Point to each word as you read (one-to-one correspondence)
• Look for picture clues.
• Get your mouth ready for the first sound (onset).
• Look through the word and attempt to blend the middle and ending sounds.

Math 

We will be working on learning Numbers to 20. 

                                      Concepts include:               

• Counting to 20
• Place value
• Comparing numbers
• Making patterns and ordering numbers

Please continue helping your child memorize addition facts up to ten and fact families. Using flashcards at home is a great way to help children learn their facts. You can also have your child play math fact games on the following free website at http://www.softschools.com/math/games. This will help them improve their speed and accuracy. 

Writing

In our journals we are still working on putting our ideas into sentences that others can read. Students should be spelling high priority words correctly and using transitional spelling that more accurately reflects the word attempted. We will also be working on writing related sentences on a topic. Students should be using upper and lowercase letters, spaces, and punctuation correctly. During the second trimester we will be working on adding more details to stories. 

Social Studies

We will be covering Economics. Concepts include:

• Needs/wants
• Goods/services  
• Money                        

UA's

We now have two more unified arts to add to our schedule. 

• Monday 9:30 - 10:00      HEALTH        11/23 - 1/14
• Wednesday 9:15 - 9:45   GUIDANCE

                    Upcoming events                

12/15 Cawley Holiday Concert at Underhill

12/16 Elf theme

12/16 ALPS Coding day in computer lab

12/18 Reindeer theme

12/21 Grinch theme 

12/22 Gingerbread houses

12/23 PJ's, Breakfast, and Movie

(specific details of each will be coming soon)

Please Note:

Now that the weather is colder, please have your child dress appropriately for the weather. We will go outside when the playground is clear from snow and ice. Jackets are needed, and hats and gloves are highly recommended.

DAYS OFF - Our holiday break is Thursday, December 23 through Sunday, January 3. 

Happy Holidays!

Mrs. Salcito

Happy Thanksgiving to Underhill Families

Today the entire first grade family enjoyed a feast of homemade corn bread muffins and butter. The students did all the work preparing the feast on Monday afternoon and reaped the benefits today! Yum! Just like the pilgrims and the indians, all the first grade children came together as one and shared stories of what they were thankful for while enjoying the feast.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Activity

This week we completed our second STEM activity. This activity included using 20 toothpicks and 10 gum drops to build a 3-D structure that could withstand the weight of a book. We discussed what things good problem solvers do when approaching a task. We developed an anchor chart that listed the attributes of good problem solvers. We decided that they complete research, they make hypothesis, and they experiment through a process of trial and error. Here are some pictures that capture the essence of the experience.

Thanksgiving Feast at Underhill Cafe 11/19/2015

Fall Festival and November Happenings

Thank you to all Underhill families that donated Smartfood and Apple Juice for our fall festival snack! The day was full of fun and surprises. The children in Mrs. Salcito's class and Mrs. Newcomb's class enjoyed a visit from two witches who shared their recipe for witch's brew and gave them a live cooking class.

NOVEMBER HAPPENINGS

Today we began Chapter 3 in Imagine It! This unit is about responsibility. We will learn what it means to be responsible. We will also learn what it looks like to be responsible. Lastly, we will talk about people in our world that are responsible and why we think they are responsible.

We will be covering a brief unit in Social Studies on government, voting, and United States symbols.
Government: Students will learn how and why laws are made. They will also learn who makes the laws and how they are enforced.
Voting: Students will get a chance to complete a voter registration card, cast a ballot, create a candidate poster, count ballots, etc.
United States of America Symbols: Students will learn the significance of the American flag, the bald eagle, and the statue of liberty.

In Math we will be working on shapes. We will be learning the names and attributes of many shapes. We will be manipulating and building with shapes. We will be looking at 3 dimensional shapes.

In writing we will be working on creating a main idea for a piece of writing. Once we have determined a main idea we will be learning how to extend our writing with supporting details. Overall, we will be learning how to write a cohesive paragraph of more than two sentences.