GRADE 1 NEWSLETTER  MAY Reading The warm sun is peeking through the windows, and poetry is blooming in first grade. Students will explore the sound of language by diving into a variety poems during this next reading unit, Exploring the Sound of Poetry. The goal of this unit is to expose kids to the genre of poetry, to teach various strategies readers use when reading poems, and to teach students how readers interpret poems using their own emotions and experiences. Students will examine white spaces on the page and discuss how it may be connected to a poem. They will also distinguish between the similarities and differences of shape poems, rhyming poems, and poems without a rhythmic pattern. When your child brings home a poem to share with you, please have them summarize what the poem means in one to two sentences. Math In our next unit, Place Value and Fractions, students will review place-value for counting by 1s and 10s on a number grid. This begins the development of mentally adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers. We will build on the fraction concepts we learned in Unit 8 by comparing fractions and learning about equivalent fractions. Home Support Continue to practice: • basic addition and subtraction facts on a regular basis. • solving addition and subtraction number stories through real-life situations. • adding and subtracting double-digit numbers by 1s and 10s. (Ex: Start at 26 and go up 14. Point to the 26 on a number grid or hundred chart. Go up 1 ten (10) and 4 ones. The ending number/sum = 40) Writing We are starting our next writing unit, Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages. Students will learn how to deliberately craft their language into a creative style of writing called... poetry! They will be taught not only to care about their topics they are choosing to write about, but how they write about these topics. The unit will encourage children to: • try things on the page on purpose • create special effects through sounds (onomatopoeias), repetition, voice, and rhythm • see words and phrases through their hearts • having fun and exploring with words A Poem Written by a five-year-old I am the kind of writer who writes in peace and quiet. I am the kind of writer who really feels the rain and the wind. That feeling makes me want to sway from one way to another. It’s all in the heart. Science In May, students will continue to investigate animals. They will learn to sort and categorize animals based on their features and characteristics. By the end of this month, students will be able to tell the difference between mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects/ bugs. As we study these groups of animals, students will notice how they interact with the environment around them. They will notice how animals can make adaptations to survive depending on their environment and/ or weather conditions. Hugs and Books, Ms. Lutch, Ms. Ryan, Ms. Roth, and Ms. Hellgeth MORE NEWS... ES Music with Ms. Brooks We have just finished unit 2 in our books and are completing our written assessments this week. Your child may be bringing home some activity pages we have worked on in class to share with you. In May we will review all the songs we have learned this year and prepare a small in-class presentation for parents to show you some of the things we have been learning this year in music. Our presentation will be May 17, 18 or 19th during your child's music class time in the ES Music Room. We hope you can join us! Seminar Day: Our last Seminar Day of the year will be May 25, 26, or 27 during your child's music class on the day he/she presents. I am confirming with students this week who will present and will send the final list next week. Parents are of course welcome to attend but this is not a requirement. Student Recitals: Do you have a child who takes music lessons and is looking for a performance venue? Did your student have a music-related goal this year to present? If so, we will be having 2 student music recitals in May for children who are taking private lessons or have a music-related goal. They will be held on Wednesday, May 19 and on Wednesday, May 26 from 3:30-4:30 pm in the ES Multipurpose Room. A sign-up sheet will be available outside the music room starting Sunday, May 02. Students may sign up to perform on 1 recital. There will not be auditions but students and parents will need to fill out a form letting us know what piece will be performed, the composer and the performance length. There are a lot of ARTS events happening in school and in Abu Dhabi before the end of the year with some great opportunities for your children to attend. A few of note are: May 05-May 08 Disney's Beauty and the Beast - Abu Dhabi Choral Group (See ACS Link)Abu Dhabi Officer's Club Fri May 14 Dame Evelyn Glennie - Percussionist 7:00 pm Abu Dhabi Theatre Beauty and the Beast will feature a lot of people from the ACS community from students to parents as well as ACS staff members. Our very own Katie Pritz (Mother of Eli &Joy Pritz) will be performing the lead as Belle. Mr. Pavlos (HS Drama) is Gaston, Ms. Banu (Ms. Mary's assistant), Ms. Salminen (ES Librarian) and myself will be playing cello, oboe and flute in the orchestra. There are 6 performances including 2 afternoon matinees and ACS receives a discount on tickets! Tickets will be on sale every day after school in the middle school courtyard until next Monday. Evelyn Glennie is a musician we have studied in class this year and she will be coming to Abu Dhabi. In music we read the story "Moses Goes to a Concert." Moses is a deaf student who goes to see a deaf percussionist. Evelyn Glennie is not only the first female percussionist to make a solo playing career for herself but she herself is also 90% deaf. Tickets are available for children and adults ages 3 and up. Child tickets are only Dhs. 30.00. Visit www.abudhabiclassics.com for more details. Art News with Ms. Staley LARGE MOSAICS This project was all about collaboration from the very beginning. ACS is big on recycling so towards the end of the year a lot of people start to throw away their old crayons. The students were asked to bring them in and peel off the wrappings. The crayons were then sorted by color, melted and poured on to wax paper. Once cooled, the puddle of melted crayon could be broken into mosaic pieces. These are much easier to use and safer for little fingers. Then every student drew an idea for a classroom mosaic project and we all voted on one drawing. Each student took a section of the large board to fill in with the mosaic pieces. When finished, these will be displayed around campus for all to enjoy. Physical Education with Mr. Schwamberger April has come and gone and the first graders are almost done with their first month of our swimming unit. I along with two other swimming instructors (Ms. Tanya and Ms. Nadia) have been working with your sons and/or daughters teaching American Red Cross swim lessons. The swim lessons have brought a nice change of pace from being in the gym or outside on the fields, and the students definately seem to be enjoying themselves. Along with the swimming instruction, students are also learning what it means to be safe in and out of the water, as well as healthy tips when outside in the sun. I would just like to remind parents or guardians to remember to please make sure your son and/or daughter has everything they need when they come to class (i.e., swimsuit, goggles, swim cap, towel, and bag to carry everything in). Tech news for May The first grade students will be using the program KeySkills for language arts and math. The program reviews skills for rhyming words, blends, alphabetical order, contractions, abbreviations, basic addition and subtraction, money, time, and measurement. We will also review how to use the ACS website for links for activities for students to use during the summer. Mrs. Willis Technology Integrator Non–Native Arabic Conversation and Culture Class with Ms. Fadia , Mrs. Mina, & Ms.Maha In May, students will continue learning more common Arabic greetings. Students will continue learning more letters in the Arabic text book "Tree of Letters" repeating simple words related to the letters Na, Ha, Wa.Ya. They will be able to tell the beginning sounds in one-syllable words. Students will also learn vocabulary words related to "Music"and "Farm animals". Please check the vocabulary words in your child's booklet. Arabic Language for Native Speakers with Ms. Aljadooa It’s May already... We will finish working in the second part of the Arabic book unit five. The objective in these lessons was to aquire more vocabulary words, reinforcing word structure and some decoding strategies. We will also continue working on independant reading practice both in class and at home till the end of May. The kids will be presenting a short play in Arabic during the 3rd week of May, more information will be sent home later.