1st Grade Little Lynx

01/06 First Day of Quarter 3

01/10/25 Reports Home

01/20 Martin Luther King Jr Holiday - NO SCHOOL

01/27 Title 1 Declaration Forms Due

02/10 & 02/17 NO SCHOOL - Conferences

Income Declaration Form – CEP

All Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools in the Mat-Su Borough School District will be using data from the Income Declaration Forms to assist in CEP eligibility for the 2025-2026 school year. If you need a hard copy please reach out and we will send one home, otherwise, if you could please fill out the following Google Form for each child in your home. The information is only used to help determine CEP eligibility. Individual family data will not be reported.

If you are receiving this email our records indicate, we have not received responses for one or more of your students. Here is the Google form.

Thanks to the support of our basketball concession sales, individual family donations, and the success of our 3 Bears bake sale, first grade was not only able to meet our fundraising goal and cover the full cost of our theater field trip, but we also have a strong start toward funding the first-grade classes’ spring field trip. We greatly appreciate everyone’s contributions and generosity!

Show your care through your actions.

Unit 3 The Underwater World - Many interesting animals and plants live underwater. In this unit we will read about the sea and the living things that make their home there.

Unit Words

animal - an animal is a living thing that eats and moves

deep - something that is deep goes down very far

sea -- the sea is the salt water that covers most of the earth

water - water is the clear liquid that is found in the sea, lakes, river, and rain.

Week 14 - Plant Life

Ending Blends: -sk, -st, -mp, -nd, -nt

Connected Text(s): In a Grass Patch, A Big Sea Plant, Is it a Plant?

Week 15 - Fascinating Sea Animals

Long a: -a_e

Connected Text(s): A Whale Tale, An Odd Animal, Sea Shapes.

Unit 4 Neighborhoods - Neighborhoods are places where people live, shop, work, and have fun together.

Unit Words

here - at this place

live - to have a home in one place

neighbor - a person who's home is close by

work - to do a job

Week 16 - Places to Live

Long o: o_e, Long i: i_e

Connected Texts (s): Time for a Trip, Rose's Home, Homes Up Close.

all, small, their, through, could, great, said, would, into, more, one, your

After listening to multiple reads of My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother and Mice and Beans children will use key details to help them answer questions about the story, describe characters and major events, and retell the story.

My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco

In the realistic fiction My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, Treesha's older brother Richard beats her at everything. When the carnival comes, Treesha is determined to be the best at riding the merry-go-round, but she gets dizzy and passes out. When Richard shows what a big brother he can be, they both realize they have a special relationship.

Words to Understand

ordinary - normal or usual not special

record - the best performance; the top

challenged - tested or questioned; asked someone to to be part of a contest or game

incredible - hard to believe; amazing

Read Aloud of My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Storyline Online read by Melissa Gilbert

Meet the Author; featuring Patricia Polacco by ReadingRockets

Mice and Beans by Pam Munoz Ryan

In this fantasy Rosa Maria plans a party and sets mousetraps. Each day, though both a party item and her mousetraps are missing. Rosa Maria thinks she is forgetful, but sneaky mice are the problem. On party day, when a piñata is mysteriously filled with candy, she discovers the mice are helpers after all.

Words to Understand

set - to get something ready to use

checked- looked closely at

missing- gone; disappeared

Read Aloud of Mice and Beans by Pam Munoz Ryan by Dreami Education

Meet the Author; featuring Pam Munoz Ryan by Reading Rockets

Lesson 10 - Doubles and Near Doubles Parent Letter

We are learning to use doubles facts to solve near doubles facts. We will write equations to show breaking apart (decomposing) an addend to find a doubles fact inside a near doubles fact.

Prior Knowledge Needed: Count on to add. Find the missing addend. Decompose numbers within 10. Add three numbers.

Lesson 11 - Solve Word Problems to 20

We are learning to understand and solve addition and subtraction word problems up to 20. We will solve problems where we know what the starting amount is and what the resulting amount is, but the amount was added or subtracted is unknown. We will also explore word problems where the starting quantity is not given and we have to work backwards to figure out how many items were there at the beginning based on the information about what was added or taken away and the final total.

Prior Knowledge Needed: Add and subtract within 10. Solve word problems to 10.

Lesson 12 - Solve Compare Problems

we are learning to solve compare problems to find how many more or how many fewer. We will solve compare problems to find an unknown quantity. We will also use models, and equations to solve compare problems.

Prior Knowledge Needed: Add and subtract to 20 using a variety of strategies. Solve add-to, take-from, put-together and take-apart word problems. Use related addition and subtraction facts to find a missing addend. Compare groups and numbers up to 10, use the terms more than, less than, same as, greater than, and equal to.

Please send your students with appropriate outdoor gear for the season. Our students go outside to play up to negative 10 degrees. They need a coat that is not cotton or sweatshirt material. It needs to be insulated/thick and warm. Warm winter boats are needed as well. Please label coats, snow pants, footwear and gloves with your child's name or your family's last name. Recess monitors have requested no stretchy, knit, one size fits all gloves this year. Our Little Lynx's fingers get rather chilly if their gloves don't have some kind of water proof or insulation. The school is only able to loan winter gear to students 3 times during the year. If you need help with winter gear, please reach out to Nurse Hannah or your classroom teacher so that we can help with that.

