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Hello 1-1 families! Take a peek at what we were up to this week!

Literacy 

This week our close reading lessons focused on two texts, Ruby’s Wish and Tikki Tikki Tembo. During our first reading of Ruby’s Wish, the children created a comparison chart of the boys and girls in the story. Then on Tuesday, they worked with using the words and illustrations from the text to better understand Ruby’s character. By reading a selected passage, they recorded words and illustrations that helped them understand Ruby. Many children noted that Ruby was a hard worker and did not give up. 

During our Tikki Tikki Tembo lessons, the children worked on retelling the story and using the illustrations and words to better understand the setting of the story.

This week, we took a short break from guided reading groups. I assessed each child’s reading fluency. The children did their spring CBM, how many words they can correctly read in one minute on a first grade passage. I was impressed with the growth the children have made since the beginning of the year!

Writing

This week, the children published their Expository Writing piece into a nonfiction book. They worked really hard on their nonfiction books and are excited to share them with the class on the big screen. Some of our authors have already read their books to the class. Next week, the rest of our authors will get a chance to share! 

Math 

In Math, the children completed Unit 9. They worked with fractional parts. The children had to divide shapes into fractional parts and identify equivalent names for the fractional parts. They also worked with comparing fractional parts and identifying the numerator and the denominator. Later in the week, they used manipulatives to model equivalent fractions, they used <,>, and = signs to to describe the relationships between fractions. 

Next week, the children will review the concepts we have learned in Unit 9 using Mimio Vote. We will take the Unit 9 test on Tuesday. 

Social Studies

This week, the children were introduced to our final social studies unit on China. Over the next month, the children will learn how their lives in America are similar and different to children's lives in China. 

The children began the unit by generating a list of questions that they would like to research as we are learning about China. On Tuesday, the children listened to excerpts from books and video clips to learn about education in China. The children recorded similarities and differences that they noticed between their school and the schools in China. They were very interested to learn that many Chinese children start the day by exercising.

The children also learned about homes in China. They looked at several photos, a video segment, and listened to book excerpts on homes in China. Ask your child to describe some of the different homes they learned about. 

On Friday, the children listened to the Chinese folktale, Ping-Li’s Kite. Then, they created symmetrical kites to hang from our ceiling. 

Notes:

-Thank you to those of you who donated glue sticks to our class! We are still in need of some additional ones to end the year. If you are out shopping and can pick up a few, we would appreciate it! Thank you!

Have a great rest of the weekend!