Grade 1 News
Friday, November 9, 2018
Dear American Academy First Grade Parents,
We had a heart-warming Veteran’s Day celebration this week. It was wonderful to see all of the supportive red shirts on Thursday. Please read below for upcoming first grade news.
Book Fair
Due to reports of lost money and inappropriate behavior, first grade students will no longer be able to go to the book fair during lunch recess but may be able to go during afternoon recess with teacher permission. Students must show responsibility to gain this privilege. Please remember the book fair is open this Saturday as well as before school and after school next week until 5:00pm if you would like to accompany your child.
Dean’s Den
KICKBOARD:
The end of trimester is coming and the students have worked hard to earn their Rebel Bucks. Good news is, the students running total will carry over to the next trimester, so they can keep saving or spend away in their respective class kickboard stores.
UNIFORM:
As you all know, part of American Academy attendance includes our student uniform policy. All uniform tops and bottoms must be purchased through Dennis Uniform.
Below are uniform reminders:
Students MUST wear approved Dennis Uniform shorts, pants, and tops.
Students are NOT allowed to wear long-sleeved undershirts under their American Academy uniform shirt
On dress-of-choice days, students MUST follow the guidelines of the uniform policy. Students cannot wear tank tops or any shirt that does not cover the shoulders.
On dress-of-choice days, students who choose to wear leggings MUST have shirts that are the length of their fingertips when their arms are placed down at their side.
Students are NOT allowed to wear Smart Watches this includes Fit Bit, Gizmos, Apple, Garmin, etc.
Students are NOT allowed to wear shoes that light up.
Students are NOT allowed to wear hoodies that are not from American Academy.
Students Must have their shirts tucked in.
Male students may not wear ¾ compression shorts / tights underneath their shorts.
Socks must follow the American Academy uniform policy. They may be white, black, navy blue or red in color.
Students who arrive at school outside of uniform will be asked to call home for the appropriate attire.
Curriculum Blurbs
Science
This week we will finish up our unit on Light. Play with light at home to review vocabulary: transparent, translucent, opaque, reflection, refraction, and illuminate. Students will get to watch The Magic School Bus: Gets a Bright Idea to culminate the four week unit.
History
Next week in History, we will be wrapping up our unit on Ancient Egypt. Students will be creating an Egyptian crown, collar, and ankh. We will also be celebrating this unit, by watching The Prince of Egypt and eating a small variety of Egyptian food on Friday. The food will consist of pita bread with hummus, cucumbers, and grapes. If your child has a food allergy to any of these foods, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher. You are welcome to send your child in with a similar food. If you are interested in donating any of the food items, please use the sign up link below. All food needs to be cut/washed prior to bringing it in on Friday. You may drop the food off at the Front Office, or send in with your child on Friday. We look forward to celebrating this fun unit on our last day before Thanksgiving break!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0448aaab2ea5fa7-ancient?scrlybrkr=6936f530
Literacy
With Thanksgiving on the mind, we will be writing about our favorite Thanksgiving food. Students will use traffic light colors to guide their writing to include a topic sentence (green), transition key/star sentence (yellow), detail sentence (red), and a conclusion sentence (green).
Specials
Art
Artists this week will be working on colors. How do colors create a feeling, which ones pop out and which ones recede? We will be working with oil pastels so students can easily blend multiple colors together.
Music
Opera is considered one of the most emotional and dramatic ways to tell a story. While your eyes take in the events of the story, your ears internalize the emotions for the songs and the orchestra. 1st graders will get to know the story of Hansel and Gretel on an entirely different level as they learn about different aspects of opera and watch it come to life. 1st graders will even have a chance to direct their OWN opera as they learn how stage direction, costume, scenery, and lighting can change the entire experience of the story. Favorite Songs of the Week: Sing an Aria, Do a Deer, Cut the Cake, and Brown Bear.
Physical Education
Students will be practicing their kicking and punting skills throughout our 3rd rotation of Physical Education. We will be implementing a variety of dynamic stretches to prevent injury, as well as dribbling, passing, trapping, and shooting techniques.
Technology
Students will continue to work on their typing skills this week. The focus is proper form. The next half of the week will be learning the basics of MS Word. Students will learn some formatting of fonts, how to add and alter pictures and shapes and we will learn to use the keys like “enter”, “backspace” and “delete”.
