We had a great week searching and identifying sounds. We loved learning about onamatopoeia. We wrote a group onomatopoeia poem, and this week we will be writing our own!
We will be applying what we have learned by learning how we can use light and sound to send messages. This week we will be learning how large things like bridges and ships get built. We will be focusing on the comprehension strategy of cause and effect. We are working on taking what we are learning as a whole group and the process we have to reading and understanding our reading material into books at our own level. Throughout the year, I have gradually been releasing parts of this process with the kids so that they find success and independence in books at their own reading and interest level. At this point in the year, it is wonderful to see them doing so much of this independently and thoughtfully. They are reading, responding in writing, responding through a Book Talk, and often having an assessment on their reading material. These are big and proud moments in grade 1. In math we are working on identifying patterns in a series of addition and subtraction sentences with sums to 20. We are also working on finding multiple solutions to addition problems. For example: If I have a sum of 12, I can solve this with a 7+5, a 9+3, an 8+4, or a 3+1+8, etc. This week, our spelling check in will be on FRIDAY. I am also hoping that we will have an opportunity to have Forest School on Friday as well. So far the weather outlook is hopeful! We will be doing some work this week with sounds again. This week we will identify sounds in our community, and we will use sounds in our writing. The sounds and spellings of ow and ou will be our phonics and spelling focus. We are working very hard on applying our knowledge and understanding of known sight words and spelling patterns to our daily writing. I am looking to see this application in our daily writing, and am expecting to see known words such as "they", "I" (many kids still will spell the word I with a lowercase i, which I think is due to our iphone, ipad, and other i devices...), "the", "for", etc. spelled accurately. My "Sight Word" tab on this site will give you a list of all of our Sight Words. We are currently on Unit 5. I am also expecting correct punctuation when writing one or two sentences and proper letter formation. Correct case letters and correct letter sizing are expected. The kids have been doing a great job bringing back curiosity answers, and they are very proud of themselves for taking that on! In math, we are working on mastering our time to the half-hour, and we have learned about defining and non-defining attributes of shapes. We continue to work on adding to and subtracting from 20. We are reading, reading, and reading some more! This week we will be reading books and poems about sounds. I am looking forward to a fantastic week! The Teamwork Tigers have done an excellent job this week. We are asking lots of great curiosity questions and we are very curious about the day and night sky. We will wrap this up by learning about the phases of the moon. Be sure to bring any answered curiosity questions from the week back in! We love to hear the answers and how the answers were found!
We are reading, reading, and reading! We are learning to answer questions in many ways, and we are learning to respond thoroughly to our reading response questions. Drawing is also one way we share what we know about our reading. Today we investigated the style of author/illustrator Kevin Henkes. We then tried out his style to create pictures that depicted key details from his story, Kitten's First Full Moon. We are having fun adding adjectives to our writing. We are working on narratives on what we will do When Spring Comes... In math, we are learning those fact families to twenty. We are solving missing addend problems, and figuring out what is best in certain math situations...sometimes counting up is the way to go, and sometimes counting back might just do the trick! During science, we learned how water is essential to plants, and how water can move up through the roots to all parts of the plant. I hope your child shared the unfolding flower experiment with you! The Book Fair and Read A Thon are next week. Information on this came home last week. There are also special reading events throughout the week. For more information, be sure to check out the school wide bulletin. Our day to purchase at the Book Fair will be Tuesday. Report cards will be emailed by the administrative office on March 25th. Last week we had an awesome creative build of Leprechaun Land. It was apparent on March 17th that the leprechauns loved our homes and land. They left a few Starbursts and there was a Gnome living in every house! Some even think that maybe those gnomes are leprechauns in disguise! In math we are learning about fact families. This takes our basic facts knowledge and applies it to the understanding that for each fact there are 3 numbers that work together to make a Fact Family. For instance, 7, 3, 10 work together to make the following facts. 7+3=10, 3+7=10, 10-3=7 and 10-7=3. We are learning these fact families to 20. Practicing these at home is also encouraged. Next week we will be reading 3 selections about the sky. The class will have an optional enrichment assignment to observe the moon. The Moon Tracking paper will come home on Monday. We will be brainstorming signs of spring and we will begin to look for these during our Forest School times. We will be writing narratives about our ideas for spring. We are working heavily on our story comprehension. We will now have a weekly vocabulary and comprehension assessment on one of our reading selections. Additionally, we are working on taking quizzes on our independent reading selections. It is essential that your children return their Thursday homework books on Friday, as they do use this for their reading quiz on Fridays. We have had several children without books to use. Sometimes I have an extra copy for use, but it is not the case with every book. Please return these books on Friday, even if you did not get a chance to read it with your child. There is a lot happening around reading this month. Information-about our Read-A-Thon and Book Fair went home last week. These events will all happen starting March 28th. We had a wonderful week back from our vacation.
