Happy President's Day!

Classroom News

Reading: Our Olympic unit began this week and the kids are very enthusiastic about this topic.  Students began learning about where the Olympics is currently held.  Then, we created a mini-book about the history of the Olympics and the competitions.  In addition, we made an Olympic folder with rings and a torch to house our factual book and our writing book.  Please ask your child about the colors of the Olympic rings and what they represent.  To provide more knowledge of each competition, we have viewed short clips of competitions we’ve studied using www.olympic.org/videos.  Explore this website in your spare time.  There are really cool clips!

Math: Chapter 8 continued this week.  Students learned how to add and subtract tens.  We used illustrations of tens and ones to help us do this.  We also learned how to make a ten, also known as regrouping to many of us!  However, we will not use this phrase.  Basically, students learned when there are 10 or more in the ones sum, they must exchange the ones for a ten.  When adding two-digit numbers, many learners prefer to start with the bigger part of the number and then add the smaller parts.  Mathematically, there is no reason that children should not add the tens before adding the ones. We seem to be moving through this chapter slowly.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: Students will continue to learn about the Winter Olympics in Sochi.  As we do our best to wrap up our Olympic unit, we will begin to learn about Abraham Lincoln.  We will compare and contrast George Washington and Abe Lincoln with books that tell stories and books that are full of facts.

Math: Chapter 8 Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction will continue next week.

Grammar: Am, is, are, was, were

The words am, is, and are tell about now.  Use am or is to tell about one.  Use are to tell about more than one.  The words was and were tell about the past.  Use was to tell about one.  Use were to tell about more than one.

Phonemic Awareness:

R-CONTROLLED ER, IR, UR

A single vowel followed by the letter r has a sound that is neither short nor long, but r-controlled.

On to the Winter Olympics!

Classroom News

Reading: First grade began learning about George Washington, our nation’s first president.  The kids learned many new facts while reading nonfiction books.  After reading such important information, we listed facts that we would like to remember about Washington.  The kids seemed to easily remember Washington’s face on the quarter and dollar bill.

Math: Chapter 8-Two Digit Addition and Subtraction began on Tuesday.  Students reviewed addition and subtraction facts to 20 and the strategy that was used to find the sum.  When adding and subtracting tens, students were encouraged to draw their tens first and then find the sum and difference.

Grammar: We continued to learn about verbs with –s.

100^th Day: First grade is 100 days smarter!  We kicked off our celebration by making self-portraits of how we will look when we are 100 years old.  Next, we made a 100^th day crown with colorful objects.  Finally, we completed 100 math problems, wrote 100 words we can easily read, and made a list of 100 of our favorite things.  We had so much fun on our 100^th day of school! 100 down, 76 to go.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: Students in first grade are headed to Sochi for the Winter Olympics!  The games will begin for students as we create an Olympic mini-book.  Each day, students will read factual information about each competition and work cooperatively to list newly attained facts on Olympic inspired stationery.  Please ask your child what he/she knows about the following: biathlon, bobsleigh, skeleton, curling, ice hockey, luge, figure skating, alpine skiing, speed skating, cross country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping.  This unit will continue over a two week time span.

Math: Chapter 8 Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction

Students will continue learn how to add numbers with double digits.  We will use manipulatives and/or drawings to model equations such as 21+6 and 81+14.  This is important for children to learn this approach to multi-digit addition so they have a better understanding of the meaning of addition.   Learning to model to model numbers as tens and ones can help children develop mental math skills.  Children can create strategies to add the numbers in their head.

Grammar: Am, is, are, was, were

The words am, is, and are tell about now.  Use am or is to tell about one.  Use are to tell about more than one.  The words was and were tell about the past.  Use was to tell about one.  Use were to tell about more than one.

The Polar Vortex Continues Along With Our Winter Themed Reading

This Past Week

Reading: The first grade spent a few more days engrossed in Winter Theme books.  Students continued to demonstrate what good readers do before, during, and after reading a book and/or selection.  Unlike the polar vortex, the Winter Theme in first grade has come to an end.  Students have done exceptionally well identifying characters, setting, problem, solution, and genre.

Math: We have finished Chapter 7 in Math and will have a test on Monday.  Unfortunately, there will be math homework over the weekend to help your child prepare for our math test.  Our unexpected days off pushed our testing date back a few days.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Grammar: We continued to learn about verbs with –s.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: The next unit of study is Presidents.  Students will learn about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.  We will read fiction and nonfiction books on this topic.  After reading, students will be asked whether or not the books were written to tell a story or give us information.  Our goal is not only tell the difference between books on the same topic but also to explain how and why the books are different.  Key words to highlight this concept include illustrations, photographs, descriptions, and procedures.

Math: Chapter 8 Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction

Just as the chapter title states, students will learn about adding tens and ones.  We will review adding and subtracting numbers within 20 and then move onto simple addition of tens. Students will be encouraged to make an illustration of their addition sentence, asked to write their sum, and also how many tens the sum consists of.  We will repeat this process when subtracting tens.

Grammar: Students will be practicing action verbs and verbs for now (-s is at the end) and the past (-ed at the end).

Important Dates:

2/2: Groundhog Day

2/6: 100^th Day of School

2/19: Conferences

2/20: No School-Conferences

Classroom Happenings!

