You may have noticed a change to the student screen when logging in to Raz Kids. Your child will see two planets when they login. To get to Raz Kids, just click the Reading planet and it will take you to the usual dashboard.
The other planet Headsprout will take your child to a new comprehension program that I will be explaining more later this week. If you’d like to try it out, you can! It will take your child to a placement test to help them get set up at an appropriate level, where they will practice skills and standards they need to help them become a better reader!
Please take a minute and complete the survey in order to help me create times for reading groups that will best fit your schedule. Once I have everyone’s preferred times, I will put together groups and hopefully start regular meetings beginning next week!
River Oaks would like to show our appreciation to all of the healthcare workers on the front lines. We would like to brighten up their days and send them pictures and cards. If you would like to participate, please have your child create drawings of doctors/nurses/EMT/hospital staff, or write letters of encouragement, or thank you notes- something to recognize our appreciation for their bravery and commitment to taking care of us.
I hope you all had a safe and happy break, and to those who celebrate, Happy Easter! I had a relaxing break at home- I have been trying to stay busy by cleaning, organizing and trying new recipes!
The First Grade Team also spent some time reviewing the parent surveys and found that most parents are happy with the amount and difficulty of the work assigned so far. We do have a few updates to our writing and science assignments which are explained a bit below.
As always our first concern is for the safety and well-being of you and your family. If your child falls behind on work, has difficulty with any of the tasks, or if your family is dealing with other issues that are interfering with schoolwork, please let me know. I will support you any way I can.
Writing Update
Based on parent responses to the survey, we have decided to shift our writing assignments to a more focused theme.
For the next two weeks students will be asked to read a short article and write about what they have learned, or what they think is most important from the text. The articles we have pulled will also connect with our science lessons as we begin learning about the structure and function of animal bodies.
Student writing should be at least three sentences long with a goal of five sentences, and it should focus on the information in the article of the day. But, they can add additional information from other articles as they develop more background knowledge and deepen their understanding of the topics.
Science Update
In order to make sure students have the opportunity to learn all of the first grade content, I will be posting around three Mystery Science lessons per week and include all the links for the week on the homework page. These lessons include a short video and an online book or activity.
The activities are not required, but they are fun! We don’t want you running to the store to buy things for the science lessons, so I will provide a list of substitutes for the materials you could use, if you choose to do the activities.
Reading Update
We will continue to use Raz Kids as our assigned reading. Students who are reading at levels A-J will continue to read and complete at least 2 quizzes per day. Students reading at levels K-Z will only be required to complete one quiz per day.
Every child should be reading at least 40 minutes per day to keep their reading skills strong for next year– August is a long time from now! At school we typically spend 90 minutes every day on reading instruction. Because of the hard work we have put in all year, most kids are already reading at a second grade level and just need to maintain their skills. If your child needs additional support with reading to prepare for second grade, I will be reaching out soon via email to set up an individualized plan.
Math Update
We will continue to use Zearn as our math curriculum. We are done reviewing, so your child will begin to work on new material they have not studied before. It may be more challenging for your child, please let me know if you have any issues.
I will be checking the lessons to ensure that there are at least 4 lessons assigned per week. I will also add links to the homework that would have been assigned if we were in school. If your child has their math homework book at home, they can complete the work in their book. The homework is not required, but is encouraged.
How much time should your child be spending on math? I recommend completing one lesson on Zearn and then setting a timer for 10-15 minutes of work on homework. You know your child, do only as much as you think they will benefit from and let me know if you have any trouble.
Class Meetings
Many parents have shown interest in video meetings or recorded lessons for students. I will be trying to schedule a weekly check in using Google Meet. Please be on the lookout for emails with invitations to attend.
Thank you so much for your personal messages and everything you are doing to support your child’s learning. This is a big challenge for everyone! Please continue to let me know if you have any issues or questions. I am here to help!
Rule: Earlier this year we learned that OW can represent the long o sound. But it can also represent the /ow/ sound as in cow. This is the sound we are focusing on this week. The spelling pattern OU can also represent the same sound. The three first grade sight words with the ou spelling in bold will help your child learn that these common words are spelled with the ou pattern.
