Hello, Parents! Calendar

Goshen Elementary School
February, 2016
Hello, Parents!
As we have come to the end of the first semester,
we have so much to celebrate! All of our students have
made outstanding progress in all of the different areas
of our first grade academic curriculum. They have also
become great thinkers and problem solvers. They are
fabulous team members and friends to each other as
well!
This month, we have several special activities to look
forward to. Our Valentine’s Day parties will take place
2:30-3:30 on Feb. 12th. A BIG thanks to our Room
Parents for helping us organize our Valentine’s parties!
On Feb. 16th, we will celebrate the 100th Day of School,
and each child will bring in a collection of 100 objects to
share in class
Lastly, we are grateful for all the parents and family
members who have come in to be guest readers in our
homeroom classes. Our children love being read to, and
they love having guests in our rooms. This experience
also helps our students realize the fun and importance
of reading!
We are lucky to have such dedicated and generous
parents supporting our program here at Goshen!
Sincerely,
Your First Grade Team
A Very Happy
February Birthday to…
Mr. Clark 2/1
Brody Watson 2/2
Jason Quispe 2/10
Mussa Imran 2/12
Liam Eyman 2/13
Teagen Bowie 2/14
Jayden Melton 2/26
Calendar
Feb. 2
PTA Mtg. @ 7:00
Feb. 5
TASS Awards Assembly 10:30
Feb. 12
Valentine’s Parties 2:30-3:30
Feb. 15
No School! Presidents’ Day
Feb. 16
One Hundredth Day of School- bring your collections of 100
Feb. 19
Chick File PTA Dine-out @ 5:00
Feb. 26
Early Release Day @ 1:15
(Looking ahead… March 18 PTA Sock Hop!!)
Music: First grade will be working on reading simple rhythm
and pitch patterns. Students will be focusing on reading
rhythms including ta (quarter notes) and ti-ti (eighth notes).
We will learn to read the pitches so and mi. First grade will
also begin working on improvisation.
Art with Mrs. Raker In February, First graders will review the
pinch method using clay. Last year we made pinch pots,
this year we will turn our pinch pots into animals. Students
can choose between a fish and a turtle. After the clay
has been in the kiln, students will use glaze to paint the
animals. This will give the clay a beautiful, shiny color.
Art with Mrs. Newman Mr. Clark and students in Mrs. Kim’s class
have been working on printmaking. In the first printmaking lesson,
they cut shapes of foam, paying attention to the in-between shapes
they were creating. The intent is to increase student’s visual
awareness. They learned how to use the printing equipment to make
copies of their original foam printing plate.
Information Literacy in the Media Center: We have begun to
prepare for our Q3 inquiry project titled “Young Geographers.” So
far, the first grade classes have enjoyed participating in a “resource
walk-about.” Students are using digital resources to research a
“special place” and examining the different information we can get
from photographs, text and even video clips in preparation for
writing to inform about these special places.
Physical Education: In PE, first grade students will be working on
their jumping and landing patterns in addition to both static and
dynamic balance.

Your children should continue to read every
night! Regular practice (10-20 minutes per
night) is essential for the growth of their
reading skills. It is also a part of their
nightly homework.

Help your children practice their addition and
subtraction facts for about 5-10 minutes
every night. Flashcards are still the best
way to increase fluency with facts.

Check your child’s white Goshen Grizzly folder
every night, and then please return this to
school every morning.

Be sure that your child brings his book baggie
with his guided reading books back to school
every day.

Don’t forget to sign the top page of your
child’s completed homework packet and have
your child return this page every Friday.

If you are sending in money for your child’s
lunch account, please place it in a sealed
envelope and write his/her full name and PIN
on the front.

Please be sure that your child wears an
appropriate winter coat, hat, gloves, etc.
every day because we do go outside for
recess whenever it is 32°F or higher.