Hope you are all keeping warm!  Here is what we have been up to this past week:

Reading: This week first grade focused on famous inventors and their wonderful contributions that enhanced our lives. We began our week with Benjamin Franklin. The kids learned how Ben proved that lightening is electricity. We also read about bifocal glasses, a Franklin stove, and a long arm. Our next inventor was Thomas Edison, who invented over 1000 things! His long list of inventions includes the telegraph, Morse code, and the light bulb. Our inventor unit ended with Alexander Graham Bell. Please ask your child what Bell is famous for.

Math: Place value has continued. The kids continued to demonstrate numbers using tens and ones. We also learned how to represent a number in two different ways with tens and ones.

Grammar: Action verbs continued 

What We’re Learning Next Week: 

Reading: Our genre of literature for the next two weeks will be fiction. Students will read books that encompass a Winter Theme as we can’t get enough of the cold and snow! As we read these frosty fiction books, we will stress basic story elements. Those elements include beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, events, problem, and solution.

Math: There will be a Chapter 6 test on Tuesday. We rarely give homework over the weekend. However, we ask that you complete the practice test in preparation for the actual test on Tuesday. We will begin Chapter 7-Compare Numbers (greater than and less than) on Wednesday.

Grammar: Students will be practicing verbs that do not add –s. 

What's Happening in Room 103

This week we read several Jan Brett books including The Mitten, The Hat, and Annie and the Wild Animals. We did our best to identify important story elements, such as genre, setting, characters, and sequence of events.  We also discussed the similarities and differences in each of these books.

The Elf on the Shelf continues to visit the our classroom. Each day the children look forward to finding the new location of Abraham Lincoln.  We chose a great name for our elf.  The presence of our elf has added excitement in to our classroom.

The children took a Chapter 5 Math Test on Tuesday.  We will continue to review related facts even though we are moving on to Chapter 6.

In grammar we continued to work on plural nouns and nouns in a sentence.  Our new concept is action verbs.  Students learned that a verb is an action.  We had fun demonstrating different verbs!

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: All aboard!  First grade will embark on a journey with The Polar Express.  We will read this wonderful book and also watch the movie.  As good readers we will identify story elements which will include genre, characters, setting, and identify our favorite part of the book.  The kids will receive a movie ticket prior to viewing the movie for admittance to the first grade theaters.

Math: Chapter 6 Numbers and Operations in Base Ten (also known as place value).  Please practice counting to 120 by 10’s, 5’s, and 1’s.  We will use manipulatives to help demonstrate our understanding of tens and ones.

Grammar: Students will be practicing action verbs.

It's December!

Can you believe it is already December?  I can't believe how fast this year is flying by, anyways…

We all know what it is like to have a bad day and this week we read about a character named Alexander in the story Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, who has one really awful day.  We looked at character traits and what type of character Alexander is based on his actions and words.  We also talked about plot and beginning, middle, end.  We looked at the different settings in the story and how Alexander is feeling as the story progresses.  We even began to write our own story about our made up “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day”. 

A special friend also visited our classrooms.  The Elf on the Shelf made an appearance to each of our rooms.  He is watching us closely to see how we act.  We are journaling each new day with the Elf.

 In math we worked on basic facts to 20 and ways to make 20.  We looked at how to choose an operation when it comes to word problems and figuring out if we are to use subtraction or addition.  We also worked some more on related facts.  We will be taking our chapter 5 test next week on Tuesday.  Please practice by doing the enrichment packet.

In grammar we worked on plural nouns and nouns in a sentence.  We found the different nouns in a sentence and are now able to recognize that a sentence always has a noun.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: We will be doing a Jan Brett author study this upcoming week.  We will be working on comparing and contrasting the different texts she has written.  Students will work on writing an alternate ending to the stories and being able to explain their favorite parts.  We will work on writing and explaining what we would do if Santa were stuck in our chimney.

Math: Coming up we will be reviewing chapter 5 and then having our chapter 5 test on Tuesday.  We will begin chapter 6.  In chapter 6 we are going to work on counting by ones to 120 and counting by tens to 120.  You can easily practice this skill at home.

Grammar: Students will be practicing action verbs.

Thanksgiving Is Here!

This Week:

This week we compared and contrasted a fiction and a nonfiction text.  We looked at the similarities and differences between the two and our reasons for why we might choose to read a fiction or a nonfiction text.  We talked about how we read nonfiction to learn new information and to learn, and we read fiction for entertainment.  We also started a mini unit reading A Turkey for Thanksgiving.  Students had the opportunity to work on a variety of comprehension skills as we read this story.  We talked about character traits, cause and effect, problem and solution, and the plot of the story.

We continued with chapter 5.  We worked on identifying related facts and understanding how we know if addition and subtraction facts are related.  We also worked on using addition to check subtraction and how to use a related to find a missing number.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: When we come back from break we will be reading the story Alexander and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  As we read we will be working on character traits, problem and solution, and identifying words and phrases that appeal to ones feelings.

Math: Coming up students will work on choosing when to add and when to subtract word problems.  Students will work on adding and subtracting in different ways to make the same number up to 20.  They will continue with more algebra and deciding if a number sentence is true or false.

Grammar: Students will practice plural nouns by adding an (s).

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday.  I am looking forward to seeing all your children rested and rejuvenated for the final few weeks heading into Christmas Break.