We are moving to remote learning!

With the closure of all school buildings, we will be moving to a new model of learning remotely.  Check our Google classroom site to stay up to date on assignments and activities for your child.  We are excited to start this new way of learning!

The First Grade Team

Monday update -- part 2

Dear Families,

We apologize for the second email today, but wanted to give you some additional information about Google classroom.

At this time, we will not be sending parent invitations to join Google classroom.  We would like to get the site up and running before we are ready to send weekly summaries to parents.  You may log on to our Google classroom page by using your child’s Clever badge or BPS email address and password.  (Please reach out if you would like us to forward any additional information on this.)

We thank you in advance for your patience as we figure out this new mode of learning, and try to make it work for our students and families.

Monday Update

Hi Families, 

We have been enjoying the day with all of our students and working hard to prepare for the upcoming school closure.  We wanted to give you an update with information we have so far. Please understand that we will be continuing to work throughout the week and will be providing regular updates.  Here are today’s updates: 

We will be using google classroom as our main access point for sharing resources, assignments, and instruction.  Your child has already been added to the google classroom with their BPS email and password (via clever). You should receive an additional invite to join as a parent by the end of the day.  Please have your child answer the question posted on the main page to confirm that you were able to access the google classroom at home. Students can sign in by going to clever.com and using their badge. 

For this week, please have students work on the packet and assignments sent home on Friday.  We expect to be starting to use google classroom for learning on Monday although resources will be posted as the week goes on.  Many of you have been asking for a suggested schedule this is one resource that we have prioritized for this week.  

It is important that you are able to log on to google classroom so please let us know if you have any questions or need support.  We will continue to be available by email.  

Thank you for all of your kind words, support, and offers to help.  We appreciate you all and will continue to be in touch.  

We are all in this together.  Stay healthy!

The First Grade Team 

Sign up for email updates from the Curley!

As we transition to remote learning, we will be sending electronic updates to families as a way to share information.  If you have not already done so, please sign up for e-mail updates from Ms. Grassa so that you can get the latest information in a timely way.
You can do this by going to www.curleyk8.com and scrolling to the bottom of the page.  Input your email address where it says "Sign up for Curley K-8 Email Updates."  Stay connected!

What We are Learning This Week

In Reader's Workshop we continue our unit on Resources in our Community.  Our question for this week is "How do resources get from where they come from to the people who use them?"  Our key vocabulary words are: ship, transport, deliver, local, container and purchase.  We will read books and poems to learn more about the supply chain for various resources, and how these goods get from producers to consumers.  These are some of the texts we will be reading:







In Writer's Workshop we will wrap up our Poetry unit by writing poems about ourselves, inspired by some of the poems in The Best Part of Me.



In Math, we will work more on story problems with unknown change, e.g. 6 + ___ = 9.  Students will understand and solve these problems, and use an efficient strategy to show their thinking.  We will also continue to think about equivalent expressions, and True or False equations.

In Science, we will continue to learn about how plants grow.  We planted wheat from seeds, garlic from bulbs, and this week will plant carrots from roots. 

Please feel free to ask your child about what he or she is learning this week!

Field Trip to MSPCA Adoption Center

As part of our unit on Resources in Our Communities, the Curley First Grade will be going on a guided tour of the MSPCA Boston Adoption Center at 350 South Huntington Avenue in Jamaica Plain. In order to accommodate everyone, each classroom will be visiting the MSPCA on a separate day (four dates between March and April TBD) and will be making the short journey from the Curley on foot.

Because students will be in close proximity to various animals during the tour, we are asking families to let the school nurse know if their student has an allergy or another condition (such as asthma) that may be impacted by close contact with animals. Students of families that opt-out of the guided tour will be able to remain at the Curley with the other classrooms not visiting that MSPCA on that day. 

Additionally, the MSPCA is asking for a $5 donation per student to cover the cost of care for the animals. Many groups also plan a donation drive prior to their tour to collect blankets, toys, food and other items to give to the animals at the adoption center.  A copy of the MSPCA Wish List is available here if your child would like to bring donations with them for the animals.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out!

What We Have Been Learning

It’s hard to believe that today is the last school day in February. As we move into a new month, we wanted to recognize the amazing students and staff who worked tirelessly throughout February to celebrate Black History Month at the Curley. Yesterday all that hard work culminated in the annual Black History Performance, featuring many of our former first-graders.

