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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