News You Can Use!

Hello 1-1 Families! 

Please enjoy some highlights from the last few weeks!

Reader's Workshop

We have started working on our last unit for Reader's Workshop. It is our content unit on Light and Sound and it ties into our current science unit, also titled Light and Sound. The children are working on:

-Exploring the concepts of light and sound through reading various genres.

-The children are comparing and contrasting information they learned from reading different texts.

-They are responding to the topics we are reading through: class discussions, turn and talk conversations, and written responses.

-The children are working on gathering facts and information and synthesizing the information they are learning.

-They are continuing their work with identifying and using nonfiction text features to gather additional information.

Writing

The children completed our Persuasive writing unit recently. They worked very hard to publish their persuasive letters. The children took their time and wrote in their best handwriting. The children have been very excited to receive responses back from the teachers and staff they wrote to at Dryden school! Several children had written to both Mrs. Sessler and Mr. Bob about the importance of fixing the broken playground slide. They were very pleased last week when their request was answered and the slide was replaced! 

-Brainstorming ideas to write about for our Persuasive Letters. We looked for ideas and inspiration all around Dryden School. 

Social Studies

Recently, the children completed their culture comparison of China. We wrapped up the unit by creating dragons out of paper to represent the dragons used during the Dragon Dance. The children took their dragons outside and performed a Dragon Dance. 

Science

We started our new unit on Light and Sound. 

The scientists have worked on:

-Becoming “sound detectives” who search for, identify, and describe sounds in their surroundings. They focused observing the cause of different sounds and then listening for and describing its effect—the sound. 

-Learning what a vibration is, and that all sounds are produced by vibrations.

Math

We will wrap up Unit 8 this week. Next week, the children will practice all the concepts we have learned in Unit 8 by completing a review using Mimio Vote. Then on Tuesday, they will take their Unit 8 Math assessment. Look for the assessments to come home late next week. 

  

Star Students and Royal Readers

Thank you to our past star students and royal readers. It was nice to learn so many new things about you! We also enjoyed hearing so many stories from our past royal readers.

Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday to all our friends who have celebrated birthdays recently!

Grace

Nico 

Note:

All Dryden families are invited to a fun-filled, interactive, hands-on evening of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math activities with Dryden teachers and local high school volunteers. Activities include...

• Slingshot Rockets
• Gumdrop Engineering Challenge
• DIY Suspension Bridge
• Tugboat Science
• Egg Drop Challenge
• Make a Water Wheel
• Make a Solar Cooker
• Coding
• Robotics
• And much more!

STEAM Night takes place at Dryden Elementary School on Thursday, May 19 at 6:00 p.m. The deadline to sign up has been extended. Please RSVP by clicking here ASAP! We would love to see you there!

News You Can Use!

Hello 1-1 Families!

Enjoy a few highlights from last week!

Reading

The children are continuing to learn about poetry during our Reader's Workshop lessons. They have worked with:

-Playing with sound (rhyme, repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia)

-Identifying clues to find the big idea (Title, Who?, Where?, When?, Why?)

-Connecting through schema (using my prior knowledge and how I connected to the poem)

-Asking questions to help find the mood of the poem

Guided Reading Groups:

I have now had a chance to meet with all of the children one on one to do another round of running records. I am very impressed with their reading progress! Reassessing allows me to make sure that each child is receiving reading instruction that best fits their instructional reading level. Reading groups will restart this week. When your child brings their green reading bag home, please have them read the book to you. They should also practice their sight word sticker book (if they have one) and share any graphic organizers they completed. Please have your child return their book bag the next day. 

Math

In Math, the children have been working on:

-Using the Addition/Subtraction Facts table to find the sums of addition and subtraction facts.

-They were introduced to Name-Collection boxes. They used dominoes, drawings, tally marks, base-10 blocks, and addition/ subtraction facts to show equivalent names for numbers. 

-They worked with fact families. The children looked at a domino and identified the three numbers that went with it. Then they wrote two addition and two subtraction facts using the three numbers from their domino. They learned that the addition and subtraction facts make up a fact family.

-The children were introduced to Fact Triangles. Using their Fact Triangles, the children practiced their addition and subtraction facts with a partner. The children also wrote addition and subtraction number models to go along with their Fact Triangles.

Social Studies

Last week, the children learned about U.S. Symbols. Each child had the opportunity to research one U.S. Symbol. They used PebbleGo to research and then wrote two facts about their symbol. After researching, the children drew an illustration of their symbol on their facts sheet. Throughout the week, the children were able to share what they had learned with the class. We complied the slides into a slide show titled, U. S. Symbols.  

