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Sunday, April 27, 2014

News You Can Use!


Read all about our fun filled week of learning!

Literacy
This week the children worked with the article, Saving Moto to identify character change. Together with a partner, they read the article and identified words and phrases to explain how the character felt at the beginning and how he felt by the end. They also used evidence from the text to identify the moment that the character’s feelings changed.










Later in the week, the children listened to the story, Mole’s Hill. We worked with the rich vocabulary in the text to help us better understand the story. The children also were Story Element Experts! They identified the characters, setting, and problem and solution in the story. To further work on becoming experts, they listened to a second story at listening station and completed the organizer on their own!

Writing
This week, the children continued their Expository Writing unit. They completed publishing their animal fact pages, making sure to add detailed illustrations. The children also illustrated a colorful cover and wrote an All About The Author page. They worked really hard on their writing and can’t wait to share their nonfiction books with the class next week.

Math 
In Math, the children worked with number-grid puzzles. They practiced counting, adding, and subtracting with 10s and 1s using number-grid patterns. The children enjoyed working with a partner to solve different number-grid puzzles.

On Wednesday, the children worked with adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers. They had to tell, write, and solve number stories using 2-digit numbers. The children chose different strategies to to solve the different addition and subtraction problems. They explained the strategies they used to solve the problems.

On Thursday, the children moved through 3 explorations. They measured their height to the nearest inch, created mirror images of a pattern-block design across a line of symmetry, and completed a 10 more 10 less activity. 

The children also enjoyed playing the Number-Grid Game. They had to move from 0-110 on the number grid.










Science
The scientists completed four science lessons this week. On Monday, we examined roots. The scientists explored the structure and function of roots. Each scientist had their own seedling, they observed it using a magnifying glass and identified the roots and root hairs. Then they compared the weight of plant parts that grow above the ground to those that grow below the ground. They recorded their observations and findings in their science journal. 













On Tuesday, the scientists took a spring nature walk. They identified signs of spring. The scientists used their senses to complete a Spring Nature Walk writing. They discussed what they saw, heard, felt, and smelled.












On Friday, we had twice the science fun. In the scientists’ first lesson of the day they observed, compared, and dissected flowers. They identified all the parts of a flower. The scientists also learned a song about plant parts. They completed a book to help them remember the words. Ask your scientist to sing you the song!












Later in the day, the scientists were introduced to living things that are neither plants nor animals, but members of a third living kingdom called fungi. They viewed photos and video clips showcasing fungi and mold. 

Earth Day
This week, the children worked on some Earth Day activities. They listened to the story, The Wump World. After listening to the story, the children worked together to sequence the events of the story using sentence stripes. Then the children each illustrated their own retelling of the story including their favorite part.




The children also wrote an acrostic poem using the words, Earth Day. Together they brainstormed different words and phrases to go with each letter. They chose their favorite word/phrase for each letter and created their acrostic poem. They completed the activity with a photo of themselves holding an Earth.

On Earth Day, the children listened to the story, Earth Day Hooray. After, they brainstormed different ways that they can heal our Earth. The children then wrote their own piece about a way they can heal the Earth. They created an Earth out of construction paper and glued their writing piece inside!

Notes:
-We are in need of some additional glue sticks to get us through the rest of the year! If you are able to donate 1 or 2 sticks, we would greatly appreciated it! Gluing with our liquid glue is getting messy!
-Please be on the look out for a letter in the mail next week containing the information to register your child online for next school year. The letter contains an individual snapcode number for your child. Online registration takes place May 1 - June 1. Thank you!

Saturday, April 19, 2014

News You Can Use!

Hello 1-1 families! What a lovely greeting I had on Monday morning from all the children. It was wonderful to see all their smiling faces and see how much they have grown over the past several weeks. Thank you to all of you for the warm welcome back emails and letters! 

We had a short but busy week! Read all about it below!

