News You Can Use!

Hello 1-1 Families! Enjoy reading about our last two weeks. As you can see, we have been very busy!

Literacy 

Two weeks ago, our close reading lessons focused on the books, Memoirs of a Goldfish and Diary of a Fly. While reading Memoirs of a Goldfish, the students practiced the skill of cause and effect. Later that 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.

Last week, the children worked on identifying Realism and Fantasy in texts. They learned that realism means real and fantasy means fake. We read the book, Plantzilla. The children identified both realism and fantasy elements in the text. They recorded their evidence on sticky notes as we were reading and placed them on our Realism Fantasy chart. On Tuesday, the children worked together to read the article, Lots of Lemurs. As they were reading, the children recorded the main idea and supporting details of the article on a graphic organizer. 

Writing

In writing, the children continued their Expository Writing unit. They chose an animal that they were interested in learning about. Using Pebblego.com and Facts4Me.com, the children researched their chosen animal. They were looking for facts in four categories: Description, Habitat, Food, and Interesting Facts. They worked on recording their facts short hand. They will use these facts to write a nonfiction book on their animal. 

On A Rainy Day...

Last week, the children wrote a piece about their favorite thing to do on a rainy day. After, they decorated an umbrella and stapled their writing to it, complete with a pair of matching rain boots. We hung their rainy day writing from the ceiling in our room. They turned out very cute!

Earth Day

In preparation for 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!

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.

Math

In Math, we’ve been hard at work on unit 8. The children continue working with counting combinations of coins and showing amounts of money with the fewest number of coins. They were introduced to the dollar. The children played One-Dollar Exchange, they practiced exchanging different coins for one of an equivalent value, until they reached a dollar. The children worked with place value: hundreds, ten, and ones. They used base-10 blocks to show whole numbers. They also, read and wrote whole numbers shown with base-10 blocks. The children made up, solved, and recorded money number stories. They worked with using different strategies to add and subtract the 2-digit numbers presented in the money stories. The children recorded number sentences to match their solution strategies. They also worked with making change by counting up.

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. After learning all the body parts, the scientists took turns coming up to the board and labeling the body parts on a picture of a Fish. 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.

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. 

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 examined roots. They 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. 

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 Students

Yola was our star student 2 weeks ago. Thanks Yola for sharing all about you!

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

Royal Reader

A special thank you to Yola’s Mom, she joined us last week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to the two stories that Mrs. Braho read, What Do Angels Wear? and Without You.

Happy Birthday

We celebrated 3 birthdays recently. Happy Birthday to Alex, Yola, and Charice! We hope that you had a wonderful time on your birthday!

News You Can Use!

Enjoy catching up on what we've been up to for the last two weeks!

Literacy 

This week, our close reading lessons focused on two books, What’s Alive? and Incredible Insects. During our reading of What’s Alive? the children completed a Top Hat organizer. They listed characteristics of plants and animals they heard during the story. Then, the children listed the similarities of plants and animals at the bottom of their organizer. As the children listened to the book, Incredible Insects, they focused on identifying nonfiction text features. The children had discussions on what they learned from the different text features as well as, why they thought the author included that feature in the text. 

Contraction Surgery

On the Friday before Spring Break, the children became doctors and performed Contraction Surgery. They took different two word combinations and turned them into their contraction form. After cutting the two words apart they put them back together with a bandaid (apostrophe). What a great kinesthetic exercise to help them understand the process of turning two words into their short form (contractions). 

Writing

During the week before Spring Break, the children completed their research on penguins. The children organized their Post-It notes from their Penguin Stop & Jot Notebook into different categories (ex: Food, Babies, Predators, Penguin Movements, etc). They used these categories and their Post-It note facts to write a nonfiction book about penguins. Their nonfiction penguin books include a detailed cover, a table of contents, pages with headings that correlate with the topic, a glossary, and an About The Author page. The children have worked very hard and I am proud to display their hard work in the hallway.

This week, we started our new writing unit, Expository Writing. The children worked with identifying a fiction and a nonfiction sentence as I read two books about wolves, The True Story of The Three Little Pigs and Wolves. They discussed the differences and similarities between fiction and nonfiction texts. As the unit continues the children will practice researching and recording facts about animals. They will complete the unit by writing a nonfiction book on an animal of their choice.

Math 

We have been very busy in math. The children enjoyed another round of Math Review Mimio Vote. They reviewed all of the concepts they learned during Unit 6. Our room once again turned into the set of a game show as each child answered questions using their very own clicker. The children took their Unit 6 test. I am proud of how well the children did on their tests! 

Before Spring Break, we started Unit 7. In this unit the children are working with Geometry and Attributes. They worked to sort attribute blocks according to different attribute rules (color, shape, and size). The children enjoyed Explorations, they worked with Exploring Attributes, played Make My Design, and practiced their math facts.

This week, the children identified pattern block shapes. They counted the number of sides a triangle has and learned that a corner is a point where two sides meet. The children discussed defining attributes and non-defining attributes of triangles. They were also introduced to the term polygon (a shape with all straight side that touch only at their endpoints).

On Tuesday, the children enjoyed using straws and twist ties to create different polygon shapes. They identified their polygons sides and corners. 

On Wednesday and Thursday, the children were introduced to 6 geometric shapes: Spheres, Cylinders, Rectangular Prisms, Cones, Cubes, and Pyramids. They identified and described the solid figures. The children worked with counting the number of flat faces and corners of each of the shapes. The children created cylinders using paper. We also started a Shapes Museum in our classroom, the children may continue to bring in geometric shapes to add to our Shapes Museum. 

Science

This week, we started our last science unit, Collecting and Examining Life. On Monday, the scientists did their first experiment. They had to look at three different substances, mystery substance A, mystery substance B, and salt. Using a magnifying glass they observed the substances and decided which one they thought was alive. After creating their hypothesis, the scientists added the salt to water creating a salt water solution. In one jar they placed substance A and the salt water. In another jar they placed substance B and salt water. The scientists observed the solutions in the jars and recorded what they saw in their science notebooks. They conferred with other scientists at their table and decided that they thought jar B held the live contents. 

On Tuesday, the scientists returned to their jars. They were able to use the pro-scopes to magnify the contents of each jar. The scientists realized the substance A was alive. The children had hatched Brine Shrimp. They were able to see them swimming around. They noted that substance B was not moving and it had all settled on the bottom, they learned that the substance was sand. 

On Wednesday, the scientists were very excited to study Crickets. They began by studying a diagram of a Cricket and discussing the different body parts. After learning all the body parts, the scientists took turns coming up to the board and labeling the body parts on a picture of a Cricket. Then the scientists worked with a partner to observe their very own Cricket. Using a magnifying box and ruler, the scientists recorded information about their Cricket. They worked very hard and drew descriptive diagrams, making sure to label the parts of their Cricket. Some of the scientists even wrote down a page worth of notes on what they learned from observing their cricket.

Penguin Day

On the Friday before Spring Break, the children enjoyed a Penguin Day celebration in honor of their hard work during our Penguin Unit. The children dressed in all black and white or blue and white like a penguin. We also got to do some fun penguin themed activities and watch a penguin movie!

Star Student

Joey was our star student this week. Thanks Joey for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

A special thank you to Danny’s parents, they joined us this week as our Royal Readers. The children enjoyed listening to the two stories that Mr. and Mrs. Centracchio read, Let’s Go, Bears! and Dog Breath The Horrible Trouble With Hally Tosis.

I hope you had a wonderful Weekend!