News You Can Use!

We had a wonderful week here in 1-1. Read all about it below!

Literacy

This week, the children worked with the short /u/ sound. Our close reading lessons this week focused on two books, Night of the Moon and Celebrate Diwali. After listening to Night of the Moon, the children worked on retelling the story including key details. Before, during, and after the reading of, Celebrate Diwali, the children worked with generating questions. They created a long list of questions they had about Diwali. During our second reading, the children answered the questions they had created. They were able to support their answers with evidence from the text. 

Grammar Packets:

The children worked with proper nouns this week. They learned that a noun that names a special person or place is called a proper noun. A proper noun begins with a capital letter. 

Writing:

This week, we started our letter writing unit. The children learned the five parts of a friendly letter: heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature. They learned a song to help them remember the parts, ask your child to sing you the song (it’s to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes). As we read the story, Dear Mr. Blueberry, the children worked together to identify the different parts of a friendly letter. On Wednesday, we wrote a friendly letter to author, Audrey Penn, author of The Kissing Hand. The children came up with lots of great ideas to include in the letter. On Thursday, each child wrote their own friendly letter to author Mo Willems. The children will mail their letters at the end of next week. The children are very excited about their letters to Mr. Willems and many checked his books out from the library. We also read a few of them in class this week. He has a wonderful web site, you can visit it at: http://www.mowillems.com

Snow Globes:

Today, the children listened to the book, The Snow Globe Family by Jane O’Connor. After, they wrote their own story about what they would do if they lived in a snow globe. The children wrote some very creative stories about life in a snow globe. They also created their own snow globe to attach their writing to. Our room now sparkles with beautiful snow globes hanging from the ceiling. 

Math 

In math, the children worked with measuring to the nearest inch using their 6 inch ruler. They recorded their measurements using approximation language. The children also worked on writing addition number models using their dominoes. 

On Tuesday, the children worked on measuring with a tape measure. They measured different body parts to the nearest inch. 

On Wednesday, the children enjoyed 3 Explorations: measuring and plotting their height, Wild About Measurement (measuring to the nearest inch), and building structures with base ten blocks. 

On Thursday, the children worked on telling time to the quarter-hour. The children also had to tell and record different times using pictures of a variety of analog clocks. 

  

Social Studies

This week, we started our Winter Holidays unit. The children learned about how people celebrate Diwali, Eid, and Hanukkah (we will finish learning about Hanukkah next week). We read several books, and used Pebble Go to research each of the holidays. After learning about the traditions and celebrations for each holiday, the children worked together to fill in a holiday celebrations chart. 

On Tuesday, after learning about Diwali the children decorated Rangoli. We hung them on our classroom door to welcome friends and relatives into our classroom.

Notes:

-Now that the weather has turned cold, be sure to send your child to school each day with a warm jacket, hat, and gloves. On snowy days, please remember to also send snow pants and boots. The children will continue to go outside for recess each day, unless it is to cold. Be sure to label your child’s hat, gloves, and boots. Many children have similar items and labeling them helps to make sure each child keeps their own!

-The first grade musical is quickly approaching! The children are hard at work practicing and getting ready to wow you with their performance! Please mark your calendars for December 18th at 7pm. I hope to see you there!

Have a great weekend!