Check out some photos and video below!

     

     

Reader's Workshop

In Reader’s Workshop this week we continued reading and learning about the resources in our communities. We've been specifically thinking about our Weekly Question: "Where do our resources come from?" and the systems that exist that allow resources that are produced in one area of the world are able to be consumed in another area. they have that allows them to thrive and be successful in their habitat.

This week we read two main texts; From Cocoa Beans to Chocolate, and Me on the Map. In From Cocoa Beans to Chocolate, we focused on retelling the key steps in the chocolate making process and using key vocabulary from the text to explain why cocoa beans are grown in warm climates. Then, we read Me on the Map to help us get a better sense of where we live, and where we are in relation to the many places around the world where our resources come from.

Next week, we will use the text From Sheep to Sweater to think about the supply chains that bring goods to markets and and the importance of workers in the process of making yarn.

Buddy Study

This week kicked off the start of Buddy Study! In Buddy Study, students will be working with a partner to practice making and breaking apart new words. Students have four words to learn throughout a week of Buddy Study: two sight words are assigned, but students select their other words from our weekly word study on words with short-e and short-i sounds.

Be sure to ask your student what their words are!

This Week's Weekly Words:

• natural resource: a material that exists in nature
• industry: all the people and processes involved in producing a good or service
• local: belonging to the nearby area
• global: relating to the whole world
• rural: having to do with the countryside
• interconnected: having the parts or people linked to each other

Next Week's Weekly Words:

• supply chain: steps involved in producing and delivering goods
• worker: someone who does a job
• customer: a person who buys goods and services
• harvest: the period of time when farmers collect plants for food
• produce: to make
• provide: to give, to supply

Writer's Workshop

In Writer’s workshop we are working on our Poetry Unity! Students have been working on recognizing rhymes and writing their own writing poems. We have also begun talking about descriptive sensory poems and how writers choose specific words to describe how something looks, feels, smells, tastes and sounds.

Next week students are learning that poets can write many different types of poems and that poets follow a process when they write a poem. Poets think of a topic, brainstorm many ideas, and decide what kind of poem it will be (sensory, rhyming, etc) before drafting, revising and publishing their poem. We will also be reading poems like I Love My Hair in order to think about how poems can be about people in preparation for writing biographical poems.

Math

In math this week students worked with problems about unknown change.  We have been working on understanding equivalence and also revisited how to know if a problem is true or false.

Science

In Science, students have had a chance to plant wheat grass seeds and observe and compare the various leaves and other plants in our school’s environment. We have been thinking about how plants are living organisms that need water, air, nutrients, light, and space to grow and how plants have different structures that function to help them survive and thrive in their environment.

Studios

In studios, the Drama and Library Studios have been combined as our classroom market starts to take shape. Students have been extending their thinking about suppliers and consumers and how people make exchanges to obtain the goods and services they need and want. Further, in art and buildings studios, children have been building neighborhoods that include market spaces while designing maps and signs signs that attract people to the goods being sold in their market.

Questions to ask your student!

• What is a local industry in Boston? 
• What happens in a rural place? 
• What natural resources do we depend on?
• Notice the signs around your neighborhood. 
• What words and images do you see? 
• What kinds of information do the signs give? 
• Which signs make you interested in buying a good or a service?

Reminder to Join Us for our Publishing Party

Tomorrow, we will be celebrating the writing we have done this winter in our nonfiction writing unit! Students have written all-about books about animals that show off our expertise (and research skills) about a whole host of creatures from the animal kingdom! Each book comes packed with loads of information, illustrations and text-features (like captions, diagrams, labels and glossaries) to leave you feeling satisfied knowing that you've learned a lot about animals from our classroom experts!

Come grab your signed copy tomorrow!

Thursday, February 13th, 2020
8:45-9:45 am
Families should enter and sign in at the lower school main entrance. 

The 1,000 Cups Coffee Shop operated by Curley middle school students will be selling coffee and baked goods beginning at 8:30.

Fiesta de Publicación de Primer Grado 

Ven y celebra la escritura que los estudiantes han hecho en nuestra unidad de escritura de no ficción!

Jueves 13 de febrero de 2020
8: 45 - 9: 45 am 

Favor de ingresar y registrarse en la entrada de la escuela inferior. La cafetería de 1,000 tazas operada por estudiantes de la Curley venderá café y productos horneados a partir de las 8:30.

