This is Our Country

This week we are beginning our new Social Studies unit - This is Our Country. The essential questions for this are: What makes a good leader? What do symbols tell us about our country? Our focus during this unit are key American symbols such as: the American flag, bald eagle, Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, and others. Students will learn about a new symbol each day and will be constructing their own book In addition to US symbols, students will learn about famous non-Missourians (Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr.). We also discuss the branches of government. Our trip to the Magic House will relate to the topics studied in this unit.

Late Start - Wednesday

Remember, this Wednesday is a late start. School will begin at 11:05. Thanks!

Jump Rope for Heart

Students will be learning about heart health in PE. Coming home today is a letter about the Jump Rope for heart program.

Word Work

This week our word chunk is -ate

Challenge list: grateful, navigate, create, debate, private, hibernate

Pajama Day!

Students have earned a class reward. They voted on pajama day again. They can bring a stuffed animal also. Pajama day will be Monday, January 30th. Please let me know if you have any questions about this. Thanks!

Math

This week in math our focus has been comparing two-digit numbers using the language "greater than" "less than" and "equal to". We are also practicing using the symbols <  >  =

We have used a number line to identify numbers that are greater or less than a given number. Students have worked through clues to figure out a mystery number. Some higher order thinking has been involved in this!

Beginning tomorrow we are starting a 5 lesson unit which uses a piece of literature. The book is about the Masloppy family. They're a huge mess! They need help to get organized. This unit will further our work with place value. We will also be working on these concepts:

- compensation and equivalence : This relates back to our work with true/false statements. We want students to understand that 4+4=5+3 and so on.
- unitizing: thinking of groups of ten and counting more efficiently by counting tens first and then ones instead of continuing to count larger quantities by one's
- noticing and understanding patters that occur when making and adding on groups of tens

If I had $100...

Today is the 100th day of school! We are doing some special activities to celebrate. When given this prompt: "If I had $100, I would buy_____________" the children came up with some fun answers. See below:

If I had $100, I would buy ____________:

fun dip
a car
jelly beans
cats and dogs
a car
wood (to build houses)
candy
a big race car
grappling hooks
99 pieces of candy
rice
a dog
emojis
100 shopkins
a mansion
100 cats

Can you guess who said what? :-)

Word Work

This week we are working on the -ame chunk. No accountable words this week, just reviewing up to this point. This week's challenge list if you choose to work on this with your child is:

nickname
became
overcame
reframe
inflame

Balancing

This week in science students are exploring the beam balance.

The Writing Flow

Students hard at work during writing workshop! They love creating stories.

Spelling Bee!

The first grade spelling bee is tomorrow! Vinay from our classroom has made it to the grade-level bee. Great job, Vinay!

Word Work

This week we are continuing work with digraphs (sh, ch, th, etc.). Pre and Post tests will be coming home from last week.

Magic House Trip

Permission slips are coming home today for our next field trip! We will be going to the Magic House on Thursday, February 16th. We will be participating in a program about American symbols and government which will connect nicely with our next unit of study in Social Studies.

If you are interested in attending this trip, you can make where indicated on the form. We do not have a limit for chaperones for this trip. There is the chance that if there is overwhelming interested some parents may need to drive and meet us there. The cost of the trip is $6.00. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Please return the permission slips as soon as possible.

Scholastic Book Order

Class Code - J6ZT4 Order Due Date - 01/16/17 Subject: Scholastic Reading Club Class Order Due Date is approaching! Dear Families, This is a friendly reminder that your Reading Club orders are due by 01/16/17. You can place your orders online at scholastic.com/readingclub using my class activation code: J6ZT4 Happy Reading!

Balance and Weighing

Before break we finished up our balance and motion unit. During our new unit, balance and weighing, students have the opportunity to transfer their learning of those concepts into a new context. In this unit, students expand their understanding of the relationship between balance and weight as they explore activities in balancing, comparing, and weighing.

As with all our science units, the learning experiences are very hands-on. Students will experiment with various tools including a beam balance and an equal arm balance to compare the weight of objects.

Students will:

- Place objects in order according to mass
- Use an equal arm balance and various objects to illustrate arrangements in which the beam is balanced
- Measure and compare the mass of objects (more/less)
- Measure mass using a balance and non-standard measurements (unifix cubes)
- Compare amounts/measurements
- Make observations using simple tools and equipment

Navigating Non-Fiction

Our first non-fiction reading unit of the year - yay! The kids are excited to dive into a variety of topics. This unit emphasizes skills that are used to read and comprehend a nonfiction text.  Students will learn about the attributes of nonfiction texts.  They will learn to determine importance, use text features, and build vocabulary as they explore a variety of nonfiction texts.