• Check take home folder nightly. Every first grader has a pocket folder that goes between home and school. It is important that you check it nightly and empty the "stay at home" items at least weekly. Ms. Toms requests an initial or signature nightly on the calendar inside the folder. This allows her to know that you have seen it.
• Change of Clothes - Please make sure that your child has a change of clothes (shirt, pants, underwear and socks) in their backpack. Gallon size Ziplock bags work great to contain one outfit. Bathroom accidents are still fairly common in first grade and Nurse Hannah's closet of "loaner" clothes is EXTREMELY limited this year. Check the size on your child's outfit periodically to make sure it still fits and replace the outfit if it is outgrown or gets used.

"The greatest gifts we can give our children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence. " Maria Montessori

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out. We look forward to partnering with your family this year.

(907) 352 -6176

rebecca.toms@matsuk12.us

Join our Class Dojo https://www.classdojo.com/ul/p/addKid?target=class&class=CYWAGSP

(907) 352-6177

heather.bauman@matsuk12.us

Join our Class Dojo https://www.classdojo.com/ul/p/addKid?target=class&class=CMBBTG3

Check out our Class Amazon Wishlist

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/II01TXDCND28?ref_=wl_share

Information below was included in previous newsletters and in case you missed it or would like to refer back to it, we have included it here.

If your student has an Individualized Reading Improvement Plan (IRIP) they qualify for up to 75 hours of before and after school tutoring. Click here for more information and sign-up

When your student brings home their Chromebook for remote learning, or on Fridays for additional practice, please make sure it is returned the next school day, with its charger. Preferably fully charged and ready to be used. Students use their Chromebooks daily for personalized learning and other projects. It is important that they have them every day so that they don't miss out on important learning opportunities. Students will only be bringing home their Chromebook if they have expressed permission by their grown-ups. If students miss out on learning because they have not returned their Chromebook and charger to school the next day 3 times then their Chromebook will remain at school for the duration of the year.

Paper remote learning packets were sent home previously. Please keep them in a safe place where you can access them easily in the case of a remote learning day. Please do not use them for vacations or sick days.

Please keep in mind that Remote Learning Days are different from School Closures. On a school closure, instruction is not available and students do not have to complete learning activities. This is typically due to wide-spread power outages. In the event of a remote learning day, students must participate in one of the following options to be considered present. If no lessons are completed and no communication is made, then students will be marked absent. Of course, life happens sometimes, and we totally understand if something comes up that prevents your student from participating in learning. We just ask that you reach out and communicate with us, so that we can mark your student excused.

Incomplete Work

When students are absent or their work is not completed in the time given teachers will give them opportunities to complete it in the classroom. If they do not complete the missing work in the opportunities given then teachers will send the work home to be completed with families (usually on Friday). Please complete the work and return to the teachers. We understand that life is busy and so there is no exact due date. Do what you can, as you can, and return it as soon as possible. Completing these items are another way for students to practice their skills at home.

Traditional homework is not required in first grade at Meadow Lakes. However, daily at home skills practice is highly encouraged. Both first grade teachers have student rewards in their classroom for the students who complete and return skills practice items. Mrs. Bauman and Ms. Toms agree that the students work very hard learning their skills at school and that attention and focus may be limited at home. Please limit the amount of at home skills practice to 10-30 minutes.

At- Home Ways to Practice

Reading

• The teachers will send home the students' daily reading lesson. Every session has an activity for students to practice their blending and reading aloud skills. Sessions 1 and 3 (pages with green band) will have lists of words, phrases and sentences for the students to practice. Sessions 2 and 4 (pages with blue band) will have a short one page story that uses the unit words, current super words and this week's target sound spelling. Students will have already practiced reading these in class before they come home. Every time a student practices reading those to someone, date/initial the page. Students can get multiple rewards for the same page, because the more we read it, the more it builds our fluency.
• Each week students will have a Magnetic Reader that will be sent home. It is a short story that also uses the current learning target skills. Again, date/initial every time the student reads it to you and they can read it multiple times.
• Practice letter names and sounds, super words.
• Have students read aloud to an adult, or listen to someone read to them

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Math

• Daily math lessons will come home with an additional practice sheet. Portions of it may be completed in class.
• Each unit begins with a letter to the family. This letter gives ideas and ways to practice math at home. Complete those activities and initial and send back (more initials and dates, more rewards).
• Practice counting to 20 by ones, to 100 by fives, 120 by tens
• Practice putting two parts together to make a whole or taking one part away from a whole and figuring the other
• Playing math games you already have at home like Hi-Ho-Cherry-Os' or Pop the Pig or Chutes and Ladders.

It is time to learn to tie our shoes! Whenever possible we will be working to learn to tie our shoes at school and ask that families work on it at home as well.

Being able to tie our own shoes independently not only builds our confidence, problem-solving and safety. It also helps with our academic learning.

• Improving motor skills like finger-isolation, hand-eye coordination and hand strength help us with our writing.
• Learning to tie shoes means students need to perform certain steps in a specific order, which can help them build sequencing skills that they use in reading, writing and math.
• When we aren't successful with our attempts to tie our shoes we get to practice problem-solving, patience, and persistence which we will need in all of our subjects.
• By learning to tie our shoes we are also able to improve our attention span and focus. We will apply this to all of our lessons, but especially reading as texts become more challenging and require more endurance.

Family Resources

Best Shoe Tying Tips https://www.theottoolbox.com/shoe-tying

How to Tie Your Shoes https://youtu.be/c79wsBqDW1A