What we have been learning

Reader's Workshop

In Reader’s Workshop this week we wrapped up our unit on Animals Surviving and Thriving!
All unit long, we've been thinking about how people and animals are interconnected. We've been reading and learning about how we can play a role in animals' survival and how we can take care of the different habitats around the world. 

This week we read two main texts; How Chipmunk Got His Stripes, and Mathew and Tilly
In our reading response journals, we focused on using text evidence to show our reasoning. Some students chose to use phrases like "I know because...", "The pictures show..." or "The author said..." to help them get started. 

Next week, we will begin our unit on Resources in Our Communities. We will use the text Mirror to begin our work around why markets are important to people around the world and comparing markets in different places.

Word Study

In Word Study, we have been working on reading and writing words from short /u/ word families (-ug and -ut).  This coming week we will work with reading and writing words with the glued sounds -ung and -unk.

Next Week's Weekly Words:

• goods: things people buy or own
• service: job someone does which helps others
• shop: to visit stores to look over and buy goods
• consumer: someone who buys and uses products and services
• producer: someone who makes goods or provides a service
• buy: to get a good or a service in exchange for money

Writer's Workshop

In Writer’s workshop we have just about finished our non-fiction texts about animals. Please come and celebrate the writing we have done this winter at our publishing party on:

Thursday, February 13th, 2020

8:45-9:45 am

Families should enter and sign in at the lower school main entrance. The 1,000 Cups Coffee Shop operated by Curley middle school students will be selling coffee and baked goods beginning at 8:30. 

Next week, we will begin our Poetry Unit! We will be using The Best Part of Me and other poems and poetry books as mentor texts before students begin writing their own "I am" poems to kick off our unit.

Math

In math, students have been working on combinations of ten. We are practicing and developing accurate number sense by playing games involving one known and one unknown number to quickly find the combination that makes ten.

Studios

 In art studio, we have been making reusable bags out of recycled T-shirts!

Join Us: First Grade Publishing Party!

Please come and celebrate the writing we have done this winter in our nonfiction writing unit! 

Thursday, February 13th, 2020
8:45-9:45 am 

Families should enter and sign in at the lower school main entrance. 

The 1,000 Cups Coffee Shop operated by Curley middle school students will be selling coffee and baked goods beginning at 8:30.

Fiesta de Publicación de Primer Grado 

Ven y celebra la escritura que los estudiantes han hecho en nuestra unidad de escritura de no ficción! 

Jueves 13 de febrero de 2020
8: 45 - 9: 45 am 

Favor de ingresar y registrarse en la entrada de la escuela inferior. La cafetería de 1,000 tazas operada por estudiantes de la Curley venderá café y productos horneados a partir de las 8:30.

What we have been learning

Reader's Workshop

In Reader’s Workshop this week we continued reading and learning about how humans can play a role in animals' survival. We've been specifically thinking about our Weekly Question: "How do people impact animals’ survival? and the how animals, including humans, are connected to each other and to their environments.

This week we read two main texts; National Geographic Readers: Sea Turtles, and Me... Jane.
We focused on using key details from the text (illustrations, words, and text features) to describe turtle hatching. We also thought about how an author might choose to present information in a non-fiction text. This coming week, we will use the text Daniel Finds A Poem to continue our work around understandings how animals, including humans, are connected to each other and to their environments.

Word Study

In Word Study, we have been working on reading and writing words from short /o/ word families (-ot and -op).  This coming week we will work with reading and writing words with the glued sounds -ong, -onk and -ock.

Last Week's Weekly Words:

• impact: to have an effect on someone or something
• environment: surroundings, or natural world
• responsibility: something someone is counted on to do
• endangered: at risk of becoming extinct
• wildlife: plants and animals that live without humans, in the wild
• rescue: to save from a dangerous situation

Next Week's Weekly Words:

• interconnected: having the parts linked to each other
• basic need: something that plants and animals need to survive, such as air, water, food, space, light, and shelter
• map: a flat or two-dimensional representation of a place
• urban: having to do with a city
• location: the place where something is found
• travel: to move from one place to another

Writer's Workshop

In Writer’s workshop we are finishing our non-fiction texts about animals in advance of our Publishing Party coming up on February 13th from 8:45 to 9:45.

