Weekly News!

We are inching closer and closer to summer in 1-1, but we still have a lot to accomplish in the coming weeks! Here are a few important reminders:

*Starting tomorrow, May 21-May 23rd will be the Dryden School Store, sponsored by the Student Council. During the lunch period, students will have the opportunity to purchase "Smencils" (smelly pencils) or Dryden wristbands. Each item costs $1.00, and students will be permitted to buy 2 items per lunch period.

*May 22nd is Dress like Dr. Jares Day. Students are encouraged to wear ties as a tribute to Dr. Jares! If you don't have a tie, just dress nicely as if you were the principal for a day. On this day, our class will give Dr. Jares a class book that we have been working on, where each child wrote a page about what they will do when they retire. Some of their ideas included moving to the "Sunshine State" (direct quote!), taking naps everyday, going to Yogurtland, and becoming a teacher. All great suggestions for Dr. Jares to consider!

*May 23rd is our sports themed Spirit Day. Students are encouraged to wear clothes that support their favorite sports teams on this day!

*May 24th and 25th are teacher attendance only days, so the students will have an extra long weekend to enjoy this beautiful summer weather!

*May 30th is the day we will be taping our Dryden Lip Dub in celebration of Dryden's 60th birthday. On this day, students are encouraged to wear Dryden spirit wear, red, or white to show their Dryden spirit on the video!

*May 31st is our picnic lunch bunch to celebrate those first graders who completed the Amazing Reading Race! Students will need to bring lunch or order lunch as they normally do that day, we will just all be eating together in the courtyard to celebrate!

*June 1st is Field Day!

*June 5th is a half day

*June 6th is our last day of school, and is also a half day

Now that that's all sorted out, we can move on to discussing what's been going on in our classroom! This past week, Lily was our photographer, and she did an excellent job of documenting our activities. Here are a few of her favorite photos and captions:


(I took this photo so Lily could be in it, but Lily wrote the caption!) This is us with the dragon kites we made and dragon masks for Chinese New Year.


We are getting ready for a Gumball Math timed test. That is our timer.


We have a lot of words on our word wall.


We are doing grammar stuff.


If you finish this, you get to go to our special lunch bunch for the Reading Race.


We are doing our math journals.


We are visiting the library to meet an author.


She is showing us all of the pictures.


This is her toad.


Kate is making the wooden toad croak.


We are making music.

Literacy
Last week, our Treasures theme was "Exploring Space”. As we read, we practiced using context clues and making predictions. Our spelling and word work pattern focused on words with the /oo/ pattern. During grammar instruction, we practiced identifying the predicate in sentences. The students were so incredibly sad to read their final Treasures stories of the year, take their final spelling test of first grade, and complete their final first grade grammar packet. ☺
We also had the opportunity to meet the author, Eileen Zeisler. She shared her books, Little Sprout and Toads, and the children had the opportunity to play little wooden musical toads during a song the author sang for us. They had a great time!
This week, we will focus on literacy activities that go along with our cultural comparison of China. We will compare the Chinese versions of Cinderella (Yeh-Shen) and Little Red Riding Hood (Lon Po Po) to the versions we are familiar with.

Writing
Last week, we took the research that we did on the animals of our choice, and began publishing our own non-fiction books about these animals. We have been working on one page a day, first writing a description of the animal, then the habitat, and next, the food that the animal eats. This week, we will wrap these up as we write about interesting facts we learned about the animals, make our table of contents, design a cover, and put our books together!

Math
Last week, we continued our review of various concepts. We began with a review of mental math, and practiced "buying" items from a vending machine. Next, we combined two digit numbers to buy two items, and practiced making change. Then, we switched gears to review geometry, temperature, and thermometers. We continued to take our math fact timed tests for our Gumball Math folders. The students who have finished all of their math facts use this time to work on their math skills links packets independently.

This week, we will have one final day of review with place value activities. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, we will take our end of the year math test. I am eager to see how far the students have come this year, and how much they've retained! We will continue Gumball Math through the end of the school year, so keep practicing those snappy quick math facts!

Social Studies
Last week, we learned about Chinese New Year. The students were so excited to celebrate Chinese New Year (a few months late!) with dragon masks, dragon kites, and leisees with their very own lucky (play) money! This week, we will learn about school in China, along with Chinese writing and number writing.

Keep up the great work, first graders! Summer is almost here!

Mrs. Glaser ☺

Royal Reader!

Last week, Ellie's dad was our Royal Reader! He surprised us right after our afternoon recess. He read the book, "Cat and Rat" which explains the legend of the Chinese zodiac calendar. The students were then eager to share with him what the animal year was for their year of birth, since we just learned about the Chinese calendar! He soon learned that all of our students were born in either the year of the monkey or the year of the rooster. Thanks for coming in to read to us!

Weekly News!

We are off and running on another exciting week in first grade, but let's not forget to check in on last week! Isabel was our class photographer last week, and below are her photo selections and the captions she has written to go with them. Nice job, Isabel!


Emilia and Peter are working on the laptops during writing time.


Emilia was finding out things about peacocks.


Leilani and Kate were practicing telling time with their clocks.