Notes: Continue to remind your child to “tap it out” even if they remember how to spell the word, it helps with permanent spelling memory. The OW sound should only get one tap; it’s two letters but only represents one sound.
owl – remind your child to listen carefully for the second sound, /l/
plow and brown have two consonants at the beginning of the word which can be tricky to hear at first, remember to tap it out.
round has two consonants at the end of the word. The n can be tricky to hear. Practice tapping out other words with the nd spelling at the end: and, end, sand, sound…
Reading
Every child should be reading at least 40 minutes per day. This can be a combination of reading on Raz Kids to complete the required quizzes, reading on Epic, or any additional reading your child may do.
Raz Kids Levels A-J should read and complete at least 2 quizzes on Raz Kids every day (10 per week). Levels J-Z should read and complete at least one quiz on Raz Kids every day (5 per week).
If you are not sure of your child’s level please let me know.
I will be able to see your child’s quiz scores each time they take a quiz, so they should read carefully and look back in the book to check their answers! If they are having trouble I will email you to check in.
Math
Please make sure your child is logged onto Zearn using the username and password I provided for you. Some students have been logged onto their kindergarten account (username and password saved on home computer from last year) and have been completing wrong lessons. Username and passwords can be found under the “Student Login Information” tab. Please let me know if you have any questions.
This week we are moving on from review and are starting new content that your child has not studied before. There are four assigned lessons. Lessons 17, 19, 20, and 21 will be due on Friday. If your child finishes all four lessons before Friday, please have them work on the homework assignments below and on IXL math instead of moving on.
If your child is behind on math, please have them complete two lessons per day.
The homework assignments below are optional. They are all in your child’s math homework book. I suggest spending 10-15 minutes on them after the Zearn lesson of the day is completed. Zearn skips lessons that would have been a review day in school. I have included the review homework for these lessons as well- you can choose to skip them or work on them on Friday as a review. I’m trying to give plenty of work for those who want more, but please do not feel pressured to complete all of the extra assignments!
This week have your child read one article each day and write about what they have learned, or what they think is most important from the text. You may read the text aloud to them and google or discuss any tricky words- it’s a great idea to have them use the new words they learn in their writing.
Student writing should be at least three sentences long with a goal of five sentences, and it should focus on the information in the article of the day. But, they can add additional information from other articles as they develop more background knowledge and deepen their understanding of the topics.
Here is a video of examples of what typical first grade writing looks like.
Below is an example of an Informational piece of writing about guinea pigs.
This is a great example piece! It has an introduction sentence where the author notifies the reader what the piece will be about. There are 3 facts in the body of the piece. The last sentence is a conclusion sentence.
Science
In order to make sure students have the opportunity to learn all of the first grade content, I will be posting around three Mystery Science lessons per week. These lessons include a short video and an online book or activity.
The activities are not required, but they are fun!
Why do birds have beaks? Substitute materials: Beaks- tweezers, kitchen tongs Food- any beans, beads or small pasta
Why are polar bears white? Substitute materials: Glue dots: use tape or simply set your “moth” different places Moths: cut and color paper- any shape is okay!
Challenge Assignments
If your child finishes all of the work above, you may choose to have them work on challenge assignments.
The Elementary Report Cards for Marking Period 3 are currently being processed and will be available to parents in ParentConnect, Monday April 6, 2020. Following is some information on how parents can access report cards data in MIStar ParentConnect. Please note that if you have more than one child, you should be able to see data for all your children and you do not need separate logins for the different schools (if your children attend more than one school).
How do parents login to ParentConnect? To login to ParentConnect, parents need their PIN and password; this is how it is obtained: Parents go to the Dearborn Schools’ website (dearbornschools.org) and then the ParentConnect link. If they don’t know the login info, they click the (Need Your Login Information) link and it will prompt them to enter their email address (as provided to the school and entered in MIStar), and then click Submit. This process emails them their PIN and Password. After logging in, click on the “report card marks” module.
Spring break will be April 6-10th. I will not be posting any work for that week. Enjoy the time off with your family and we’ll be back Monday, April 13th to start learning again! Thanks and enjoy the sunshine! 🙂
