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Happy Friday everyone! I hope all of the families had a great week. I know Mrs. Johnson's class did! Here is a look at what we were busy doing this week in 1-1!

Literacy 

This week we studied books by Leo Lionni. We were able to read many books by the talented author and illustrator, but our close reading focused on Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse and An Extraordinary Egg. Students were able to discuss the meaning of large words and also identified story elements from both stories. Students worked in small groups to identify characters, setting, problem, and solution. After documenting story elements for both stories, students were able to compare and contrast the two stories. To complete our Leo Lionni study, the students were able to watch video clips of Mr. Lionni answering questions about why he wrote about animals, where he got his ideas from, and what his life was like growing up. The students also chose their favorite character from the Leo Lionni books we read. We channeled our inner Leo Lionni and illustrated our favorite characters.

Writing

This week the students completed their research on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as well as completed their expository writing on their president. The students chose their favorite opening sentence, picked three interesting facts they learned about the president, and wrote a good closing sentence. A job well done by the first graders!

Math

Students continue to improve on their fact power, as their Gumball Math proves. Remember to keep practicing math facts with your students. Students expanded their knowledge of fact families by using fact triangles. After the students learned about fact triangles and how they can help solve addition and subtraction problems, students drew fact triangle houses. I was happy to see that some of the students share my enthusiasm for fact triangle houses! The students practiced subtraction by learning tricks for -10, -9, and -8 using a tens frame. We also continued to practice using our addition/subtraction tables. Finally, the students were introduced to the measuring unit, centimeters. The students compared centimeters to base ten blocks. Students concluded that one cube is about one centimeter. Therefore, one long is about ten centimeters. Using this information, students used longs to measure objects around the classroom to the nearest centimeter. Nice job, mathematicians!

Social Studies

This week the students chose a U.S. symbol to research and report on. The students are responsible for their research. We reviewed good research habits and reviewed how to get to and use the search engine Pebble Go. Later in the week, the students were able to use the laptops to research their U.S. symbol. While students were researching, they were responsible for writing five facts. After gaining a lot of knowledge about a symbol, students had to pick their two favorite facts and draw their own picture. The students will complete this project next week by completing their final copy and sharing their projects with students. Thank you Mrs. Pemberton for helping all of us with our research! We couldn't have gotten through our technical glitches without you!

Other 

Mia was our Star Student this week. Thanks for sharing with us Mia! I did not know that your favorite food was strawberries. I like them a lot too!

We were so lucky to have Mr. and Mrs. Kaddatz come in to be our Royal Readers this week. Thanks for coming in and reading some great stories to the class!

I have been trying very hard to upload the students singing our Inference Song. I always seem to run into issues when it comes to technology. The best thing I could figure out so far is this. If you copy the link below, you can paste it onto a new window and watch the performance. In the meantime, I have to talk to Dryden's technology pro, Mrs. Breaux to figure out a better alternative. As soon as I get to the bottom of this, I will post. Until then, enjoy!

file://localhost/Users/mseamann/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library.photolibrary/Masters/2014/02/21/20140221-205843/MVI_5997.AVI

Tune: "I'm a Little Teapot"

I'm a smart first grader
Look at me
I can make an inference when I read
When I use book clues and what I know
I can form my own idea

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Whew! What a busy week we have had in 1-1! We have been hard at work and having a lot of fun as well with 100th Day and Valentine's Day this week. Here is a look at our busy week.

Literacy

This week I introduced the students to Poetry Pete who explained poetry basics. With his help, the students were able to understand what poems can help us do, why we read poems, and why people write poems. We read the poem, I Ate Too Much Turkey by Jack Prelutsky. While reading this poem, we focused on using all of our senses to visualize. The students practiced reading the poem with fluency, followed by underlining words and phrases that really helped us visualize. Each student drew a picture of their personal visualization.

Later in the week, we read another poem by Jack Prelutsky titled, My Neighbor's Dog is Purple. After only hearing the title of this poem, the students were asked to draw a picture of what they were visualizing in their mind. We used the poem to practice reading with fluency and then the students drew another picture of their visualization. Once the students had a more detailed picture, we revisited the poem to underline words and phrases that helped give our pictures more details the second time around.

To get into the Valentine's Day spirit, we read the book, Love Splat by Rob Scotton. While we were reading, the students made inferences about why Splat the Cat got nervous when he was around Kitten. We also made inferences about why whenever Kitten saw Splat she, "poked his ears and poked his belly, tied his tail, and called him smelly."

Writing

This week the students were able to choose which president they wanted to write a short expository writing on. They were able to choose between the two presidents we have been gathering many facts on, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. As a class we discussed what is included in a good expository writing piece. We also brainstormed ideas for good opening and closing sentences. The students began the process of completing their George Washington/Abraham Lincoln projects and will complete them next week.

