Mrs. Giraud's Fantastic First Grade

 

My name is Jeny Giraud and I have been teaching first grade at Trinidad School for almost 10 years. I grew up in Humboldt County and live in McKinleyville with my husband Tony. We have three amazing daughters, Bella, Gracie and Gabby. I love teaching at Trinidad School because of the amazing staff and families who dedicate their full attention and time to the school and it's students. Trinidad is a very unique school in a beautiful location where we utilize the National Forest and local beaches to expand our exploration of nature and we work diligently to be stewards of the environment and earth. I am a proud member of the staff and I love the families and community of Trinidad.

 

 

Standards: What we teach in first grade is determined by the State of California and set forth in the Standards. If you are interested in learning what the Standards are please click here https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/ The standards provide the foundation of the skills we teach, but since we try to help each child reach their potential, we may teach higher grade-level skills, depending on the students and their needs.

 

Reading: Reading is a fundamental part of first grade. We spend the majority of our year learning and practicing reading and all of the components that come with it. We use the Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Program and it has been a fantastic program to assist in learning to read in our class. We believe in taking a whole language approach to learning to read and we integrate phonemic awareness, writing and letter/sound correspondence to support their reading. We work in a step by step approach with read-a-loud, thematic lessons and small and whole group direct instruction. We also use poetry and music to help with reading. We use hands on and integrated instruction and we offer intervention for students who require additional support with reading development. 

 

Writing: Writing in first grade begins with the review of letters and sounds and their proper letter formation. Then we move on to short simple sentences. We learn how to build a complete sentence with all of it's components. We learn how to structure sentences and how to put them in grammatical order. We learn about capitalization, punctuation and ask ourselves, "Does that make sense?" We use Handwriting Without Tears for letter formation, we use journal writing for practice and we scramble up sentences and rebuild them for practice. Once we have mastered the basic components  we move into paragraph writing, Narrative writing, Persuasive writing, and Informative writing. We learn editing techniques and we learn to self edit and how to edit other people's writing. 

 

Science: Students use the scientific process of discovery to explore our world by asking questions and experimenting. We use the online curriculum called Mystery Science and we will be adopting new curriculum in the upcoming school year. We study plant science, weather, light and sound, and the Solar system and we study the Rocky Seashore for the month of May with our MARE studies. 

 

Social Studies: Our adopted curriculum is Social Studies Alive! and with that curriculum we study our local community, Families, School, Maps, Citizenship and National Holidays. 

 

Technology: In first grade we use technology in the classroom in many forms. All students participate in 30 minutes of technology with out IT professional once a week. They learn how to use reading and writing apps as well as learn how to use websites for math practice and typing practice. They use listening centers in class during centers and they get exposure to using an over-head projector while engaging in whole group instruction. We have a large screen in the classroom for video conferencing and science lessons. We also use iPads for learning centers and for reading. 

Splash Math: https://www.splashlearn.com/

Learning A-Z: https://www.kidsa-z.com/

Teach Your Monster to Read:https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/

Story Line Online: https://www.storylineonline.net/

Mindfulness: https://www.mindfulschools.org/free-online-mindfulness-class-for-kids/

 

Physical Education: All first graders participate in physical education every week. We learn skills such as throwing and catching a ball (football, baseball), they learn to kick a ball correctly to play soccer and kick ball. They use a racket to play tennis and badminton. They learn new games and learn how to be a part of a team and how to encourage each other to be team players and play fairly. The learn to hula hoop, jump rope and play hopscotch. We use Go Noodle for inside PE when it is too wet to go outside or the gym is unavailable and we love to have indoor "snowball fights" with crumpled up paper!

 

Math: We use the My Math adopted curriculum for math instruction in first grade with additional support through Creative Mathematics using music to help support math fact retention and place value instruction. We play games with cards and dice to memorize math facts to 12 and we use a daily warm up to encourage place value knowledge and how to add and subtract. We learn how to add and subtract to 20, we learn about two and three-dimensional shapes and their attributes. We learn how to tell time to the hour and half hour and we learn how to put together and take apart composite shapes. We learn about even and odd numbers and how to use strategies to problem solve word problems. We learn how to make graphs and how to use graphs to interpret information. 

 

Homework: Homework in first grade is assigned almost every week but it is optional with the exception of reading each night. Homework is encouraged so that parents stay in tune with their students about what they are learning and how they can best support them in their learning. It is also encouraged because the most successful students are those who practice the skills they are learning in class on their own. 

 

Discipline: Our school wide behavior program is P.B.I.S which is Positive Behavior Intervention and Support. We try to teach the children our expectations, then use praise and encouragement to help them learn how to behave so that we can establish a learning environment in the classroom. We encourage students to use their voice and words to communicate with each other to resolve conflict. We try to teach them accountability and how to be Safe, Respectful and Responsible.

 

Communication:I will keep you informed the best way I know how. I will send home a weekly newsletter with their Friday folder each week. I will send home a monthly calendar with any school and classroom events.I will always be available via school email: [email protected] and I encourage you to sign on and use class dojo for daily communication. https://www.classdojo.com/signup/

 

Volunteers: Trinidad School loves volunteers, so we hope you will find ways to be involved in your child's education. Even if you can't be a classroom volunteer, you can attend the Parent, Teacher Organization (PTO) meetings, serve on the Trinidad Education Foundation, or participate in class or school-wide events. We are excited to have so many wonderful families attending Trinidad School. You are part of a wonderful school and community and we encourage you to get as involved as you are able. It not only makes a difference in our school community but it directly affects your child's success.