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Happy Friday 1-1 Families! I am thrilled to be in your child's classroom! It has been a joy to get to know each student during my first week in Mrs. Johnson's class. I just spoke with Mrs. Johnson and wanted to share that Mom and Baby Brevin are both doing great. I am new to posting to a blog so you will have to be patient with me. Here is what we have been working on this week in 1-1!

Literacy

This week we read the book, Hey Little Ant by Phillip Hoose. The children used the text to identify the point of view of the story. The students identified that the story is being told from two points of view. We also practiced showing evidence from the book. The students took turns showing the class pages that gave clues as to whose point of view the story was being told from. 

In light of the holiday coming up on Monday, our close reading lessons for the rest of the week focused on the book, Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport. While reading this story, we had a class discussion about how words can appeal to the senses or make you feel a certain way. After reading, we talked about some big, important words in Martin's Big Words. Some of these words included courage, love, together, and fair. To expand on this topic, we discussed how these words might make you feel and why they might make you feel a certain way. In response, the students did a fantastic job of using iPads to create a big words project! 

I want to take a second to remind everyone that because next week is a short week, there will be no spelling or grammar. In addition, I will continue to complete some benchmark assessments with the students. Guided reading groups will reconvene the following week of January 27th. 

Writing

The students have continued to work hard on some How-To Writing this week. The class brainstormed some great How-To Writing ideas together. We talked about needing to be an expert at something in order to write an expert How-To. After brainstorming ideas, the students completed writing their "sloppy copy", or rough draft of a topic of their choice. Let me tell you, some of the students can probably teach me a thing or two! I was very impressed with many of their ideas! We will complete our How-To Writing next week when we use the iPads to complete our final copy. 

Math

We are continuing to work hard on Math Unit 5. This week, many of the math lessons focused on greater than or less than. We practiced using math vocabulary by saying things like, "Twenty is greater than sixteen." Some of you may have noticed on some of your student's homework that their greater than or less than symbols had teeth on them. In case this wasn't explained to you, we used the analogy of an alligator wanting to eat more fish because he is very hungry. There is a method to the madness! To expand on this concept, we used greater than and less than word stories as well as compared animal weights. 

Science

We are still studying magnets and their pull, or force. This week the students went on a classroom scavenger hunt to discover everyday items that are magnetic or are not magnetic. The magnetic madness continued as the students discovered that magnets still have force through many different materials. In addition, the students guided their own investigation to discover that different magnets have different strength forces. 

Other

With Monday being the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, we spent a great deal of time this week exploring information about the Civil Rights leader. Aside from reading Martin's Big Words, the students were able to view a timeline of Dr. King's life, complete many informational worksheets, and view several video clips about Dr. King's life and accomplishments. The students viewed part of his moving "I Have a Dream" speech prior to discussing our individual dreams and what we can do to accomplish these dreams. I really want to share how impressed I am with the great discussions that were lead by the students. They asked such wonderful questions such as, "Why didn't the president at the time help those people? Isn't it his job to help everyone?" and "How did that start? Why did people start treating other people badly?" It truly warmed my heart to see how compassionate your students are. 

This week Martha was our Star Student! We got to know a little bit more about Martha. I also want to thank Martha's Grandma for coming in to be our Royal Reader this week. I know we all really enjoyed those books!

Notes

Again, I can't express enough how excited I am to spend time in 1-1. I have some very big shoes to fill, as Mrs. Johnson is an amazing teacher. I can already tell this is going to be a fantastic few months. I really look forward to getting to know the students as well as you, the parents! Please feel free to contact me via email with any questions, concerns, or just to share some good news about your student! mseamann@sd25.org. Enjoy your nice, long weekend!