DiGioia Digest
First Grade Footnotes
January 8, 2016
Happy New Year!
Reading – Fiction – used different strategies to find meaning of unknown
words (Don’t Eat the Giggleberries; pictures, context clues, and personal
schema orprevious knowledge); read with expression (The Mightiest; paid
close attention to text signals, used character voices; described character
traits by looking at what characters do and say (The Three Little Pigs);
found key points to help remember what is important (The Three Little
Dassies); retold a story (Backyard Picnic); and did a reader’s theater and
written retelling of The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Writing –learned paragraph writing includes an opening (topic) sentence,
three detail sentences, and a closing sentence; I modeled with Diwali,
Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa; they practiced on their own with Christmas;
reviewed writing process; began by picking an idea to publish, then began
writing a first draft
Math – reviewed take away model and subtraction language and number
sentences; found that subtraction situations have two related number
sentences; solved word problems with addition and subtraction using
pictures and number sentences to match; wrote addition and subtraction
stories
Science- Chapter 2- How do rocks change? read National Geographic books
and made a venn diagram comparing weathering (breaks down rocks) and
erosion (moves rocks) with water, wind and ice; reviewed and took a quiz;
Science Alliance PTO program on chemistry; molecules, atoms, bonds,
chemical reactions
Social Studies- created quilt squares for holiday traditions; reviewed
Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and New Year’s traditions
Important Dates –
January 5 – One School One Book Kick-off – Charlotte’s Web
January 15 – No School – Institute Day
January 18 – No School – Martin Luther King Day
January 29 –Bingo night 6:30 pm
February 1 – January Reading Log due (15-20 minutes a day)