Kate is paying attention nicely.


Ellie was getting her snack out.


Lily is getting ready to do her animal researching.

Literacy:
Last week, our Treasures theme was "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs", and the first graders were so excited to read about insects, one of their favorite topics! They had so much to share about their own experiences with insects! As we read, we practiced rereading portions of the text when we don't understand something, or find ourselves confused. We also used illustrations in the text to help us comprehend what we have already read, and gather new information that perhaps had not been spelled out for us in the text. Our spelling and word work pattern of the week focused on the "ow" sound, with /ou/ and /ow/ words. During grammar instruction, we practiced identifying the subjects in sentences.
This week, our Treasures theme will be "Exploring Space”. As we read the selections for the week, we will practice using context clues and making predictions to improve our comprehension. Our spelling and word work pattern will focus on words with the /oo/ pattern. During grammar instruction, we will learn about and practice identifying the predicates in sentences. This is our final week of Treasures and spelling for the year! Can you believe it?!

Writing:
Last week, we spent a great deal of time on our expository writing. We began by practicing writing sentences about animals that are fiction and non-fiction. We identified differences between these types of sentences and learned that with expository writing, we are writing only non-fiction sentences. Next, we used the laptops to research animals using the pebblego website. The students were so excited to have such a fantastic resource right at their fingertips! They were able to each select a different animal to research, then took notes on the animals' descriptions, habitats, food, and interesting facts. Pebblego was the perfect tool for them to use, as it highlights the text as it is reading it to them, and also includes great photographs and videos for the students to access as well. They did an incredible job researching and taking notes independently, and they had a great time! This week, we will begin to work on our publication of our non-fiction animal books!

Math:
Last week in math, we began the week by reviewing Unit 9 with our Mimio Vote system, followed by our Unit 9 test. On Wednesday, we reviewed collecting and analyzing data. We wrapped up the week with a review of telling time. Over the summer, don't forget to practice telling time to the hour, half hour, quarter hour, and to the minute to keep those skills strong!

This week in math, we started with a review of mental math. We are practicing combining sets of coins to make believe buying items from a vending machine. We are using our strategies of counting by 5s and 10s from numbers other than zero as we work on adding these large numbers together! On Wednesday, we will review geometry, followed by a review of temperature and thermometers on Thursday.

Science/Social Studies:
Last week, we continued our cultural comparison with China. We learned about the Chinese calendar, how it is different from our calendar, the animals that are represented with each year, the legend behind the formation of the calendar, and which animals represent our birth years! This week, we will learn about Chinese New Year!

Speaking of China, we did some research on the Chinese land and culture during our LMC class time, and the students are so excited to share their video creation on the right side of our blog! They did such a fantastic job. Be sure to check it out!

Mrs. Glaser ☺

Weekly News!

What a special Teacher Appreciation week this was! I was so surprised and so touched by the sweet book that the kids made for me! I loved each and every one of the pages in the book and will treasure it always. You all are too good to me!



This week, Kate was our photographer, and she captured some great moments throughout the week! Below are a few of her favorite photos and the captions that she wrote to go with them:

Looks like we are doing math time.


Now we are learning about fractions.


We are cutting paper to do more fractions.


Leilani is working hard comparing the flags.


What is Emily working on?


Looks like we are learning more about fractions.


Literacy:
Last week, our Treasures theme was "How Does it Grow?", where we read stories about seeds and plants. It was great to see them recalling some of the information they learned during their Collecting and Examining Life science unit. They do remember! Hooray!! As we read our stories for the week, we continued to work on our questioning skills, and worked on classifying and categorizing information. Our spelling and word work pattern of the week focused on r-controlled vowels, specifically the /ur/ pattern, with words containing the –er, -ir, and –ur blends. During grammar instruction, we focused on synonyms and antonyms, and came up with words that either mean the same or the opposite of words.

This week, our Treasures theme will be "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs”. As we read the selections for the week, we will practice going back to reread and using the illustrations in the selections to comprehend what we have read. Our spelling and word work pattern will focus on words with the /ou/ and /ow/ blends. During grammar instruction, we will learn about and practice identifying the subjects in sentences.

Math:
Last week in math, we began the week with Explorations, where students measured their heights, used pattern blocks to make symmetrical shapes, played the number grid game, and worked on our math boxes. Next, we learned about fractional parts of a whole, followed by comparing fractions. Finally, we learned about different names for fractional parts of a whole, and made fraction pizzas to display what we have learned about fractions!

This week in math, we will begin the week by reviewing all that we have learned in Unit 9 with the Mimio Vote system. On Tuesday, we will take our Unit 9 test. Unit 10 will be our final math unit (can you believe it?!), so each lesson in Unit 10 is a review lesson. We will start with reviewing collecting and analyzing data. On Thursday, we will review telling time. We continue to take our timed tests on our addition facts for our "Gumball Math". Thank you for all of the extra time and effort you are putting in at home to practice these facts and help your first grader commit them to memory!

