First Grade Blog 2024-2025: January 7

Calendar

December 20 - January 6- Winter Break - - We will miss you!!

January 7 - Return to school

January 10 - Report cards emailed home

January 10 - TCE PTO Parent Social 5:30

January 17 - Interskate Spirit Night

January 20 - No School

January 27th - PTO meeting 6:00

January 28th - TCE Cultural Night (more information to come) 5:30 - 6:30

Weekly Announcements

Thank you to everyone who helped make our class party amazing! We loved seeing all the parents enjoy a special day at school!

Note from the PTO Hospitality Team

January Hospitality Event: "Our Teachers Are WICKED Amazing!"
Hello, 1st-grade parents! The PTO Hospitality Committee is pampering our amazing teachers and staff before their January meeting, and we’d love your help: Please click HERE to contribute!
This month’s theme is inspired by the musical Wicked, and we’re creating a magical, Oz-inspired atmosphere to show our appreciation. We’re asking for contributions of snacks, drinks, or small treats to help make this event extra special.
Think pink and green. Your support will remind our staff just how much they’re valued. Please SIGN UP to help make this event a success. Thank you for helping us show our teachers that they are truly Defying Gravity!
*Fee free to drop off your contributions in the month of December if it's not perishable!*

Here is the direct link in case the one's above don't work: https://www.evite.com/signup-sheet/5430766321270784

Gratefully,
Stephanie Syphus

What Will We Be Learning When We Get Back?

Language Arts

We will not have a new spelling rule the week we get back. We will fill our book bags with new leveled books and enjoy reading in these more challenging levels. We will also write goals for the new year. We love making goals and then sticking to them!

Math

We will continue working on solving word problems with unknowns in various positions. For example:

Emma has some bows. She gives 8 to her sister. Now Jack has 12 bows. How many did Emma have in the beginning? (? - 8 =12 )
Maggie has 20 stickers. She gives some to her brother. Now she has 12 stickers How many stickers did she give to her sister? 20 - ? = 12

In addition, we will begin working on writing our own word problems. This is a challenging skill for first graders, and your child will greatly benefit from practicing it at home. The most common mistake first graders make is forgetting to clearly ask the question in their word problems. Thank you for your support in helping your child develop this important skill!

Mystery Number Challenge Game

Objective: Guess the mystery number based on clues related to place value, even and odd numbers, and greater than, less than skills.

Instructions:

Choose a Mystery Number:

One player (the "Mystery Master") secretly chooses a number within a certain range (e.g., 1-120).

Provide Clues:
Example Clues:

The Mystery Master gives a series of clues about the mystery number. These clues should relate to place value, even or odd, and comparisons.
"The number is greater than 50."
"It is an odd number."
"The tens digit is 7."
"The ones digit is less than 5."

Guess the Number:

The other players (the "Guessers") take turns guessing the mystery number based on the clues provided. The Mystery Master can confirm the guess or provide additional clues to help narrow it down.

Winning the Game:

The first player to correctly guess the mystery number wins and becomes the next Mystery Master, or you can set a timer and see how many numbers can be guessed correctly within a certain time limit.

Variations:

To make the game more challenging, increase the range of numbers.
Add additional math concepts, such as multiples to the clues.
Incorporate a storytelling element where each clue is part of a larger narrative or adventure.

This game reinforces math skills and encourages communication and critical thinking, making it a wonderful way for families to learn and have fun together.

Math games using a deck of card

Addition War: Similar to the classic card game War, each player flips over two cards and adds the values together. The player with the highest sum wins that round and takes the cards. If there's a tie, continue drawing cards until there's a winner.
Make Ten: Lay out nine cards face up. Players take turns picking pairs of cards that add up to ten. If players can't make ten, they draw a card from the deck and replace one on the table. The game ends when no more pairs can be made, and the player with the most pairs wins.

Number Practice

Help your child practice counting to 120 by ones, twos, fives, and tens to reinforce their number skills! Let's work together to build a strong foundation in math that will help us in all areas of life. Happy counting!

Fun math videos to watch with your child:

Science

We will begin to study types of weather and the different effects they have on earth. In our weather unit we will also explore the 4 seasons. An important part of this unit of study is being able to collect, record, and analyze data, therefore, students will track weather, build graphs, and answer questions that summarize what they observed.

Social Studies

Over the next few weeks we will begin to look at what chronological order means how how and why timelines are important. While studying timelines we will also look at important historical figures and understand what makes them important.

Great Information

To Know For The Year

School begins at 7:40. If your child arrives after 7:40 they will need to go to the office and receive a tardy pass. Please make sure your child arrives in the building before 7:40 each day.

Please make sure to look at your child's daily behavior calendar. Our goal is for the children to color in the day with the appropriate behavior. Many times, the children forget. If it is not colored, please assume it is a great day. If you see a teacher comment, we would love for you to have a conversation with your child about what happened to receive the comment. Please know many warnings were given before a comment was written. :-)
Please review and take out all papers from their take-home folder each day.

Teacher Emails

The best way to get in touch with your teacher is by email. Please email the teacher that can best answer the subject of your question. If it is a general question, please email your homeroom teacher.

1A Mrs. Vincenzo (language arts teacher) lvincenzo@coppellisd.com

1B Mrs. Brown (science and social studies teacher) ebrown@coppellisd.com

1C Mrs. Sork (math teacher) msork@coppellisd.com

School Lunches

District guidelines limit lunchroom visitors at the elementary level to parents, immediate family members with written permission from a parent, and campus mentors. Immediate family members are defined as the student’s parents/step-parents, siblings, grandparents, or any person residing in the home. A parent can list the person(s) who have permission to have lunch for the entire school year. If anyone other than the parent(s) listed as guardians in our district e-school system is eating with the child, we will need written documentation of your approval. Please fill out a form in the office for any visitors other than who is listed as guardians in your child's record.

Dismissal

If you change the way your child goes home at the end of the day, please email your teacher. Children will be sent home their "usual" way unless we hear directly from a parent. Also, please make sure that the teacher has responded to your email to ensure that we got the message. If you don't hear back from your teacher, please call the office to let them know about dismissal changes.

Birthday Treats

We will celebrate your child’s birthday with a spotlight on our daily school-wide announcements and a goody bag from the school that contains several items, including a coupon for a free treat in the cafeteria. If you choose to send birthday food treats to school, they will need to be store bought and in their original packaging that lists the ingredients. Please send the treats to our school nurse. She will look over the ingredients and then deliver them to your child's homeroom class. These treats will be eaten at school. Please have all treats brought to school first thing in the morning.

Volunteering

If you think you would like to volunteer at TCE this year, please fill out the volunteer background check. The sooner the better! You can find information about how to fill out the form and the actual form on our TCE webpage. This needs to be done each. year. You will need a background check to help in the classroom, field trips, field day, etc.

Photos From The Week