To coincide with our Love Splat reading, the students completed a writing/art activity. The students had to first write about what love means to them. We had some great ideas! These ideas ranged from giving someone a hug or kiss, caring about someone's feelings, helping Mom and Dad, and taking someone on a date. I was a little surprised that the students came up with that last idea, but it sounded like they were on the right track! After they completed their writing, the students created their own Splat the Cat to make the classroom a little more festive for Valentine's Day.

Math

We started Unit 6 in Math this week. The first few lessons of Unit 6 introduced students to the addition/subtraction table and how to use it. This will be revisited in future lessons, so that addition/subtraction table that was sent home will come in handy. We also talked about equivalent names and name collection boxes. To practice this skill, the students worked in small groups to complete name collection boxes. Next, the students were able to share their name collection boxes with the class. Finally, the students were introduced to fact families. This is another skill that will be revisited in future lessons, as next week we will learn about fact triangles.

Social Students

With so many fun activities, Social Studies took a little bit of a back seat. However, the students were introduced to U.S. Symbols. We read the book, Dubs Goes to Washington And Discovers the Greatness of America by Dick Morris, Eileen McGann, and Clayton J. Liotta. The students also enjoyed watching a Brain Pop Junior video about U.S. Symbols. Finally, we viewed a mini presentation that provided a lot of information about our American Symbols and played a game called, "Name That Symbol".


One Hundred Days Smarter

This week we celebrated one hundred glorious days of being in first grade. Those students looked pretty good as hundred year olds! We had a fun day filled with lots of hundred themed activities. We read many 100th day of school themed books throughout the day. The students got to make a headband that illustrated all of the ways to show one hundred. As our writing activity, the students wrote about what they would do with one hundred dollars. They were not allowed to spend the money on something for themselves. They had to spend the money on someone else or spend the money on a fun day with someone they love. After they were busy writing, the students showed off their work by sharing with a partner. The students also completed a small book of one hundred things that required them to write about ideas like what would happen if they had one hundred mosquito bites or 100 friends. The students also had fun with math centers. At each center they played math games all involving the number one hundred, of course!

Valentine's Day

The students were feeling very festive for Valentine's Day. First thing in the morning, I noticed quite a few students wishing each other a Happy Valentine's Day and offering hugs for the occasion. Love was in the air. To celebrate the holiday, the students played Valentine's themed math games at math centers. The students also exchanged valentines, ate a delicious snack provided by parents, and listened to the book, Olive My Love by Vivian Walsh. A special thank you to the parents for your organization and generous donations to make a Valentine's celebration wonderful! Thank you so much!

Other

Elena was our Star Student this week. We learned some new things about Elena this week. Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese and we know what her favorite shirt looks like. Thanks for sharing with us this week, Elena!

Elena's mom was our Royal Reader this week. Thank you so much for coming in to read to us, Mrs. Katsogianos!

Some of you may have heard mention of an inference song. After a suggestion from a friend in our class, I have come up with a song all about making inferences. We are working on learning the words. I will post a video of the students performing the song after some practice. Stay tuned!

I hope everyone enjoys a long weekend!

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Happy Friday 1-1 Families! I think we were starting to get used to all of those short weeks. We had a successful full week back at school. Here is a look at what the first graders were working on this week!

Literacy

This week's close reading began with the book The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza. The students practiced identifying important elements of the story by recalling characters, setting, problem, and solution on a story map. We used the The Wolf's Chicken Stew to practice this skill as a whole group. The same skill was the area of focus for guided reading groups as well. The students also referred to the book to determine how the main character, Wolf, changed throughout the book. We used a large t-chart and Post-It Notes where students wrote the Wolf's changes. In addition, students proved they are able to sequence the events in the book by completing a booklet of The Wolf's Chicken Stew based on the version by Keiko Kasza. 

Later in the week, the students were excited to read a National Geographic article titled Swimming With Dolphins. This was a fantastic way for students to read a nonfiction, informational text. Before reading, the class previewed the text by locating the title, caption, and label from a picture. Furthermore, the students made inferences about why these text features are important. Students used background knowledge to form questions about what they wanted to find out. During and after reading, students answered comprehension questions and highlighted important words and page numbers. 

Writing

This week, the students began learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from various resources. We read the books, A Picture Book of George Washington and A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln both written by the author David A. Adler. We also read the books Let's Read About George Washington by Kimberly Weinberger and Let's Read About Abraham Lincoln by Sonia Black. The children loved watching the Brain Pop Jr. videos about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as well. Throughout the week, students recalled the information we learned about these two important presidents. As a class, we compiled ten facts, five for each president. Because we learned so much about these two presidents, the class completed a venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two important U.S. figures. The students will use this information later to compose a short expository about either the first or sixteenth president. 