Literacy
This week, the children worked on identifying Realism and Fantasy in texts. They learned that realism means real and fantasy means fake. We read the books, Plantzilla and A Tree is a Plant. The children identified both realism and fantasy elements in the texts. They recorded their evidence on sticky notes as we were reading and placed them on our Realism Fantasy chart. During our second reading of, A Tree is a Plant, the children also worked on identifying the main idea and supporting details of an excerpt from the text. On Thursday, they worked with a partner to read the article, Lots of Leaves. As they were reading, the children recorded the main idea and supporting details of the article on a graphic organizer. 










Writing
This week, the children continued their Expository Writing unit. They took their facts from their graphic organizer and began publishing one page for each fact heading. Next week, they will complete their pages and turn them into a nonfiction book all about their animal. The children are also illustrating detailed pictures of their animal. You may even notice some picture captions and labels in their nonfiction books! 













Science 
The scientists worked hard this week to complete two exploration lessons. On Monday, the scientists enjoyed a lesson on seed dispersal. They learned that seed dispersal is the way that a seed travels away from the parent plant. The scientists watched a short video showing the three ways that seeds are dispersed: by animals, wind, and water. After they worked together to complete a seed sort where they had to move different seeds into the correct seed dispersal category. 

On Tuesday, the scientists continued their study of seeds, they observed and dissected a Lima bean seed to see what was inside. Then they prepared the Lima bean and some corn seeds to try and sprout in a moist paper towel. Over the next week, the scientists will observe and monitor the growth of the sprouts.  





Math 
This week, we wrapped up Unit 8. The children were excited when our classroom once again turned into the set of Math Review Mimio Vote. Using their own clickers, the children reviewed the concepts we worked with during Unit 8. On Wednesday, the children took their Unit 8 Assessment. They did a nice job on the assessment and I am so proud of them! 

On Thursday, we started Unit 9. The children worked with finding patterns on the number grid and naming missing numbers on the number grid. 


I hope that you have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Monday, April 14, 2014

News You Can Use!

Hello 1-1 Families! Sorry about the delayed blog post! Welcome back, Mrs. Johnson! First and foremost, I want to thank all of the students and parents for such an amazing send off on my last day last Friday! The flowers and kind words mean the world to me and I appreciate it more than anything. Thank you so much for helping to make my experience in 1-1 a positive one! Here is a look at how my last week in 1-1 looked.


Reading

This week's close reading focused on the books, Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillan and Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin. While reading Memoirs of a Goldfish, the students practiced the skill of cause and effect. To reinforce this skill, students focused on cause and effect during guided reading as well. Later in the week, we read Diary of a Fly. Once the students read both close reading books, we were able to compare and contrast the main characters as well as the books themselves. The students were able to identify that both books were written in the form of a diary. The students also learned about compound words by creating their own compound word recipe book.




Writing

Last week, the students chose an animal to research and write an expository writing piece on. We also spent the week using www.pebblego.com to research each animal's description, habitat, food, and interesting facts. The students will use this information to write a sloppy copy and final copy writing piece.



Math

Math lessons last week focused a lot on fractions. The students practiced dividing things in halves and quarters by making their own pizzas and splitting them in quarters. We continued practicing with fractions by watching a video on brainpopjr.com and made ice cream cones. In addition to this, students also practiced sharing things equally among two or more people.



Science

This week in science students explored similarities and differences between living plans and living animals. Students also learned about fruits with seeds and had the opportunity to dissect an apple to find its seeds to observe them. The most exciting was observing fish and exploring how fish breathe. Students identified a fish's fins, tail, and gill cover.





Other

Riley was our Star Student last week. Thanks for sharing with us Riley! I did not know that your favorite food was cupcakes. I love them too!


Riley's Grandma was our Royal Reader last week. She was visiting from Florida and stopped by to read some great stories! Thanks so much for coming in to read to use! I know we all really enjoyed it.


Ashlyn had a birthday this week. I hope you had a very special birthday, Ashlyn!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Pictures From Last Week

Thank you for your patience with me getting these pictures on the blog. Here are the pictures of your student's last week.

Reading


Writing

Math




Science