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Happy Friday 1-1 Families! We made it through the busy week before spring break. Here is a look at what the students have been busy doing this week.

Reading 

To continue with the penguin theme, this week's close reading lessons focused on the "Tacky The Penguin Books" by Helen Lester. We were able to read Tacky the Penguin, Tacky and the Emperor, and Tacky and the Winter Games. To begin with the close reading, the students engaged in conversation about the books and discussed what kind of penguin Tacky is. Students used this information to compare and contrast Tacky with his very different companions from the stories. The children also explored what it means to summarize a story. Students completed a graphic organizer in small groups about what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of one of the Tacky stories. The next day, students used the information they documented in small groups to independently write a summary of the story.


Writing

Students had the very challenging task this week of beginning to write a nonfiction book about penguins. Students used Post-It notes from when they gathered information and started by organizing the sticky notes by category. Students arranged the Post-It notes by deciding if the information was about habitat, babies, what penguins look or sound like, interesting facts, and new vocabulary words. Once the information was organized, students had the opportunity to begin writing. Our penguin non fiction books include a decorative cover, a table of contents, writing with headings that correlate with the topic, and a glossary. Students have worked very hard and we are proud to display our hard work int he hallway.

Math

Math Unit 7 was a very short one that we were able to complete before spring break. Math concepts this week focused on three dimensional shapes and symmetry. Students were able to compare three dimensional shapes to real life objects as well as make hearts of symmetry. Students completed the unit by reviewing for the assessment and completing the assessment on Thursday.

Other 

Ola was our Star Student this week. She did a great job sharing some new information with us. We learned some new things about Ola, like her favorite toy is Lego Friends and her favorite food is pizza. Mine too, Ola!

We were also very lucky to have Ola's mom come in to be our Royal Reader this week. She read some great books to the class about spring. Great books to read, with spring just starting. We can only hope the weather will not take a turn for the worst.

To celebrate our hard work during our Penguin Unit, students dressed in all black and white like a penguin. We also got to do some fun penguin themed activities and watch a movie.

I hope everyone has a wonderful spring break!

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Happy Friday 1-1 Families! I hope everyone has had a very nice week, despite our up and down weather. Just a friendly reminder that report cards will be sent home today, so be sure to look for those in your student's back pack. Here is a look at what we have been doing this week.

Reading 

This week we continued learning about penguins. We read many nonfiction books as well as used the website Pebblego.com as a resource. The students continued to use Post-It notes to complete their Penguins Journal. The students filled out Post-It notes for things they were wondering and new information. I am very impressed at all of the curious learners in the classroom. In fact, later in the week, we were getting ready to read our last nonfiction book about penguins. When I told the students, they told me they still wanted to learn more. Music to a teacher's ears. We are truly becoming penguin experts in 1-1!

Writing

With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I took this as an opportunity for the students to write about what makes them lucky. We have been reading a few St. Patrick's Day books. We have talked about how people often say things like, "the luck of the Irish" or that leprechauns are lucky around this time of year. Students brainstormed ideas about what makes them lucky. After talking about our ideas, students wrote a five sentence writing piece with an opening sentence, three things that make them lucky, and a closing sentence. To complete our work, the students decorated a clover to be attached to their writing. The students' writing is proudly on display in our classroom.

Math

Students began Unit 7 in math this week. Lessons this week focused on attribute blocks. Students discovered the many attributes of these pattern blocks. Students noticed that each attribute block has a color, a certain amount of sides, a certain amount of corners, etc. Students played a Mystery Game where they had to describe attributes to a partner. The partner had to recreate the mystery shape. Students also learned the new vocabulary word, polygon. A polygon is a shape with all straight sides that end when lines meet. To practice identifying polygons, students were able to make many different polygons with straws and twist ties. To keep up with our math facts, students also played a "Connect Four Addition" game.

Other

Nate was our Star Student this week. Nate did a great job sharing some new information with us. I never knew that Nate's favorite food is chili! Thanks so much for sharing with us, Nate!

Nate's mom was our Royal Reader this week. She came in and read some wonderful books to the class. We really enjoyed that. Thank you so much Mrs. DeCook!