During this unit we will be working on mastering these skills:

Resultant Skills:

Students will be able to:

1. Ask questions about the key details in an informational text.
identify the main topic of a text and key details

2. Identify unknown words or words needing clarification in a text. We will become more deliberate in identifying new vocabulary terms and making a point to define these words to improve comprehension and overall understanding of new learning.
3. Describe the connections made between two: individuals, events, ideas
4. Identify various text features (e.g., headings, tables of content, glossaries, electronic menus, icons).
5. Determine how to use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text.
6. Characteristics of fiction and non-fiction and compare the two

I also like to introduce the children to a variety of non-fiction texts in addition to books. We will explore library resources and enjoy reading magazines, periodicals, encyclopedias, online resources, newspapers (with age appropriate content ;) )

Place Value

We continue with our work with understanding place value. Students understand so far that double digit numbers are made up of groups of tens and ones. We have used the 100 chart and the 120 chart and studied them for patterns relating to the position of tens and ones.

In the coming weeks the students will be working on adding and subtracting multiples of 10 with two-digit numbers.

Here are some skills we are working hard to master:

Essential Vocabulary
bundle, column, compare, compose a ten, digit,  greater than/more than (>), hundred chart, less, less than/fewer than (<), ones, ones digit, row, tens, tens digit


- Expressions and equations can represent real-life situations.
- Our number system has structures based on groups of 10.
- The sequence of numbers follows a predictable pattern.
-The names of numbers within 120. {Several students have trouble writing numbers between 100 and 120, continue practicing this at home}
- A ten is a bundle of ten ones (unitizing).
- Multiples of ten (10, 20, 30..,) represent groups of tens and 0 ones.
- A digit in the tens place represents bundles of ten and a digit in the ones place represents loose ones or singles.
-The digit in the tens place is more important for determining the value of a two-digit number than the ones place.
- How to make sense of quantity and be able to compare numbers.
- The meaning of the symbols >, =, <.
- The equation must have the same value on both sides of the equal sign.

Upcoming Assessments :
- Math fact assessment: basic recall of addition and subtraction within 20 **I'm noticing not as much fluency with facts as I would like to see at this point in the year. Please help with this at home. **Flashcards can be found pretty inexpensively. Also feel free to use online flashcards: http://www.varsitytutors.com/aplusmath/flashcards
- Story problem formative assessment: our next formative will include a higher order thinking question with an emphasis on justifying answers/explaining their thinking. This is a large focus for the remainder of first grade and an important skill going into second grade.
- Parkway math benchmark assessment

Moving forward our math concepts will continue to become more complex as we look towards being prepared for second grade. Please take a peek at math work coming home to see exactly what we are working on and for feedback on your child's understanding of topics and concepts.

Telling Good Stories

Before winter break we finished our persuasive writing unit. We celebrated by watching the book reviews that the students had digitally published. The kids really enjoyed seeing themselves and their friends sharing their work. I have one more student I need to record who has been absent, but when that is complete I will have the link available so I can share videos with you. Important: If you wish for your child's video NOT to be included in the link, please let me know and I will omit them. Thanks for your help with this!

This week we began our new unit - telling good stories (with an emphasis on a well developed beginning, middle, and end with rich details.) During this unit, students will continue their development of storytelling skills within this unit of study, as they write true, somewhat true, or realistic fictional small moment personal narratives. In Kindergarten, students learned to sequence stories across the pages of a book, adding feelings and engaging readers with their beginning and end.  We will expand this work in First grade by developing transitions with temporal words to signal event order.  Students will also learn how strong verbs and adjectives are used to develop plot and character.

In the embedded language study, students learn to use three specific parts of speech (verbs, adjectives, and prepositions) with specific purpose – to help in the creation of a scene – a physical place where action is happening.

Telling Good Stories not only supports a child’s growth as a writer, but also as a storyteller.  Storytelling skills will help students’ reading comprehension, conversational skills, and imagination.  For example, students can strengthen their understanding of characters by rewriting a favorite book through the perspective of another character, having characters from two different stories meet each other, or writing an alternate ending to a book. This work will tie in with our character study unit in reading, which is coming up.

Of course the students continue to work on consistently using their best handwriting, using capital letters appropriately, and using punctuation consistently.

Essential Questions - January

It was fun getting back in the swing of things this week! Here are the essential questions we are working with this month:

Writing: (Telling Good Stories Unit) How do people compose a good story? How do people develop a story?

Math: (Place Value Unit continues) How can understanding place value help me solve problems?
How are addition and subtraction related to counting? How can I communicate my math thinking?

Reading: (Navigating Non-Fiction Unit) Why do readers read nonfiction? How do readers use nonfiction text features? How do readers decide what is important in a nonfiction text?

Science: (Balance and Weight Unit) How does weight affect balance? Are bigger things always heavier?
How can using a balance help place objects in order?