Thank you to those of you who have practiced helping your child to dress into their winter gear and practice packing up in a timely manner. Many of the first graders are becoming much more independent at this! If you haven't already, please send your child to school with a large reusable bag (such as a reusable grocery bag) so they do not loose any of the items as we haul our stuff to P.E. and music at the end of the day. It also provides a place to put items during the day when your child's cubbie is overflowing. Thanks!
Thank you to Mrs. Kolthammer for presenting and being our Fine Arts presenter this week! The class loved learning about Norman Rockwell and trying out some of his techniques after the presentation.
Also, thank you to Mrs. Silver for being our mystery reader this week! We loved learning about some other artists this week in the story you brought: Matisse and Picasso
Thank you to Mrs. Kolthammer for presenting and being our Fine Arts presenter this week! The class loved learning about Norman Rockwell and trying out some of his techniques after the presentation.
Also, thank you to Mrs. Silver for being our mystery reader this week! We loved learning about some other artists this week in the story you brought: Matisse and Picasso
Literacy
This week students focused on a new anchor text called: "Goods and Services" which is an informational text about the differences between goods and services, who buys them, needs vs. wants, what taxes are and what they do, and so on. Students focused on text features as they read this text. Students learned how they can help when they are working on their "close reading" skills and need a way to provide some evidence for their thinking. They are beginning to learn how each different text feature can be useful to them as they read. Below I have attached examples of text features your first grader has been learning about. Additionally this Text Feature Detective Chart would help reinforce these skills at home.
This week students focused on a new anchor text called: "Goods and Services" which is an informational text about the differences between goods and services, who buys them, needs vs. wants, what taxes are and what they do, and so on. Students focused on text features as they read this text. Students learned how they can help when they are working on their "close reading" skills and need a way to provide some evidence for their thinking. They are beginning to learn how each different text feature can be useful to them as they read. Below I have attached examples of text features your first grader has been learning about. Additionally this Text Feature Detective Chart would help reinforce these skills at home.
Additionally we focused on the following vocabulary words this week as we read this anchor text: Goods and Services Vocabulary Words.
Math
This week we began to learn about equivalent equations with subtraction for our common core standard:
1.OA.D.7 Understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and subtraction are true or false. For example, which of the following equations are true and which are false? 6 = 6, 7 = 8 – 1, 5 + 2 = 2 + 5, 4 + 1 = 5 + 2.
Student Friendly Objective: I can tell if an equation is true or false. (For example 2+3=6-1 is true, but 2+3=7-1 is false.)
One way students practiced this skill using unifix cubes and creating their own equation that equalled a specified number. In the image below, half the class needed to make an equation that had a sum of 7 and the other half needed to make an equation that had a sum of 8. After going through each of the equations we, mixed up the cards and played a game by pulling two of the equations and putting an equal sign between the two equations. Then students had to determine if the equation was true or false. We used the unifix cubes to "check our work" if there was a disagreement in the class. I encourage you to have your child try this at home to reinforce this difficult math skill.
Students also continued working on the greater than, less than and equal to signs and wrote equations to show how many more or fewer when comparing two groups. Below is a chart we made as a class.
Writing
Students were able to "fancy up" one of their personal narratives from our writing unit! They created a title, made a cover and are now celebrating by sharing their pieces with the class. Students are feeling more and more like the little authors they are! Additionally, many of your child's writing samples were already or will be sent home soon. Some of these are incomplete and that is acceptable. Sometimes students learn new skills and choose begin a new piece with the new information that they have learned during writing lessons. These pieces are NOT the final published piece and are not meant to be. Our published pieces will be proudly displayed in our classroom library for a few weeks and then send home for your review.
Students were able to "fancy up" one of their personal narratives from our writing unit! They created a title, made a cover and are now celebrating by sharing their pieces with the class. Students are feeling more and more like the little authors they are! Additionally, many of your child's writing samples were already or will be sent home soon. Some of these are incomplete and that is acceptable. Sometimes students learn new skills and choose begin a new piece with the new information that they have learned during writing lessons. These pieces are NOT the final published piece and are not meant to be. Our published pieces will be proudly displayed in our classroom library for a few weeks and then send home for your review.
Science
This week students continued to explore air by creating and launching their balloon rockets. Students learned that air does not like to be in a small space and will move to a larger space if it can which can create enough energy to move an object (like a balloon).
This week students continued to explore air by creating and launching their balloon rockets. Students learned that air does not like to be in a small space and will move to a larger space if it can which can create enough energy to move an object (like a balloon).
Upcoming Events
Friday, December 21st- PJ Day! The entire school earned enough Tiger Stripes to fill up the Tiger Stripe container! In first grade we will be celebrating with some winter activities in our PJs!
Friday, December 21st- Monday, January 7th: Winter Break, No school
Friday, December 21st- PJ Day! The entire school earned enough Tiger Stripes to fill up the Tiger Stripe container! In first grade we will be celebrating with some winter activities in our PJs!
Friday, December 21st- Monday, January 7th: Winter Break, No school