We've had a lot of indoor recess due to the cold this week. Hopefully your child was able to find a way to burn off some steam at home. The first grade has been encouraging students to read for iRead or color to limit screen time here at school when students have to be inside for indoor recess. Classes will rotate locations each week so hopefully our class will get some gym time to run around soon if we are stuck inside due to the extreme cold temperatures.
We haven't had a mystery reader in a while so the first graders were excited to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Semischi come in as our mystery readers to share a story with the class! The class enjoyed guessing who was coming in and hearing the story.
Literacy
As we continued to focus on our ReadyGen anchor text: The Life Cycle of and Apple Tree we were able to a new strategy to our Cafe board: Use Text Features which is under the "C" for comprehension. We've been studying text features such as titles, headings and subheadings, captions, maps, diagrams, charts and graphs, legends, bold and italicized text, glossaries, indexes, and cutaways. These features are a common part of non-fiction/informational reading that we often use to support understanding of what is being read. Readers with more experience, do this naturally. Students who have had experience and know the purpose of text features improve their comprehension of the text. To reinforce this skill at home begin by pointing out text features that you notice as you read and tell your child what it is called. Ask your child why the author might have added this text feature.
Additionally, we focused on some new vocabulary words as we read our anchor text. Here is a link to our words: The Life Cycle of an Apple Tree PDF.
As we continued to focus on our ReadyGen anchor text: The Life Cycle of and Apple Tree we were able to a new strategy to our Cafe board: Use Text Features which is under the "C" for comprehension. We've been studying text features such as titles, headings and subheadings, captions, maps, diagrams, charts and graphs, legends, bold and italicized text, glossaries, indexes, and cutaways. These features are a common part of non-fiction/informational reading that we often use to support understanding of what is being read. Readers with more experience, do this naturally. Students who have had experience and know the purpose of text features improve their comprehension of the text. To reinforce this skill at home begin by pointing out text features that you notice as you read and tell your child what it is called. Ask your child why the author might have added this text feature.
Additionally, we focused on some new vocabulary words as we read our anchor text. Here is a link to our words: The Life Cycle of an Apple Tree PDF.
Math
In math we continued our focus on the number line which provides a good visual image of skip-counting patterns and encourages students to count by 10s. They can think of adding 10 (and multiples of 10) as jumps of 10 forward and subtracting 10 (and multiples of 10) as jumps of 10 backward. Once students become good at adding or subtracting 10 to any number, they usually generalize this skill to problems such as 34 + 30 by seeing it as 34 + 10 +10 + 10 or 34 … 44, 54, 64. Some small groups of students have been introduced to using combination jumps of 1s, 5s, and 10s to solve more complex problems. Our class learned a game called "Hit the Pad" that is now in our workplaces which will help students to become more confident in this skill.
In math we continued our focus on the number line which provides a good visual image of skip-counting patterns and encourages students to count by 10s. They can think of adding 10 (and multiples of 10) as jumps of 10 forward and subtracting 10 (and multiples of 10) as jumps of 10 backward. Once students become good at adding or subtracting 10 to any number, they usually generalize this skill to problems such as 34 + 30 by seeing it as 34 + 10 +10 + 10 or 34 … 44, 54, 64. Some small groups of students have been introduced to using combination jumps of 1s, 5s, and 10s to solve more complex problems. Our class learned a game called "Hit the Pad" that is now in our workplaces which will help students to become more confident in this skill.
Social Studies
This week we were able to connect social studies to literacy by studying a new type of genre: biographies and autobiographies. Students are busy determining why a person became famous and taking notes of some interesting facts about these people. As they learn about a person they compile some information about that person on a "Famous Faces" sheet. Eventually they will be putting a "Famous Faces" book together with all of the facts that they have gathered about several different famous people. This week we worked together as a group to learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This week we were able to connect social studies to literacy by studying a new type of genre: biographies and autobiographies. Students are busy determining why a person became famous and taking notes of some interesting facts about these people. As they learn about a person they compile some information about that person on a "Famous Faces" sheet. Eventually they will be putting a "Famous Faces" book together with all of the facts that they have gathered about several different famous people. This week we worked together as a group to learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Upcoming Events
iRead for 112 Education Foundation & 1D Reading Practice at Home: Saturday, January 12th officially begins our North Shore School District “iRead for 112 Education Foundation” reading event. An informational note and recording form is inside your child’s Home Folder. Please record all minutes read and shared at home, beginning Saturday, January 12th - through Wednesday, February 6th. Please have your child keep his/her iRead recording form inside of his/her home folder so it does not get lost. Reading and recording minutes is a school wide activity. Minutes spent reading books sent from school, library books, books at home, magazines, newspapers, etc. can all be included on the recording form. Completed forms with parent signatures and TOTAL number of minutes read need to be turned in by Tuesday, February 6th. Thank you for your continued help, support, and participation at home! Donations are much appreciated and are optional.
Tuesday, January 29th: Math Night- More information about this event below:
Dear IT Families - We will be hosting a Family Math Night on January 29th. Math Night is a great opportunity for parents and students to play math workplaces, engage in math conversations, and learn more about math education at Indian Trail. We are asking families to RSVP so we can better plan for the evening.
iRead for 112 Education Foundation & 1D Reading Practice at Home: Saturday, January 12th officially begins our North Shore School District “iRead for 112 Education Foundation” reading event. An informational note and recording form is inside your child’s Home Folder. Please record all minutes read and shared at home, beginning Saturday, January 12th - through Wednesday, February 6th. Please have your child keep his/her iRead recording form inside of his/her home folder so it does not get lost. Reading and recording minutes is a school wide activity. Minutes spent reading books sent from school, library books, books at home, magazines, newspapers, etc. can all be included on the recording form. Completed forms with parent signatures and TOTAL number of minutes read need to be turned in by Tuesday, February 6th. Thank you for your continued help, support, and participation at home! Donations are much appreciated and are optional.
Tuesday, January 29th: Math Night- More information about this event below:
Dear IT Families - We will be hosting a Family Math Night on January 29th. Math Night is a great opportunity for parents and students to play math workplaces, engage in math conversations, and learn more about math education at Indian Trail. We are asking families to RSVP so we can better plan for the evening.
- Date ~ Tuesday, January 29th
- Time ~ 6:00 - 7:00pm