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!
No comments:
Post a Comment