Birthdays

Ola celebrated a birthday on March 9th. We celebrated by singing to Ola on Monday. I hope you had a great birthday Ola!

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Good Afternoon! I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the warming weather! As always, this past week has been a busy one. Here is a look at what 1-1 has been working on.


Reading

This week, first grade started a reading unit on penguins. During the week, we read multiple nonfiction books about penguins as a class. The students are responsible for guiding their learning during the unit. The students are keep a RAN chart, similar to the one they completed during their weather unit. To begin the unit, students talked about what they think they know about penguins. Students used Post-It notes to document their previous knowledge. Students also used their RAN chart and Post-It notes to documents what they are wondering about penguins and any new information they are learning. As we continue through the unit, students will be able to move Post-It's around depending on the information they learn. By practicing this skill, this will prepare students for thinking critically about non fiction material as well as future research projects.

Writing

When students were documenting previous knowledge about penguins, they had the opportunity to do a short writing piece about what they think they know about the topic. In addition, students created a penguin art project based on their writing. These penguin projects now provide some new, festive decorations for the classroom.

Math

This week, students completed the last lessons of Math Unit 6. We also reviewed all of the information we learned during Unit 6. The rest of the week was busy for math, as the students took both their Unit test as well as their Trimester test. This was a lot of hard work for the students, but they did a very nice job!


Other

Jack was our Star Student this week. Thanks for sharing some new information with us this week, Jack! I had no idea that your favorite toy was soccer and that you are very interested in U.S. Presidents!

Jack's mom was our Royal Reader this week and read two great books that the class enjoyed. Thank you so much for coming in, Mrs. Erickson!

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I hope everyone has been enjoying their weekends! As always, 1-1 was busy learning this past week.


Reading

To begin the week, the students were introduced to elements of a fairytale. The students were able to recognize that fairytales have magic, good and evil, a once upon a time, and a happily ever after. Our close reading for the week focused on different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. We read two different versions of the classic fairytale as well as a version titled Kate and the Beanstalk. As we read throughout the week, we kept track of fairytale elements we identified in each story. The students worked in small groups as well as a whole class to complete these activities. At the end of the week we compared and contrasted the different versions of the story.

Writing

To go along with the Jack and the Beanstalk theme, the students works on a Jack and the Beanstalk writing activity. The writing activity was titled "Me and the Beanstalk". To do this, the students had to write a story as if they were the main character in Jack and the Beanstalk. The students began by planning out how they found the magic beans, where they planted them, what they found at the top, etc. The students got very creative and had a lot of fun writing these stories. The final copies were completed and are proudly displayed on the classroom door.

Math

The students continue to work hard at Gumball Math. I am really seeing a great improvement with many of the students. Keep practicing those math facts! In addition, the students continue to work on Math Unit 6. I'm sure you have noticed that some of the Math Home Links are fact triangles. Just a friendly reminder that these do not have to come back to school. The students have fact triangles at school to practice with. The Home Links with the fact triangles are for you to keep at home and encourage your students to use them to practice their math facts. Students also practiced counting with quarters and other coins. In addition, the students studied telling time on analog clocks as well as digital clocks.

Social Studies

The students wrapped up our U.S. Symbols/Presidents unit by completing their U.S. Symbols project. Last week the students completed research on Pebblego.com. This week the students used the Explain Everything app on the iPad to complete their project. They used the application to draw a picture of their U.S. Symbol. Students also recorded themselves reading two interesting facts they learned. When they were done with their hard work, the students were able to share their projects with other students in the class.

Other

Ashlyn was our Star Student this week. We learned even more about Ashlyn, like her favorite place is in Wisconsin. Thanks for sharing with us Ashlyn!

Ashlyn's mom was our Royal Reader this week. Thanks so much for coming in to read to us Mrs. Ferguson!

Mrs. Wascher came in on Wednesday for an Art Appreciation lesson. Mrs. Wascher taught the students all about the artist, Henri Renoir. We saw some paintings by the artist and experimented with different colors to create texture and warmth to art work. Thanks so much for coming in Mrs. Wascher!