US Symbols from Melissa Johnson on Vimeo.

Today, the children completed the book, America the beautiful. The book allowed the children to revisit all the facts they learned about the different symbols this week. 

Band of Steel

On Friday, the children enjoyed a wonderful assembly by the Band of Steel. A very special thank you to the PTA for bringing this experience to Dryden! The children loved listening to the music and clapping along to the different rhythms. Thank you PTA!

Star Students and Royal Readers

Thank you to our past star students and royal readers. It was nice to learn so many new things about you! We also enjoyed hearing so many stories from our past royal readers.

Happy Birthday

We celebrated Evan's birthday last week! Happy Birthday Evan!

Notes:

-Please remember to send your child to school with their winter gear. The snow promises to continue and the playground and black top will once again be covered with snow. Please send coats, snow pants, boots, hats, and gloves. Thank you!

-We are looking for items for our school Makerspace. If you have any of the following items at home, please send them in! Thanks!

 • paper towel, wrapping paper and/or toilet paper rolls

 • yarn, ribbon and/or string

 • beads and/or buttons

 • tools

 • newspaper

 • aluminum foil, wax paper and/or saran wrap

 • various clean contains with lids (ex. yogurt, cottage cheese)

 • empty boxes (ex. cereal, pasta, or if they're bigger, flattened please!)

 • things that can be taken apart (old or broken electronics or small devices)

 • anything else along these lines that you think might fit in a Makerspace!

Happy March!

News You Can Use!

Hello 1-1 Families!

What a fun week we had! Read about it below!

100th Day & Valentine’s Day Fun!

On Wednesday, the children celebrated the 100th day of school. They looked great dressed up like they were 100! The children enjoyed participating in an assortment of 100th day activities. They created a 100th day crown showing different ways to make 100. The children heard the story, 100th Day Worries. They wrote a story about what they would do if they had 1oo dollars. In the afternoon, the children had 100th day math stations. We had a wonderful 100th day of school!

On Friday, the children celebrated Valentine’s Day. In the afternoon, the children had their valentine’s party. The children enjoyed all the delicious treats that were sent in, passed out their valentines, and heard a story.

A special thank you to our room reps, Mrs. Trudeau and Mrs. Humann for organizing the treats for our party. Also, a BIG Thank You to all the families who provided the paper products and treats. You made our party a yummy success! Thank you!

I would like to thank all of you for making my Valentine’s so special. I love all my valentines and yummy treats. Thank you so much!

Enjoy a slide show of our two special days below!

                              

Kidz Voice

Calling All Kindergarten and First Graders! Let's read all about what's on your minds! Kidz Voice, Dryden's student newsletter, needs you! We are looking for article submissions. Articles can be about current events at Dryden, in Arlington Heights, the U.S., or the world. You can write about sports, an interesting person, submit artwork, or write an opinion. It's all about making your voice heard! Articles are due to Teresa Geisler by February 26! You can e-mail them directly to her at teresageisler@gmail.com or drop a hard copy off in the office.

Have a great rest of the long weekend!

Valentine Treats Ingredient Lists

Valentine Treats Ingredient Lists

Thank you to everyone who is sending in treats for our Valentine's Party on Friday, February 12th. We appreciate you helping to make our party a special treat! Below you will find the names of the foods being served and the ingredients list for each. If you have any questions please let me know! Thank you!

Honest Kids Organic Juice

                     Oreo Cookies

Our healthy treat will be RED SEEDLESS GRAPES!

Please remember,the children are not allowed to bring in any additional edible treats! Thank you for your help in keeping the children safe! 

There is a lot of excitement in first grade as we await the return of Mrs. Johnson!  She will be returning on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.  

Here is what first grade has been working on over the past few weeks:

Reader's Workshop

We have concluded our unit on non-fiction!  The students learned about three main types of non-fiction books: literary non-fiction, biography, and reference.  They are able to to distinguish the differences between them.  Students also learned about the many different text features that are unique to non-fiction books.  The students were exited to see how many they could recall during a game we played.  They all did extremely well!  The first graders also chose non-fiction books to place in their bins to read and then some students were able to share their new found knowledge with their classmates.

This week begins our new unit on poetry.

Writing

The focus of our writing this month was How To.  As a class we created a how to make hot chocolate writing piece.  Several students then went home and used those directions to make hot chocolate at home.  They were very excited to share how good the hot chocolate was.  We also wrote about how to make a snowman.  The students were excited to add some of their own extra steps in order to create some very unique snowmen/snowgirls.  We had princess snowgirls and some karate snowmen too! As a final project, students were asked to choose their own How to topic and create a booklet.  We are in the process of finishing those this week.

