News You Can Use!

Literacy

Treasures: 

This week, the children worked with digraphs (ch, tch, and wh). The children read stories about the sun and shadows. The selections this week were made up of nonfiction, realistic fiction, and a poem. The children worked with identifying the main idea and supporting details. They were very excited to experiment with shadows out at recess. The children came back in throughout the week and reported if their shadows had been in front of, behind, or next to them. They also connected that in the morning their shadows were larger then during lunch recess. 

Grammar Packets:

This week, the children were introduced to past tense verbs. They learned that a past tense verb tells about action that happened in the past. 

Writing:

This week, we started our new writing unit on How-To Writing. The children watched a short Brainpop video on How-To’s and then they took turns acting out examples of how to do things in the classroom. They started by listing the materials needed and then they walked the class through the steps using transition words.

Together as a class, we wrote a How-To paper titled, How To Build A Snowman. The children brainstormed a list of materials needed to build a snowman and then using transition words they wrote down the steps. 

Next week, the children will come up with their own How-To writing topic. This weekend, help your child come up with some ideas of what they would like to write their How-To piece on. 

New Year’s Resolutions

The children also worked on writing New Year’s Resolutions. They came up with one or two goals they have for the new year and wrote them down. They worked very hard on their writing and came up with some wonderful resolutions!

iPads

This month, we have a class set of iPads in the classroom. The children will be using them to enhance their learning. This week, the children worked together to come up with our iPad rules. They are very responsible with the iPads and doing a great job of using the apps we have learned so far. They were excited to take their iPads to both art and music this week. We also have incorporated the iPads into our math and science lessons. Stay tuned to see how else we use the iPads this month.

Math 

In Math, the children worked with base-10 blocks to model whole numbers less than 100. They also identified whole numbers modeled by base-10 blocks. They exchanged base-10 cubes and longs to show different representations of the same numbers. On Tuesday, the children worked with place value on their calculators and number grids. They investigated place-value digit patterns. On Wednesday, the children were introduced to the symbols for greater than (>) and less than (<). They used their iPads to compare and record whole numbers using <,>, and =. The children enjoyed playing Top-It with Relation Symbols (<,>, and =).

On Thursday, the children had math explorations, they explored area, weight, and counting. Using a given unit (index cards), they worked as a group to figure out the area of the top of their desk. Then using a pan balance they had to find sets of objects that weighed about the same. Their last exploration was on counting large numbers of pennies, they had to come up with a plan and carry it out to successfully count their pennies. Then they exchanged their pennies for dimes and nickels to show the same amount with the fewest possible coins. 

The children also used their iPads this week to practice their math facts and review telling time to the nearest hour, half hour, and quarter hour. 

Science

This week, we started our new science unit on magnets. The scientists enjoyed two lessons. The first lesson, focused on exploring what happens to a magnetic object when it is placed close to a magnet. The scientists learned that a magnet causes a push or pull (force). 

In lesson two, the scientists went on a magnetic scavenger hunt. Using their own magnet, they had to find and test objects in the classroom that they thought were magnetic. They learned that magnets pull on (attract) some materials and not others. After they tested their objects, the scientists used their iPads to take pictures of the objects they tested. Next week, the scientists will use an app called Pic Collage to sort their photos into two categories, magnetic and non-magnetic.  

Chinese New Year
On Thursday, Mrs. Hays (a Dryden Parent) came in and presented on Chinese New Year. The children enjoyed learning about the preparations, special foods, and celebrations that are part of Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year begins February 10th. Thank you, Mrs. Hays!

 

Happy Birthday

On Wednesday we celebrated Diana’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Diana!

Notes: 

-Congratulations to all my 1-1 Winter Reading Challenge participants. I am so proud of all the reading you did over winter break. Thank you for coming to celebrate with me, I hope you enjoyed your lunch bunch fun!

-The Dryden Odyssey students are holding an Odyssey Wheeling Food Drive. If you would like to help out, they have asked the first grade children to bring in syrup. Thank you!

Have a great rest of the weekend!