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We had another busy week here in 1-1. Read all about our great learning adventures!

Reading

This week, the children began learning about the Daily 5. You can view our earlier posts from the week to learn about: what good readers do, building stamina, I-PICK good-fit books, and read to self. 

On Friday, the children were introduced to Read to Someone. Read to someone helps children read independently and grow as readers. The children enjoy, read to someone because they get to read and discuss books with a friend. It gives children a chance to share their thinking and learning. Read to someone also helps improve fluency. Below is a picture of our class created I-chart.

Enjoy a slide show of the children practicing Read to Someone.

We will begin guided reading groups in a week after we have finished our introduction to the Daily 5. I will continue to post information about the remaining areas of the Daily 5 as we learn the routines in class. 

Writing

This week, we continued working on our first writing unit, Autobiographies. The children wrote about their favorite thing to do and their favorite place to go. On Thursday, the children met with a partner to share their rough drafts. They took turns reading their writing to one another. After, they shared ideas for adding more detail to each others writing and illustrations. The children then returned to their seats and worked on editing their rough drafts. 

Math 

In Math, the children continued working on number sense. This week they compared pairs of whole numbers, used the calendar to answer questions about days, weeks, months, and dates, and practiced reading temperature ranges on a fahrenheit thermometer. They made the connection that the degrees on the thermometer go up, just like numbers on the number line. The children were also introduced to math explorations. They learned about base-10 blocks, pattern blocks, and geoboards.  

We will wrap up our first math unit next week. The children will review all of the math concepts we learned in this unit. They will enjoy using Mimio Vote as our review tool. Our classroom will turn into the set of a game show during our math block time as the children apply their math knowledge and answer questions using their very own clickers. On Wednesday, we will have our first math test. The children will have all problems read out loud to them. This will ensure that I am testing their math skills and not their reading skills. The tests will come home via backpack mail on Thursday. 

Social Studies

We finished our first social studies unit this week on communities. The children learned about how firefighters, police officers, doctors, and letter carriers help our community. They listened to a book about each community helper and then brainstormed ideas about how they help our community. The children completed their community helpers packet and brought it home to share with you today. 

We will begin our next unit on Maps this coming week. If you have any relatives or friends that live in other states or countries please encourage them to visit our blog. The children we learn next week about ClustrMaps and Live Traffic Feed on our blog. They will be excited to check in during our Map unit and see all the places that people are visiting us from.  

Patriot Day

On September 11th, we celebrated Patriot day in our classroom. We read the story, America Is... After, we had a discussion about what America means to each of us. The children, created heart shaped flags and on the back they finished the sentence starter, America is... Some of the finished sentences were: America is a safe place to live. America is freedom. America is beautiful. America is my home. America is my family. America is a wonderful place to live. 

International Dot Day

On Friday, the children had a wonderful time celebrating International Dot Day. They listened to, The Dot, by Peter Reynolds. We talked about how each of us can make our mark. The children shared ways that they will make their mark this year by doing something brave or something creative. The children also enjoyed creating their own dot art. They started with a blank canvas and used crayons and water colors to create their own dot.  We have some remarkable artists in our room! 

Notes:

-Please be sure to check your child’s red take home folder nightly.  Encourage your child to show you the work they are bringing home. 
-I will send the first Scholastic book order home on Monday. If you would like a sneak peek, click on the Scholastic link on our blog. Please place your book orders by Monday, September 23rd.

-Next Wednesday, September 18th the children will enjoy a Fire Safety presentation from the Arlington Heights Fire Department. Be sure to ask your child what useful fire safety tips they learned!

Have a wonderful weekend!