Language Arts

During the short and busy month of December, the first graders analyzed and choreographed a new seasonal poem Solstice, heard classic holiday tales through story and singing games, engaged in an author’s study of Jan Brett, and wrapped up introducing the vowels by focusing on u, i, and e and their word families.

Using our new poem, the children furthered their recall of High Frequency Words. As always, their choreography deepened their comprehension of vocabulary words such as solstice, centuries, and feasting.

Everyone was into our study of Jan Brett’s beautiful and classic books. We read many of her books, whole group and small group, noting their similarities and differences. In particular, we focused on the sequencing of The Mitten.

They also created artwork inspired by her books, noting the natural elements that border each page. Thanks to Clover, the children gathered pieces of nature from Orchard’s campus, and used it to create their own page. Later, they drew an Orchard animal onto their bordered art.

The children focused on their names by creating the holiday light garlands. They wrote their name carefully, then watercolored each bulb. After it dried, their bulbs were cut out for them. Later, they had to put their name back into correct spelling order and string it, working on fine motor skills.