News You Can Use!

Literacy

Treasures: 

This week, the children worked with long i (i_e). The children read stories about families. The selections this week were made up of nonfiction, realistic fiction, and a play.  The children had fun acting out the play, Smile Mike. They did a nice job of giving voice to the characters. The children revisited the skill of making and confirming predictions. They made predictions before and during the reading of each story. The children talked about what actually happened after reading each story. 

Grammar Packets:

This week, the children learned that the verbs is and are tell about the present. Is tells about one person, place, or thing. Are tells about more than one person, place, or thing.

Writing:

This week, the children brainstormed a list of How-To writing topics. They chose their favorite topic and began their How-To piece. First, they wrote the list of materials needed for their How-To. Then, they wrote four or more steps explaining how to perform their task. Last, they drew a sketch for each step. On Thursday, the children met with a peer and edited their writing. Next week, the children will publish their How-To writing using their iPads.

During Daily 5 time this week, the children used the StoryKit app on their iPads to write stories. On Friday, the children had a chance to project their stories on the whiteboard and read them to the class. The children were so proud to see their work on the “big screen!” 

Guided Reading Groups:

This week, the children had a chance to record themselves reading one of their guided reading books. After, they listened back to their recording and checked their fluency. Then, they recorded themselves reading the book a second time. They discussed which of their recorded readings sounded the best and why.

Next week, we will be taking a short break from guided reading groups. I will be assessing each child’s reading fluency. The children will be doing their winter CBM, how many words they can correctly read in one minute on a first grade passage. I will begin guided reading again on Friday.

Math 

In Math, the children worked with base-10 blocks to model 2- and 3-digit numbers. They used their base-10 blocks to find sums of 2- and 3-digit numbers. On Tuesday, they compared pairs of 2-digit numbers and then wrote number models using > and <. On Wednesday, the children worked with comparison number stories. They compared groups of objects and then wrote number models to show their solutions. On Thursday, the children used different solution strategies they have learned this year to solve number stories. They had to record number models to match their solution strategies. The children also enjoyed writing their own number stories for other children in the class to solve.

Science

This week, we continued our science unit on magnets. The scientists started the week by, using their iPad and the app PicCollage to sort their photos from last week into two categories, magnetic and non-magnetic.  

On Tuesday, the scientists observed how a magnet can attract a paper clip without touching it. They carried out several  investigations and discovered that the force of a magnet works through several different materials (air, water, paper, plastic, fabric, aluminum foil, index cards, and a plastic cup).

On Wednesday, the scientists discussed whether all magnets have the same pulling strength. As a group of scientists, we brainstormed different ways that we might test the pulling strength of magnets. We then planned an investigation. How many paper clips can each magnet hold? Ask your scientist what magnet had the most pulling strength. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Friday morning, the children listened to the story, Martin’s Big Words. Then, they had a discussion about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his big words (the words that were most important to him). After, The children created a list of six of their own big words. Using the Skitch app on their iPad, they took a photo of themselves and then typed in their six big words. Enjoy the slideshow below, Our Big Words.

Warm Fuzzy Celebration

On Friday, the children were very excited to celebrate filling the warm fuzzy jar. They were proud of how hard they had worked together as a team. The children voted on free choice time with their iPads! They were able to use any of the apps that we have used so far in the classroom. They enjoyed playing individually and collaborating with one another to write stories, play math games, create music, and help each other learn new tricks on the iPads. 

Star Student

Johnny was our star student this week. Thanks Johnny for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

A special thank you to Johnny’s Mom, she joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children loved listening to the two stories that Ms. Kukla read, Curious George and the Pizza and Skippyjon Jones.

Notes: 

-Due to the short week, we will not have a spelling test this week. We will be reviewing our word wall words in class.

-Wednesday is a Monday schedule, we will have music and gym! 

-Thank you to those of you who donated syrup to the Odyssey Wheeling Food Drive. If you would still like to help out, they have asked the first grade children to bring in syrup. Thank you!

Have a great rest of the weekend!