Math

First graders continue to practice their fact power with Gumball Math. Most of the students are making great improvements with their math facts. We also completed Unit 5 by learning about "Function Machines". The students were introduced to the idea of the "Function Machine" this week by using my very fancy example. It was actually a plastic bin labeled "Function Machine", but along with some machine sounding noises, I was starting to think the students believed it was an actual Function Machine. I told them to stay tuned to see if I get a newer model. It just might make an appearance! We also reviewed all of the concepts from Unit 5 by using the Mimio Vote as a tool. The students loved using this as a way to practice math. Finally, the students wrapped up the unit by taking the Unit 5 test to measure their progress. 

Social Studies

During the month of February the Social Studies unit will focus on Citizenship and U.S. Symbols. To begin the unit, each table was responsible for a different vocabulary word. These words were citizens, law, responsibility, and rights. The students activated their own prior knowledge to define the vocabulary in their own words. Then, we watched the Brain Pop Jr. video about citizenship where they learned the technical definition of each vocabulary word. The students wrote these words and definitions on stars to help decorate our corresponding U.S. Symbols bulletin board. Thanks, 1-1, for helping to make our classroom look great! Now that we know exactly what the word citizen means, the students were able to brainstorm some ideas about what being a good citizen means to them. After coming up with some amazing ideas, we read the book, We Are Citizens by Laine Falk to learn even more about good citizens. The students wrote a sloppy copy and a final copy about how they are a good citizen. Their work can be found proudly displayed outside of Mrs. Johnson's classroom. 

Birthdays

Ben celebrated a birthday this week on February 3rd! Happy Birthday, Ben! We sure do enjoy having you with us in class and hope that you had a very special day!

Other

Adrian was our Star Student this week. He did such a great job telling us a little bit more about himself. We were so lucky that Adrian's mom came in to be our Royal Reader this week as well. Thanks so much for sharing some great books with the class!

Mrs. Johnson's class had Pledge duty this week. Everyone did a wonderful job taking turns to lead the whole school in the Pledge of Allegiance. I am so proud!

We sure had a busy week! I am continuing to enjoy my time in first grade. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! 

News You Can Use!

I hope everyone had a great week and is enjoying their weekend! We sure were busy in Mrs. Johnson's class this week! Even though we had a short week, we were hard at work. Here is a look at some of the things we did this week in 1-1.

Literacy

What a fun week in Literacy! We focused on three books this week. The books we read were Duck For President by Doreen Cronin, Grace For President by Kelly DiPucchio, and My Teacher For President by Kay Winters. After reading each story, the students completed a character web for each of the main characters, Duck, Grace, and the Teacher. Included on the character web were physical descriptions, character actions, as well as inferences about what other characters thought about each main character. After completing and discussing our character webs, we discussed how we felt about each character. After thoroughly discussing each character, the students had a choice of what character they would vote for president. After making their decision, students had to find three facts from the book of their choice and form an opinion about the character. After these steps were complete, the students were ready to vote! The children each received an official ballot and cast their vote. I was busy counting and recounting votes while the voters were at Specials. The voters had spoken and the winner was....Grace! 

I was very excited to begin seeing small reading groups this week! With it being a short week, I did not get to see as many groups as would be typical. However, it was great to get that started and will continue to do so in the upcoming weeks. Spelling and Grammar will also pick back up next week. 

Math

We are still having fun with Gumball Math. I am very proud of all of the students' progress. Remember, practice makes progress! Keep practicing those math facts to achieve fact power!

Everyday Math lessons focused on teaching doubles, doubles, doubles plus one, and doubles plus two. After practicing some facts as a class, the students worked in partners to play a game called Catching Bugs. The students used dice, game boards, and chips to practice all their doubles skills. We will be finishing Unit 5 next week as we review what we have learned in the unit. 

Other

Friday was a fun day all about groundhogs coinciding with the upcoming holiday, Groundhog Day. To start the day, we read the book Groundhog Day! by Gail Gibbons. The book gave the students some background knowledge on the history of Groundhog Day and how it is celebrated today. The students got to make groundhog headbands, make predictions about whether or not Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow, and practice math skills by coloring a groundhog according to base ten colors. The students were able to practice their writing skills as well. We read the story, Who Will See Their Shadow This Year? by Jerry Palotta. To go along with the story, after reading, the students completed the sentence, "If a _________ saw its shadow, it would cause___________. The student chose an animal to complete the first blank and used their imagination to fill in the rest.  

Ian was our Star Student this week! We all got to know a little bit more about Ian as he shared some of his favorite things. We also had a special visitor come in for our Royal Reader. Thank you, Mrs. Lim, for coming and reading some great books to the class! We all really enjoyed it!

It looks like we will finally have a full week of school this coming week. I look forward to getting into more of a typical schedule. I am continuing to enjoy getting to know all of your students! Have a fantastic week!