This month our writing will focus on social studies and students will be writing about being a good citizen and also about the various US symbols.

Science

We have concluded our science unit on weather.  We were able to perform some interesting experiments with ice.  The students watched several weather videos and used Pebble Go to write about extreme weather conditions during library.  We learned about the differences between dew and frost and also about the three different types of clouds.  If they have not already shared this tidbit with you, ask you child how to make their own cloud.

This month the focus returns to social studies and will be on US citizens, symbols, and a few of the presidents.

Math

The first graders began unit 5 and have been working with base ten blocks to identify the tens and ones place values within numbers.  Students were also introduced to relation symbols.  We compared the weights and lengths of various animals using our animal cards.

The holidays are almost upon us!  Here is what first grade has been hard at work doing:

Literacy

We have been continuing our unit on non-fiction.  The students learned about the various text features that are found in non-fiction books.  We also learned that there were three types of non-fiction books and how they differ from one another.  One of the books we read was a biography about Dr. Seuss.  The students enjoyed sharing what they knew about him before learning more details about his life with the help of a timeline.

Writing and Social Studies

Our writing focus this month has been on the many different holidays that are celebrated during this time.  Students learned about Eid, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, and Christmas through the use of many books that we read as a whole group.  We wrote about the symbols that help to represent each holiday.  We also wrote about how they are each celebrated.  Finally, we discussed the common theme of light for each of the holidays and how it is used to celebrate the various holidays.

Math

We are currently on Unit 4 in math.  The students have been learning about the different tools used to help them measure.  We talked about thermometers and how they are used to measure temperature.  We also used different parts of our bodies to help us measure various classroom items.  The students enjoyed seeing how many of their feet it takes to get from one side of the room to the other and how many hands it takes to measure their desk tops. Students also began measuring using both estimates and then rulers to help them find how many inches long an object was.

First Grade Musical

The students did an outstanding job on their holiday musical!  They were all dressed in their holiday best and had grins from ear to ear while performing.

Wow, how fast the weeks have flown by!  It has been a very exciting time here in the first grade as we continue to get to know one another.  I have enjoyed learning about the students and am eager to continue out learning together over the next several months.

This is what we have been hard at work on these past few weeks:

Literacy

This weeks' lessons focused on the elements of retelling a story.  We re-read The 3 Little Dassies and the students then re-told the story in their own words.  We also focused on finding the author's message.  We learned about several different messages found within stories and how we can identify them.  We revisited Poppleton and read the chapter entitled "The Pill."  Students were able to find several messages including friendship and caring.

Guided Reading

I used guided reading time to assess student reading levels as well as to confer with students independently on their reading. Students were encouraged to tell me about a story they were reading and also to read a portion to me to help me evaluate their reading progress.

Writing

Our writing focus has been on opinion these past few weeks.  Students wrote several stories about Thanksgiving including what their favorite food is and what they think their lives would be like as a turkey.    They were asked to write a minimum of three sentences and to use capital letters and proper punctuation.  Many students wrote more than the three sentence minimum and were excited to share their stories with me.

Math

The students have been busy learning to tell time to the half hour and also counting money.  They enjoyed using clocks to help learn to tell time.  Students also enjoyed using their coins to count money.  The students learned that a dime is worth ten cents and is small while a nickel is worth five cents and is more thick.  They then counted coins and traded between pennies, nickels, and dimes to show amounts using the least possible coins.

Royal Readers

We had several Royal Readers come in during the month of November.

A special thank you to Julia's mom, Mrs. Tita, for reading us a very funny story entitled Sill Frilly Grandma Tilly by Laurie Jacobs.  Some of our students enjoyed sharing their own silly experiences with their grandparents.

A special thank you also to Grace's dad, Mr. Lisy, for reading us two stories, including one that he wrote! Mr. Lisy is the author of Twas the Night Before Fifth Grade.  He also read us a story entitled The Mysterious Mr. Tadpole by Steven Kellogg.

Finally, a special thank you to Piper's mom, Mrs. Skidmore, who shared three stories with us.  The first story was entitled The Underpants Zoo.  The second story was The Day the Crayons Came Home, and the third story was Dragons Love Tacos.  The students voted on their favorite story and the winner was Dragons Love Tacos.

                                                           Happy Thanksgiving!

*Please know that pictures will be posted to the blog soon*