Photos and Fun!

Hello 1-1 Families!

Just wanted to do a quick post with some fun tidbits and photos. Happy almost May!

Readers Workshop

The children are learning 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

***Thank you to everyone who sent in poetry books. The children are enjoying reading them during independent reading time.***

 

 

Writing

Next week, the children will begin their last writing unit, Expository Writing. The children will work 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 will discuss 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.

Earth Day

To celebrate 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.

In addition, the children also created an Earth Day super hero after researching the different ways that they can Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

 

Sun, Moon, and Stars 

Over the last week, the children have been involved in a Personalized Learning project. They chose their favorite science topic from our unit, Watching the Sky. Then, they generated a list of questions on their topic. After, they worked independently or with a partner to research and create a project to show their learning. Along the way they stopped to get peer feedback and edit their project. The children will finish their projects this week and then have a chance to share them with the class. This has been a wonderful experience for the children and they have enjoyed owning their learning!

 

 

 

Star Students

Thank you to our past four star students, Charlotte, Jack, Cara and Jeanie. We enjoyed learning more about each of you!

Royal Readers

A special thank you to Charlotte’s mom, Jack’s mom and grandpa, Cara's Dad, and Jeanie’s mom who joined us recently as our Royal Readers. The children loved listening to the stories that you read.

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to Amelia, Jake, Charlotte, and Joanna. We hope that you had a great birthday on your special day!

 

Notes:

Starting tomorrow, Monday, May 1 the district is launching emails to all families to go online and register their child(ren) for next year. You will be sent a SnapCode number specifically for your child(ren). Please look out for this email! Everyone must register online for next year. 

Valentine's Day & 100th Day!

Hello 1-1 Families!

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

100th Day & Valentine’s Day Fun!

On Tuesday, 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 100 dollars. Later in the day, the children created artwork using the numbers 1, 0, 0. Then, they created a story about their artwork. Later in the week,, the children were excited to work on an assortment of 100th STEM math stations. We had a wonderful 100th day of school!

On Tuesday, we also celebrated Valentine’s Day. In the afternoon, the children had their valentine’s party. They passed out their valentines, enjoyed creating a “Love Tree”, and heard two stories.

A special thank you to our room reps, Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Stowe for organizing and prepping the craft for our party. Also, a BIG Thank You to Mrs. Barbieri and Mrs. Wilt who attended the party and ran the craft and read the stories. You made our party a huge success! Thank you!

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

Click on the link below to view photos from our Valentine’s & 100th Day Fun!

Photos!

Reader's Workshop

This week, we will start working on our new 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 will work on:

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

-Comparing and contrasting information they learned from reading different texts.

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

-Working on gathering facts and information and synthesizing the information they are learning.

-Continuing their work with identifying and using nonfiction text features to gather additional information.

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 on 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.

-They learned that sound travels through the air and through items (some items it travels through well and others poorly).

Star Students

Thank you to our past three star students, Elyse, Elliana, and Demetri. We enjoyed learning more about each of you!

Royal Readers

A special thank you to Elyse’s mom and sister, Ellian’s mom, and Demetri’s mom who joined us the last few weeks as our Royal Readers. The children loved listening to the stories that you read. 

Birthday

Happy Birthday to Samantha. We hope that you had a great birthday!

Note

I can not believe the beautiful weather that we are having! Please keep in mind that it is colder in the morning then in the afternoon. The children may still need coats for AM recess. The children have also been a bit cold in the classroom, you may want to send them in layers during this "springlike" weather! Thank you for your help!

Have a great rest of the long weekend!

January Update!

Hello Everyone! 

I can’t believe that January has raced by so quickly! Here are some of the fun things we have been working on since the New Year! 

Reader's Workshop

We are really enjoying our Nonfiction unit. The children have been working on:

-Identifying Nonfiction Text Features (Why are they important? What can you learn from them?)

-Generating Questions

-Stop and Jots (recording their new learning and thoughts)

-Finding the meaning of unfamiliar words 

-Author's Purpose

New Year’s Resolutions

The children worked on writing New Year’s Resolutions. They came up with two or three goals they have for the new year and wrote them down. They worked very hard on their writing and came up with some wonderful resolutions!

Martin Luther King, Jr.

On the Friday before MLK day, the children watched a short brainpopjr video on Martin Luther King, Jr. We also read the book, Martin’s Big Words. The children discussed what Martin Luther King’s dreams were. Then, they had the opportunity to complete an organizer expressing a dream that they have. The children completed a writing titled, My Dream. 

Social Studies and Writing

We started our new social studies/ writing unit on U.S. Symbols, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. The children listened to a book about citizens and rights and responsibilities. They learned about the qualities and responsibilities of a good citizen. The children then discussed how they are good citizens at school, home, and in their community. Each child wrote about what makes them a good citizen. 

The children researched George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They listened to books and as a class we wrote a list of important facts about their lives. The children then chose five important facts to record on their facts sheet about each George and Abraham. Next week, the children will write about their favorite president (George Washington or Abraham Lincoln) that we researched. Using their graphic organizer, they will write a paragraph about their president. They will complete their paper by turning it into a replica of George or Abe. 

Over the last few weeks, each child chose one symbol to research using pebblego. Then, they wrote a report about their symbol. The children each had the opportunity to present their report to the class. We continued our research on the symbols books and short video clips. It was so exciting to see how excited the children got. Several children brought in extra pages of research they completed at home and a few even made projects to go along with their reports. We will conclude our unit next week.

Math 

In Math, we started Unit 5. The children worked with base-10 blocks to model whole numbers less than 100. They also identified whole numbers modeled by base-10 blocks. They exchanged base-10 cubes and longs to show different representations of the same numbers.

Star Students

Joanna, Will, and Amelia were our star students this month. Thanks Connor, Joanna, Will, and Amelia for sharing all about you!

Royal Readers

A special thank you to Joanna’s mom and sister, Will’s parents, and Amelia’s mom who all joined us this month as our Royal Readers. The children loved listening to all the stories that you read!

Global School Play Day

Just a reminder, Wednesday, February 1st is Global School Play Day. Our classroom will be playing in the afternoon, after lunch recess. Please have your child bring a game or toy to school. Remember NO ELECTRONIC GAMES/TOYS PLEASE! Also, please DO NOT send in anything that your child does not want other children to play with.  We will do our very best to ensure that the games and toys are returned in the same fashion that they came to school.

Notes: 

-Please continue to send your child to school each day with all their winter gear. The children will go outside to play as long as the temperature is not to cold! It also helps to label all their boots, mittens, hats, and coats. Sometimes the children have the exact same ones and it is hard for them to determine whose is whose!

-Thank you to those of you who sent in paper towel rolls for math. We now have enough! Thank you!

Have a great rest of the weekend!