Dear Parent/Guardian(s),
We have been working very hard and doing a good job with reading, writing, and math this semester. I am so pleased with all our progress.
The time has come for a little vacation. I hope you will find some interesting things to do during that time. I’m sure you all have lots of exciting things planned.
While enjoying your time away don’t forget about reading, writing, and math! This is what your child should be doing successfully if they have mastered all benchmarks:
-Recognize over 100 sight words and reading at an AR level of 1.3 or higher.
-Comprehend the main idea and details of a story, and identify the main character and setting of a story. They should also be able to identify and provide examples of a noun, verb, adjective, and pronoun.
-Your child should write consistently with beginning, middle, and ending sounds, and show knowledge of capital and end marks. They should know and apply a “writer’s eye” strategies {use capitals at the beginning of a sentence, lowercase in appropriate places, space between words, and proper punctuation.}
-In math, your child should be able to add and subtract to 18, recognize numbers to 100, count to 100 (by 1’s, 5’s, and 10’s), count to 20 by 2’s, identify place value of ones and tens, identify numbers greater than/less than to 100, and solve simple word problems.
If your child is struggling in any of these areas, now is the perfect time to “play school” and assist them mastering these benchmarks. Here are some good ideas for reading and writing activities using a newspaper or magazine:
-Cut out words that belong to word families you have studied.
-Collect interesting pictures. Be ready to explain what they are about and write about it.
-Learn a new word every day.
-Collect interesting new items to write about.
-Collect interesting cartoons and draw one of your own!
-Pretend your have made an amazing discovery or invention. Write an article about yourself! J
-Help your mom by writing the grocery or “to-do” list.
-Write about your vacation and draw an illustration to match the words.
-Make sight word flash cards and have someone hide them around a room. When you find the word you have to read to keep it!
There are so many fun and exciting ways that you can help your child continue to grow. Use your imagination and let them do the same! J I am so grateful
for such amazing student’s and families that make up our fantastic
first grade class. Enjoy your holiday break and I will see you all again
in the New Year!
With great love and gratitude,
Mrs. McHaffie
