Word Work Update

This week we are continuing to work on our chunk from last week: -ame. With the holiday and the snow day, we did not get a lot of chance to work on it much.

Here are the spelling patterns we have already learned:
-at  -an  -all  -ad  -ap  -ack  -sh  -ash  et  -ell  -ent  -est  -in  -it  -ill  -ick

-op  -ot  -ug  -ump  -ing  -plurals (adding s and es)  -ch  -th  -ame

Here are the accountable words we have worked on so far:
all
had
back
the
no
she
get
tell
webt
best
am
did
will
if
stop
got
he
big
up
him
you
your
has
or
be
by
with
that

Soon we will be taking the accountable word assessment again, so at conferences I will be able to share with you about your child's progress!

This is Our Country

We have begun our next Social Studies unit - This is Our Country. During this unit students will learn about important American figures and symbols. This week we have learned what a symbol is and had a brief overview of the American symbols we will study more in depth in the coming days. Each day we will study a different American symbol and work on making a book about what we have learned.

After this unit, students will be able to:

Students will be able to...

- recognize leadership traits in famous people from the past and describe their contributions to our country.
- recognize some of those leadership traits in themselves. (which correlates nicely with our 'Leader in Me' curriculum also!)
- explain how different people have demonstrated leadership, including (but not limited to):
George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Martin Luther King, Jr.

describe the ideas represented by national symbols, including (but not limited to):
American Flag
Bald Eagle
Liberty Bell
Statue of Liberty
Washington D.C.
White House
Capitol Building

When we go to the Magic House we will be using this knowledge as we participate in activities! Remember, the trip is on February 10 and permission slips are due THIS FRIDAY!

100th Day of School!

Thursday we celebrated 100 days of school! We are 100 days smarter - wow! We participated in various math, reading, writing, and social skill activities to help make the day special. The first grade teachers aged to 100 years old! We had so much fun! 

Math - Missing Piece and Place Value

As the school year goes on, the concepts and operations in math get more complex.

 We have been focusing a lot the last week on "missing part" type of story problems. This is an advanced concept and requires number sense and an understanding of how numbers fit together. It also stretches the learner to think of our equations in a different way. Instead of solving for -   3+3=___ they are trying to solve for a missing piece in ANY part of the equation - ___+2=6     or  1+____=10. Here is an example of a story problem we've been working on: Lola was making a necklace. She had 12 beads on her necklace but some of them fell off. There are 2 beads left. How many beads fell off? This concept has been challenging for the students. First we have been trying to identify the question the students are needing to answer. In this case: how many beads fell off? Then we look for information that is given to us: She started with 12 beads and there are 2 left. From there we decide if we need to add or subtract to solve for the missing piece. We will continue to work on this.

This unit develops a more abstract understanding of place value, viewing 2-digit numbers as tens and ones. This understanding of place value supports counting on and making ten strategies that students can use to become more efficient in addition and subtraction situations. In this unit students build on their understanding of adding and subtracting within 20 to develop strategies for adding and subtracting larger numbers. Students are also introduced to mentally adding to 10. These standards are grouped together because the ability to compose a ten and the ability to add and subtract ten is a crucial understanding that can help students develop number sense and proficiency with numbers and operations. Included in this unit are “Add To/Take From and Put Together/Take Apart” problems with unknowns in different positions. These problem types give students the opportunity to see subtraction as the opposite of addition in a different way than as reversing the action. Counting on strategies reinforce that subtraction is an unknown addend problem, which help students view subtraction as being just as easy as addition and emphasizes the relation between subtraction and addition.

Writing

We are still working in our Telling Good Stories unit and focusing on sequential order and many details in our stories. Students have used graphic organizers to plan out the beginning, middle, and end of their stories. We have talked about strong beginnings and strategies to hook the reader. We have learned that good story tellers include at least 3 details in the middle of their stories. We have also learned about effective endings that wrap up the story and leave the reader feeling satisfied.

At the end of this unit, students should be able to:

- compose using pictures and words.
- write narratives to recount two or more appropriately sequenced events.
- use details throughout the writing process.
- use temporal words (time) to signal event order.
- provide some sense of closure to writing.
- use vivid verbs that make the actions of characters come to life.
- use correct verb tense and stay in the correct verb tense.
- use adjectives to make the setting and scene seem real.
- use prepositions to add specific details to the story

Last Week's Special Guests

As part of our school's 40th birthday festivities last week we had a special assembly! Look who came!

Essential Questions

Here are the essential questions we are focusing on during our learning:

Writing: How do people compose a good story?

Math: How can understanding place value help me solve problems?

Reading: How do readers read non-fiction texts?

Science: How does weight affect balance?

