Mrs. Parakilas

     Welcome to Mrs. Parakilas's First Grade Class!

Special Schedule:
A Day-P.E.   B Day-Spanish & Art    C Day-Library   D Day-Music


February News

February News

Happy February!  The school days keep flying by as we are quickly approaching the 100th student day of School!  Students continue to be actively engaged in the learning process and February will prove to be a busy month for first graders!  Kindness will also be the school-wide theme at EES for February.


February Friday Kindness Days

Friday, February 4 - Wear clothes with a kindness symbol or saying (stickers with kindness quotes will also be available.)

Friday, February 11 - Wear red or pink or hearts

Friday, February 18 - Team Spirit, wear your EES gear or dress in blue & white

Friday, February 25 - Dress as your kindness hero (real life or fictional)

Reading

In reading, the students are continuing to work with the various structures of fiction and nonfiction texts. Story elements (characters/setting/problem/solution) are discussed during both whole group and small group lessons and the kids are digging deeper into the character’s traits and actions.  Both in class and in library, the students have been learning about the various nonfiction text features that help them maneuver through these texts and gain more information as they read.  

As your child is reading at home, ask them about the characters they are reading about.  Ask what the character is like and why they think this.  Have your child tell you about the problem in the story and how it was solved or what events occurred in their book.  With nonfiction texts, ask your child what text features were in their book and what they learned about the topic as they read.  Have fun with this!    

Writing

Students will continue to work on writing informational pieces about topics that they know a lot about.  Their stories cover many different topics and it is always fun to see what they think they are “experts” on!  The students have been working on teaching the reader about their topic, using story specific vocabulary, and compositing strong beginnings to introduce their topics and conclusions to wrap things up.  This month, the students will choose an animal to “research” and compose a piece based on their research.

Science

The students have enjoyed digging deeper into our Winter Science Unit.  They have learned about snow and ice and are now learning about what animals do in the winter.  They will be looking into how animals prepare for winter and investigate which animals hibernate, migrate, or adapt during the winter.

Math

We are hopping right along and are into Unit 4: Leapfrogs on the Number Line!   In this unit, the students will:  

*Locate identify, and order numbers to 120 on a number line

*Count forward and backwards by 1s, 5s, and 10s

*Add, subtract, and solve word problems using  number line

*Measure, order, and compare height in inches


Reminders:

*Children must have boots and snow pants to play in the snow.  Also, please remember to send your child with hats and gloves/mittens daily.  


*There is no scheduled recess on early dismissal or delayed start days.



Important Dates:

February 4th – 100th Day of School 

February 9th  -PTO Virtual Cultural Arts @9:00 with Globetrotter Lucius aka “Too Tall”

February 9th – Early Dismissal (1:00) -Professional Development for Teachers

February 21st- No School-Presidents’ Day

February 22nd - No School-February Break