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!