We are completing our sixth math unit, and we will be moving into fact families to 20, attributes, and shapes. This past week we read about animal scientists and we also learned about sound vibrations. We learned how cartoonists use every day objects to make the silly sounds we hear in cartoons. We even made our own silly sounds. Your children are reading, reading, and reading! Please remember to look for the Homework/Celebration book each Thursday. It will be in your child's folder. Please have your child read this on Thursday and return the book and signed paper on Friday. Please don't keep the book for another day, as we use the books in class for discussions or projects. Our spelling check ins will return to Thursdays. Last week was different due to the short week. Practicing for 10 minutes daily is encouraged. Making the words in play-doh, sugar, salt, sand, etc. is a great way to practice and play. We will be having a building project this week on Wednesday. If you have any small cardboard boxes (jewelry size, toothpaste size, or smaller) please have your child bring them in. We will need them by Wednesday. Thank you! Hello Families, I hope everyone has had a restful and fun vacation! I look forward to welcoming the class back on Monday. This week we will be wrapping up our reading unit on animals. We will be learning how animals and people work together. For this week, our spelling check in will be on Friday. Although we work daily on these patterns, 5-10 minutes of daily home practice/reinforcement of the pattern for both spelling and reading will go along way in your child's long term learning of the skill. During math time, we are wrapping up our 6th math unit. This one has focused on subtraction and place value application. If you are looking for ways to support your child's learning at-home, I recommend accessing our Wonders, EveryDay Mathematics, and IXL learning platforms. If you need me to re-send your child's passwords, please feel free to reach out. Our science work will focus on sound and light energy. This week we will be learning about sound. This week the students will be learning about the cafeteria and we will begin to have lunch there on Wednesday. We are entering New Hampshire's fifth season...MUD SEASON! I encourage students to still wear boots. The playground is very muddy and wet. Wearing boots and/or bringing a spare pair of shoes to keep here for indoors is encouraged. We often spread out to learn on the floor, and we do our best to keep that a clean space. Indoor shoes will help the keep the mud and dirt outside. Families, my website is to keep you updated on the happenings in our classroom. Please be sure to check the Weekly Bobcat News for information on school-wide information and events. Our animal study for reading and science will focus on insects and a continued study on how animals survive in nature.
Our decoding and spelling pattern this week will be long i patterns. We will review the i_e pattern, but also learn how i, igh, and ie can also make the long i sound. Your children are working on using doubles facts to help them solve other facts. For instance, they are learning that if they know that 4+4 = 8, they can use that fact to solve 4+5 = 9. During writing time, we will be applying what we know about topic sentences, details, and closing sentences to write opinions about books that we have read. Our class had been doing an outstanding job using IXL to support and review previously taught skills. The class has earned 5 certificates of excellence this month from IXL. Way to go Teamwork Tigers! We had a wonderful and magical snowshoe for our Forest School activity. This integrated nicely with our focus on animals. The kids were able to observe deer tracks right on our school property.
The Teamwork Tigers were troopers when we were snowshoeing. For most of them, this was their first experience, and they did a great job climbing hills, and navigating through the trees! Our Valentine Box design was fantastic. Overall, the kids did a great job problem solving and designing. They are very proud of their designs! As their guide, I was so proud of their problem solving, sharing of materials, and flexibility! When something doesn't go as planned, it is often hard for 6 and 7 year olds to adjust. Your children blossomed. We will celebrate Valentine's Day on Monday. Thank you for all the donations to our celebration. Your child's spelling test will go home on Monday. I was not in the building on Thursday, and Friday was a day of bustling activity. This week your children will continue to explore animals. We will focus on how animals survive in nature. We will learn a big word: BIOMIMICRY. Great job families on the homework routine! We are continuing to learn about animals. Last week we learned about animal features. The kids then had to decide on a special feature that they would like to have in order to survive in a difficult place such as a volcano, under the sea, or in unicorn land. They drew great diagrams of their special features. We had fire extinguisher fingers, feet that could grip clouds, and lots more! This week we will learn how animals help each other. We are learning to write non-fiction. Last week, each child chose an animal, decided on key features of the animal, and then wrote a topic sentence, key details, and a closing sentence. This is difficult for first graders, but they will continue to practice and it will become an acquired and applied skill. We will have a Valentine's Party. I will send the Sign Up Genius link and a listing of students to you. Please remember to have your child return the Snow Day 2 Blizzard Bag materials tomorrow, so that your child receives credit for participating. Also, please have them return their homework book. Enjoy your day! It has been a busy week of showing what we know in first grade.
We have been working on comparison writings. This week, we compared ourselves to Pete the Cat! The kids did a great job showing how they were alike and different. Our February monthly homework will move over to IXL. We use IXL for about 15-20 minutes daily within the classroom. I have assigned each child review skills on this platform. We will work on these review skills during our daily IXL time, but the kids are also welcome to work on them from home. To access these skills, they will need the password card that was sent home earlier in the year. If you need me to resend this, please reach out. The children should first be going to the PRACTICE Section and working on the Yellow STAR items, that are Suggestions from your TEACHER. These are the skills that I have assigned. If your child completes all of these, your child is then welcome to work on the RECOMMENDATIONS from IXL. For the month of February, I will not be assigning any work on SEESAW, but I would encourage families that are looking for some additional homework to access IXL. Next week we begin a new unit in both Reading and Math. We will be back to our Thursday Spelling Check In routine too. Also, a reminder from the library...our library day is Friday. In order for children to check out a new book, they must have their book with them on Friday. Next Thursday is our 100th Day of School! We will be having a 100th Day Museum. Your child is encouraged to bring in a collection of 100 things. These should be small, easy to control (i.e. round objects that roll will frustrate your child...) non-breakable, and not valuable. Your child's collection should be able to fit on a desk. Some things to consider...100 cotton balls, 100 toothpicks, 100 marshmallows, 100 sugar cubes, 100 elastics...) Looking forward to seeing their collections. |
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