Magic House Fieldtrip

Please turn in permission slips and $6.00 for our Magic House Fieldtrip. It is Wednesday, February 10th. So far I do not have any parent volunteers to go along. I would really like to have at least 4 adults joining us. Thanks for your help with this!

Field trip - Magic House

Coming home today is a field trip form for our upcoming trip to the Magic House. Please sign and return the form with $6.00 by January 29. Chaperones are welcome to attend and will also cost $6.00. 

Reading Nonfiction

We are working on our "Navigating Nonfiction" reading unit. Being able to read and use non-fiction text is an important life skill students will need to build on in later grades. We work on building the foundation for reading and using informational texts in first grade. This week we have discussed WHY we read nonfiction and now we are discovering HOW! Today students learned about some common nonfiction text features: table of contents, glossary, index, bold words, headings, labels, and diagrams. Students worked in partners to identify text features in their own books!

Decades Dress Up Day!

Some of us dressed 80's today. What fun! 

Book Orders

I have had interest in a January Scholastic book order. Please place any orders by Friday afternoon. Thanks!!

Dear Families,

Please remember to place your Reading Club orders by January 15!

You can shop and submit your order online or send the printed order form with payment directly to me. No matter how you order, every purchase you make earns FREE Books and educational supplies for our classroom.

The arrival of the book box is always a highlight-thanks for making it happen!

Happy reading,



Ordering online is fast and easy:

•  VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
•  ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code (top of this letter)
•  SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books and value packs
•  SUBMIT your order and earn FREE Books for our classroom
•  All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!

Happy 40th!

Happy 40th Birthday to Shenandoah this week! We have a lot of fun activities planned to celebrate -- yeah! Here are a few reminders for the week

Tuesday: decades dress up day - first grade is the 80's
- also on Tuesday all the "time tunnel" projects are due (purple papers that came home late last week)

Wednesday: PTO Birthday gift given to students - a new tye dye folder!

Thursday: Students tour the time tunnel with class

Friday: Track re-dedication ceremony at 3:00 - wear sweats/track clothes

Word Work

This week's spelling pattern are the "ch" and "th" sounds.

This week's accountable words are : with   that

Reading Goals

Beginning next week we will begin working towards both a class reading goal and a grade level reading goal. We will be keeping track of the number of books the students read at home! Our goal for January in our classroom is 330 books. That is each child reading one book each week night. The grade level goal for January is 960 books. How many books can we read?! You may have noticed a new cover sheet on the homework packet. On the front your child will now be tallying the number of books they read each evening. Feel free to either write the titles or leave that space blank. Each week we will add up the books and add it to our total. I will share this news with students Monday and show them the graphs. Please let me know if you have any questions about this new procedure. Thanks! 

Rolling right along

We continue to study motion in Science. This week students are making roller coasters to explore force and velocity! 

Word Work

Don't be alarmed when your child's pre and post spelling assessment comes home on Monday. The -ed pattern is complex and I wouldn't expect every child to have mastered this after just 4 days of instruction. Know that if significant improvement wasn't made, this is a pattern we will certainly continue to work on. As you read with your child at home, bring their attention to this pattern and how it works. For instance, sometimes the middle consonant is doubled when -ed is added. The more they notice these patterns in the books they are reading, the more the the knowledge of this skill will transfer into their writing.

Writing - beginning, middle, end

We have started a new writing unit : Telling Good Stories - beginning, middle, and end. To begin, we are studying how authors write using a well developed beginning, middle, and end. Students are practicing identifying the parts as well as retelling. Yesterday they worked with partners to complete a graphic organizer and today students worked individually to fill out a beginning, middle, and end chart  as we read a story. We learn how to become better writers by studying what real authors do! During this unit students will learn the importance of sequence and many details. We also continue to work on grade level grammar and conventions. 

Word Work

This week we are working on the -ed ending for our word work. Sometimes "ed" at the end of a word makes the "t" sound as in "stopped" and sometimes it makes the "d" sound as in "explored". Students are practicing adding ed to the end of a word. We've also talked about how adding ed means that it took place in the past, or has already happened.

Math!

Our math curriculum is very hands-on. Students work with a partner or small group every day on different activities and games to learn and master concepts. Today students played a game called "guess my rule". Students used shape blocks to play. The students separate the items into 2 groups. 1 group of items follows the child's rule (such as all items must have four sides) and everything else does not fit the rule. The other child tries to guess what the rule is by studying the groups of items. This could be done with shapes, stuffed animals, buttons, coins or any other objects you have a collection of. 

Students work on their Dreambox math accounts 2-3 times per week. 

New Year, New Blog!

Hello and welcome to our brand new class blog! I was having some technical issues with my previous website and wanted to be able to share photos with you regularly, so we are going to try this new format. Please bookmark this blog and delete the previous blog URL for updated information.