We ask all families to check your bookshelves
and see if you have any books that belong to
Goshen. These would include guided reading
books, library books, and classroom books.
In science, we are observing, examining, and
classifying the earth materials in the world around us.
We are looking at various types of rocks, sand, and soil
compositions. We are identifying and locating various
natural landforms (such as the Grand Canyon, the Great
Lakes, and Mt. McKinley) and comparing them to various
man-made landforms (such as the Statue of Liberty, the
Golden Gate Bridge, and Mt. Rushmore). We are asking
how these landforms are similar and how are they
different from each other.
Social Studies
During this third marking
period, our students are reading and learning about the
world in which we live. We are finding where we are
located on a variety of maps and globes. Our students
all know that an atlas is a book of maps. We are learning
the differences among these words – street, town, city,
county, state, country, continent, and planet. We are
identifying the title, key or legend, scale, symbols, and
compass rose on a map. We are also making maps of our
bedrooms, our homes, our classrooms, our school, and/or
our community. Please spend some time talking with your
child at home about where you live and helping your child
to memorize his/her address. We have stressed with all
of our kids how important it is to know this information
as well as their phone numbers.
We could all use sharpened pencils and tissues to
replenish our classroom supplies. THANK YOU!!!
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Thinking and Academic Success Skills (TASS)
Synthesis
It is . . .
In reading, students will . . .
putting parts
 make connections to a text by using what is already known
together to build
about a topic, reading, and gathering new information.
understanding of a
 sort and label words into meaningful groups. Then, add new
whole concept or
words to the group.
What can I call
to form a new or
this group?
unique whole.
Group 1
Group 2
What’s similar about
the words in this
(natural resources)
(___?___)
group?
What other
soil
nails
word could go
water
hammer
here?
?
Effort/Motivation/
Persistence
tree
working diligently
 set an individual “just right” goal to improve reading skills
and applying
(e.g. “I will learn to read and write 20 new first grade word wall
effective strategies
words by the end of the quarter.”).
to achieve a goal or
 use different strategies to check for understanding while
solve a problem;
reading (e.g. Stop to think about what the author says about
continuing in the
the topic and relate it to what was learned before).
face of obstacles
and competing
pressures.
MT
Lear
Language:
Vocabulary
Informational Text
LEARNING GOALS…..Students will be able to . . .

ask and answer questions about key details in an informational text.

identify similarities and differences between two texts, videos, or illustrations on the
same topic.

use text features to answer questions about the text.

use key details to identify the main topic of the text, and retell key details.

describe the connection between ideas or pieces of information in a text.

identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.

ask and answer questions to clear up confusion about a topic—words or
information.

identify real-life connections between words and how they are used.

define and sort words by key attributes into categories.

use a prefix such as , “un-” as a clue to figure out the meaning of a word.
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MT
Learning Goals by Measurement Topic (MT)
Measurement and
Data
Students will be able to . . .

order objects by length.

compare the lengths of objects.

measure objects using non-standard units.
tallest
shortest
shortest
longest
Thinking and Academic Success Skills (TASS)
It is . . .

choose an appropriate non-standard unit to measure an
object based on the object’s size.

compare the lengths of two objects by using the same
non-standard unit to measure them.
Effort/Motivation/Persistence
Synthesis
putting parts together to
build understanding of a
whole concept or to form
a new or unique whole.
In mathematics, students will . . .
Doll A is 18 cubes tall.
Doll B is 8 cubes tall.
Doll A is 10 cubes taller than Doll B.
working diligently and
applying effective
strategies to achieve a
goal or solve a problem;
continuing in the face of
obstacles and
competing
pressures.

describe whether or not a chosen non-standard unit is
the most efficient choice for measuring an object.

solve challenging real-life measurement problems by
using a variety of strategies.
Sample Measurement Problem
You want to buy a new lunch box and you need to make sure
your lunch box will fit in your cubby before you buy it. How
will you use non-standard measurement to make sure your
lunch box will fit into your cubby?
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