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We had two short, but very busy weeks in 1-1! Read all about our learning adventures below.

Literacy

During our reader’s workshop time, the children worked on the following skills to wrap up our Launch Unit.

-Restating facts in their own words to help them remember what they read.

-Building Reading Stamina- We say, “Stamina is doing anything for a long amount of time without getting tired or giving up!”

-Having A Balanced Diet- the children learned that when selecting books they should choose a variety to offer them, “A Balanced Diet” to read from. They practiced selecting books and making sure they had a healthy variety of books in their bin (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.). As the children learn about additional genres and sub genres, they will be encouraged to add these types of books to their book bins as well.

We have now started our second unit, Fiction. This unit will focus on learning the elements of fiction and discovering fiction text structure. The children will have the opportunity to work with traditional tales (including folktales, fairy tales, and fables). They will also work with realistic fiction. During our first few lessons, the children worked on:

-Identifying elements of fiction vs nonfiction

-Identifying elements of traditional tales

-Retelling the story (focusing on the Beginning, Middle, and End)

                They had to work on identifying the following during their retelling:

-Characters & Setting

-Identifying the problem and/or action

-How was the problem solved?

Writing

In writing, the children zoomed in on their favorite small moment and began writing. The children will take this piece all the way through the writing process. They are currently working on their rough draft where they sketch pictures, label, and write their story. Next week, they will reread their story and work on adding additional detail. The children will also go back and stretch out words that they did not know how to spell. Ask your child what their small moment is, try and help them recall the event in great detail. This will help them zoom in even further and add important details to their writing next week. 

Math

In Math, the children used analog clocks to practice telling time to the nearest hour. They enjoyed explorations in math, by rotating through two stations: domino sorting ( learning that the dot patterns on dominoes represent numbers) and straight line dot to dot (using rulers). 

The children explored pennies and nickels. They identified the characteristics of each coin and learned how to write their values. They enjoyed learning two poems:

Penny 

Penny, penny 

Easily spent

Copper brown

And worth one cent!

Nickel

Nickel, nickel

Thick and fat

You’re worth five cents

I know that!

The children also named values of different groups of pennies. They continued working with money by counting groups of nickels and pennies and recording the values in cent notation. The children worked with exchanging pennies for nickels. 

The children played two games to help them practice counting coins: Penny Grab and Penny-Nickel Exchange.

Science

The scientists have been working hard on their Collecting and Examining Life Unit. Look at all the great lessons they have been engaged in recently!

The scientists went to work on comparing animals and plants. They made 2 different collages, one of plants and one for animals. Then, they discussed the characteristics of plants and animals. We ended the lesson by creating a venn diagram on animals and plants, we talked about how they are different and how they are the same. 

The scientists were very excited to study Gold Fish. They began by focusing on how we breathe, they noted how our chest rises and falls and what parts of our body we use to breathe. The scientists then studied a diagram of a Fish and discussed the different body parts. Then, the scientists worked with their table group to observe their very own Gold Fish. Using a magnifying glass and ruler, the scientists recorded information about their fish. They worked very hard and drew descriptive diagrams, making sure to label the parts of their fish. All the scientists wrote down additional notes on what they learned from observing their fish. The scientists had a great discussion at the end on how the fish, crickets, and brine shrimp are similar. They talked about how each of these animals breathe.

 They also worked with identifying three plant parts: the stem, leaf, and fruit. They worked in small groups to dissect three plants: an apple, corn, and green bean. They observed the fruit and discussed what the stem, fruit, and seeds looked like. They chose one to observe further and wrote about it in their science journal. 

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. 

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. 

Star Student

Gavin was our star student last week. Thanks Gavin for sharing all about you!

Zach was our star student last week. Thanks Zach for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

Thank you to Gavin’s Mom, she joined us last week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to the wonderful book, Put Me In The Zoo.

Thank you also to Zach’s Mom who joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children were excited to listen to two books, P-I-C-K-L-E-S Spells Pickles and A Halloween Scare in Chicago.

Halloween Notes

Friday, October 3oth is the Halloween Parade. It will start at about 1:15. We will parade out the front doors and head north on Dryden to Fairview, west on Fairview to Bristol, south on Bristol to Rockwell, east on Rockwell to Lincoln, returning to the school  playground area. Following the parade, the students will have a brief recess period, then return to our classroom for some fun activities. For more information on Halloween lunch procedures and costume questions read this weeks Dolphin Splash.

Notes:

-Remember our Pumpkin Carving day is October 23rd at 1:45. If you are the adult coming to our pumpkin carving day please plan to come in one day this week to have your diver’s license scanned. Everyone must have their license scanned before they can come to our classroom. Stopping by earlier this week will keep you from waiting in a long line the day of pumpkin carving. I look forward to seeing all our parent/ family volunteers. Please remember to bring a large scooping spoon!! 

-On Thursday, October 22nd we will kick off Character Counts/Red Ribbon Week! It will continue into the following  week. Everyone is invited to wear a special color each day of the week to promote each Character Counts pillar:

*Thursday, October 22—Wear GREEN for RESPONSIBILITY

*Friday, October 23—Wear YELLOW for RESPECT

Monday, October 26—Wear RED for CARING

*Tuesday, October 27—Wear BLUE for TRUST

*Wednesday, October 28—ORANGE for FAIRNESS

*Thursday, October 29—Wear PURPLE for CITIZENSHIP

Have a great rest of the weekend!