While reading non-fiction books about sea turtles, we have talked about how author's use text features to present information in a clear and interesting way. These test features can include headings, captions, labels, diagrams, bold words, a glossary and even"interesting facts!" As we near completion of our all-about books, the authors in first-grade have had to make these same choices about how they can best present their research and information to our audience to keep them satisfied while keeping our books fun and interesting!

Math

In math, students have been working on measuring and comparing. They are practicing and developing accurate techniques for measuring the length of an object. We will also begin to work on solving problems on comparing lengths of fish and determining which fish are "keepers" and which are too short. In addition, this week we have started to work with fractions. Students are beginning to understand one half as a number that describes the quantity of one part when a whole is divided into two equal parts. 

Studios

 In art studio, we have been making ocean scenes with tissue paper collages.

Students continue to building animal habitats with Legos, Kapla Blocks, and Beautiful Stuff! In our drama, writing and drawing studios students have been encouraged to demonstrate how all animals - including humans - are interconnected on our planet.

You're invited: Winter Concert

Music with Ms. Alves 

Friday, December 13, 1:40PM in the Curley Auditorium

The first grade will take the stage along with all of grades K2, 2 and the middle school chorus and dancers!

Can't wait to see you there!

What we have been learning...

Reader's Workshop

In Reader’s Workshop this week we continued reading and learning about animals living in our environment. We've been specifically thinking about our Weekly Question: "How do animals survive in their habitats?" and the structures they have that allows them to thrive and be successful in their habitat.  

This week we read two main texts; What do you do with a tail like this?, and the poem "Falcon Fledge" from Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife. We continued to focus on using key details from the text (illustrations, words, and text features) to understand how animals adapt to their environment and how they use their structures to survive and thrive.  We also thought about how or why an author might choose to present information in a poem. This coming week, we will use the text How Chipmunk Got His Stripes: A Tale of Bragging and Teasing to think about how animals, including humans, are connected to each other and to their environments.

Word Study

In Word Study, we have been working on reading and writing words from short /ă/ word families with glued sounds (and, am, ank, an).  This coming week we will work with reading and writing words with short /ǐ/ word patterns (in, it, ig).

Last Week's Weekly Words:

• predator: an animal that hunts and catches other animals for food
• burrow: a hole or tunnel in the ground made by an animal
• basic need: something that plants and animals need to survive, such as air, water, food, space, light, and shelter
• survive: to stay alive
• shelter: a safe place where animals live
• prey: an animal that is hunted by another animal

Next Week's Weekly Words:

• rain forest: a rich, warm forest with lots of rainfall and a wide variety of plants and animals
• tundra: a large, flat area where the ground underneath is permanently frozen
• desert: a dry area of land with very few plants, usually covered by sand
• forest: a large area covered mostly with trees and undergrowth
• pond: a small body of still water
• ocean: the sea; a saltwater habitat predator, burrow, basic need, survive, shelter, prey

Writer's Workshop

In Writer’s workshop we are working towards researching and writing non-fiction texts about animals.

This week students are learning that as non-fiction writers, they will be able to pick a topic they know well and are interested in to write about. We began learning how to identify important information about our topic and began to research their topic further. In the coming weeks we will be starting to work on writing our all-about books and how to turn our research into writing, including: writing enough information to satisfy our readers and using text features to present information in a clear and interesting way.

Math

In math, students have been working on solving addition problems with multiple (up to 3) addends. They are practicing the use of strategies to find all the possible combinations to equal a number and considering whether the order of addends affects the total. We are also continuing to work on visualizing and representing story problems with numbers, pictures, words or other equations. We will begin to work on Interpreting and using standard notation (<, >, +, -, =) and Generating equivalent equations for a number next week.

Science

In Science, students had a chance to collect data and record their observations of our classroom terrariums in their science notebooks!

The grass has sprouted in our critters habitat!

Studios

In studios, students have been building animal habitats with Legos, Kapla Blocks, and Beautiful Stuff. Further, our drama, writing and drawing studios have been combined for students to create and act out animal stories that show how where an animal lives impacts its behavior and its survival. Next week, students will be adding oil pastels to their art arsenal and playing an animal-habitat matching game as part of our science studio.

Questions to ask your student!

• If I had 10 crayons and some were red and some were blue, how many of each could I have? Find multiple combinations!
• What did you learn about a fledgling falcon this week? What is their habitat? How do they adapt to survive in an urban habitat?
• What changes have you observed in your terrarium?