First Things First

First Grade Newsletter December 2, 2013

But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10-11
Important Dates!
12/5 Elementary Singing Chapel (8:30-9:00 in the auditorium, Parents are welcome!)! 12/13 Elementary Music Program (2:00 in the auditorium)! 12/16 Christmas Around the World readers theater and First grade Christmas party (2:00 in the 1st grade classroom)! 12/17 Concert at the nursing home (leaving from school around 2:00 pm)! 12/18 School is dismissed at 12:00Merry Christmas!! experiment with an iPad app called Teaching Graphs that lets them make their own digital graphs.!

Bible

! We will begin our Christmas Bible unit this week and will learn about Mary and Joseph and how angels came to tell them that Jesus was going to be born. During this unit, we will think about this Biblical principle: God uses normal people who obey Him. We will notice that most of the characters in the Christmas story were not important people, but they obeyed God and were able to be a part of Gods greatest miracle. ! Our Bible verse this week is the next part in our Christmas passage. We know it is very long, but we will practice a song to help us remember and will practice it often at school. Please encourage your child to take time to practice it at home each night. If you would like ideas of how to practice it with your child, feel free to write us and we can help.!

Language Arts!
We have had a wonderful time learning about Christmas around the World. This week, we will learn about Christmas in Denmark, America, Australia, India, and Korea. The students have also enjoyed learning how to say Merry Christmas in many languagesso far, we have learned how to say it in Spanish, Swedish, and Dutch! ! This week, we will also read some books and do writing activities related to Christmas. The students will practice writing persuasively by making a Christmas tree and then writing from the trees perspective and telling why they are the best Christmas tree there is. !

Important Notes!
First Grade Christmas party: We hope many of you can join us on Monday, December 16th for the 1st grade Christmas party. The students will be performing short readers theaters about Christmas around the World, and we hope to do some games and eat snacks together. Would any of you be interested in organizing games or planning the snacks for the party? If so, please let us know. Thank you!!

Math!
In math this week, we will continue our new unit on data and graphing. The students will learn how to take a survey and will use the data from their surveys to make bar graphs. They will also get to

Thank you,!
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Miss Julie Johnson and Mrs. Janet Ekstrand!