Thank you,
The First Grade Team
Mrs. Anthenien, Mrs. Curl, Mrs. Miller, and Mrs. Valentine
Dear American Academy First Grade Parents,
We had a heart-warming Veteran’s Day celebration this week. It was wonderful to see all of the supportive red shirts on Thursday. Please read below for upcoming first grade news.
Book Fair
Due to reports of lost money and inappropriate behavior, first grade students will no longer be able to go to the book fair during lunch recess but may be able to go during afternoon recess with teacher permission. Students must show responsibility to gain this privilege. Please remember the book fair is open this Saturday as well as before school and after school next week until 5:00pm if you would like to accompany your child.
Dean’s Den
KICKBOARD:
The end of trimester is coming and the students have worked hard to earn their Rebel Bucks. Good news is, the students running total will carry over to the next trimester, so they can keep saving or spend away in their respective class kickboard stores.
UNIFORM:
As you all know, part of American Academy attendance includes our student uniform policy. All uniform tops and bottoms must be purchased through Dennis Uniform.
Below are uniform reminders:
Students MUST wear approved Dennis Uniform shorts, pants, and tops.
Students are NOT allowed to wear long-sleeved undershirts under their American Academy uniform shirt
On dress-of-choice days, students MUST follow the guidelines of the uniform policy. Students cannot wear tank tops or any shirt that does not cover the shoulders.
On dress-of-choice days, students who choose to wear leggings MUST have shirts that are the length of their fingertips when their arms are placed down at their side.
Students are NOT allowed to wear Smart Watches this includes Fit Bit, Gizmos, Apple, Garmin, etc.
Students are NOT allowed to wear shoes that light up.
Students are NOT allowed to wear hoodies that are not from American Academy.
Students Must have their shirts tucked in.
Male students may not wear ¾ compression shorts / tights underneath their shorts.
Socks must follow the American Academy uniform policy. They may be white, black, navy blue or red in color.
Students who arrive at school outside of uniform will be asked to call home for the appropriate attire.
Curriculum Blurbs
Science
This week we will finish up our unit on Light. Play with light at home to review vocabulary: transparent, translucent, opaque, reflection, refraction, and illuminate. Students will get to watch The Magic School Bus: Gets a Bright Idea to culminate the four week unit.
History
Next week in History, we will be wrapping up our unit on Ancient Egypt. Students will be creating an Egyptian crown, collar, and ankh. We will also be celebrating this unit, by watching The Prince of Egypt and eating a small variety of Egyptian food on Friday. The food will consist of pita bread with hummus, cucumbers, and grapes. If your child has a food allergy to any of these foods, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher. You are welcome to send your child in with a similar food. If you are interested in donating any of the food items, please use the sign up link below. All food needs to be cut/washed prior to bringing it in on Friday. You may drop the food off at the Front Office, or send in with your child on Friday. We look forward to celebrating this fun unit on our last day before Thanksgiving break!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0448aaab2ea5fa7-ancient?scrlybrkr=6936f530
Literacy
With Thanksgiving on the mind, we will be writing about our favorite Thanksgiving food. Students will use traffic light colors to guide their writing to include a topic sentence (green), transition key/star sentence (yellow), detail sentence (red), and a conclusion sentence (green).
Specials
Art
Artists this week will be working on colors. How do colors create a feeling, which ones pop out and which ones recede? We will be working with oil pastels so students can easily blend multiple colors together.
Music
Opera is considered one of the most emotional and dramatic ways to tell a story. While your eyes take in the events of the story, your ears internalize the emotions for the songs and the orchestra. 1st graders will get to know the story of Hansel and Gretel on an entirely different level as they learn about different aspects of opera and watch it come to life. 1st graders will even have a chance to direct their OWN opera as they learn how stage direction, costume, scenery, and lighting can change the entire experience of the story. Favorite Songs of the Week: Sing an Aria, Do a Deer, Cut the Cake, and Brown Bear.
Physical Education
Students will be practicing their kicking and punting skills throughout our 3rd rotation of Physical Education. We will be implementing a variety of dynamic stretches to prevent injury, as well as dribbling, passing, trapping, and shooting techniques.
Technology
Students will continue to work on their typing skills this week. The focus is proper form. The next half of the week will be learning the basics of MS Word. Students will learn some formatting of fonts, how to add and alter pictures and shapes and we will learn to use the keys like “enter”, “backspace” and “delete”.
Thank you,
The First Grade Team
Mrs. Anthenien, Mrs. Curl, Mrs. Miller, and Mrs. Valentine