Science/Social Studies:
Last week, we began studying China. We started by looking at the Chinese flag, and comparing and contrasting the Chinese flag with the American flag. Next, we learned about the geography of China by studying a map of China and identifying various landforms and cities on the map. This week, we will begin learning about the Chinese calendar; how it is different from our calendar, the animals that are represented with each year, the legend behind the formation of the calendar, and finding out which animal is represented in our birth years, and what that means!

I eagerly look forward to another productive week in first grade!

Mrs. Glaser ☺

Royal Reader!

Today, Andrew's mom surprised us as a Royal Reader! She read facts from the book, "Weird but True" by National Geographic. The students loved guessing the answers to the questions she asked before revealing the correct answer! Thanks for coming in to read to us!

Weekly News!

Can you believe tomorrow brings the month of May?! Where has the time gone? We continue to work so hard every day as we finish out our first grade year!

Last week, Luciana was our photographer, and she was snapping photos left and right! One hundred eighty seven photos to be exact! Wow! Below are a few of her favorites, along with the captions she wrote to go with them:


Gertrude and her ducks are walking outside our classroom.


Isabel is doing Making Words on the board.


Jill is trying to do the number grid thing. (We were filling in missing spaces on our number grids to practice using the number grid patterns to help us determine which numbers were missing!)


Lily is working hard on her math boxes.


Emilia and Kate are playing a number grid game.


Literacy:
Last week, our Treasures theme was "I Can Do It", where we read stories about people or other characters who keep trying until they are able to do something they originally found difficult. As we read our stories for the week, we continued to work on our questioning skills, and revisited the concept of making inferences as we read. Our spelling and word work pattern of the week focused on r-controlled vowels, specifically the /or/ pattern. During grammar instruction, we focused on adjectives that describe how many, or number words! We continued to work on our persuasive writing skills during writing workshop time, and worked on ways to make our writing more convincing.

This week, our Treasures theme will be "How Does it Grow?". Our first grade scientists already have schema, or background knowledge on this topic from our Collecting and Examining Life science unit, so I'm eager to see them build upon that schema! We will continue to practice our questioning skills, and will practice classifying and categorizing information as we read. Our spelling and word work pattern will be r-controlled vowels, specifically /ur/ sound words, formed by the -er, -ir, and -ur combinations. Grammar instruction will focus on synonyms and antonyms, and generating words that mean the same or mean the opposite of a given word.

Math:
Last week in math, we began Unit 9 by identifying tens and ones patterns on the number grid. Next, we practiced adding and subtracting with tens. Later in the week, we learned about number grid puzzles, which help us use number grid patterns to solve problems. Finally, we did a bit of work on adding and subtracting two digit numbers.

This week in math, we began with Explorations today. The students measured their heights and compared their height today to their height when we measured it back in December, and compared the two. They also explored symmetry with pattern blocks, played the number grid game, and worked on math boxes in their math journals. Tomorrow, we will learn about fractional parts of a whole, which will be followed up on Wednesday by comparing fractions. We will round out the week by learning about many names for fractional parts. We continue to take our timed tests on those addition facts for our "Gumball Math". Keep practicing those facts at home so that they become automatic, or "snappy quick"!

Science/Social Studies:
Last week, we finished our Magnets unit by learning about how magnets can be attracted to one another, or repel one another. We tested these forces by putting doughnut magnets on a pencil, and turning them over to see the difference in forces when the magnet is turned a different way. Finally, we explored a compass and discovered how the compass uses the earth as a magnet to find north. We discovered that a magnet can force the compass to turn a different direction, but that when the magnet is pulled away from the compass, it will correct itself.

This week, we are switching gears to begin our Cultural Comparison study on China. We will learn about many different aspects of the Chinese culture and the land of China. We are starting with the Chinese flag, geography of China, and the Chinese calendar.

Other:
Don't forget that our Reading Passports are due each Monday! Because our LMC day is also on Monday, this works nicely if your child wants to check out their next book from another genre this same day. While they do have the opportunity to choose a book from the LMC for their passports, they are certainly not limited to books from the Dryden LMC. They can use books from the public library or books they have at home if they prefer to use other books!

**This week is a bit different, as our LMC time is canceled due to MAP testing in the older grades. We will be checking out books tomorrow morning during Daily 5 time instead! Don't forget to bring your books tomorrow!

I'm already enjoying another week of first grade fun!

Mrs. Glaser ☺

Weekly News!

We are cruising through the month of April, and learning so much along the way! This week, Mick was our photographer. He did a great job capturing a wide variety of activities from the week. Below are his favorite photos and captions:

Joe is writing his acrostic poem.

Luke is erasing.

Mykolas is writing.

Leilani is using the magnets to see if the paper clip can stick through the plastic.

Some kids were reading about volcanoes during Daily 5 time while they were buddy reading, so they were looking up some more stuff about volcanoes on the computer.

This is the book they were reading.




Literacy:
Last week, our Treasures theme was "Inventions". As we read our stories for the week, we worked on our questioning skills, and identified the causes and effects in each selection. We also learned about various inventors and their inventions that help make life easier today. Our spelling and word work pattern of the week focused on r-controlled vowels, specifically the /ar/ pattern. During grammar instruction, we focused on adjectives that describe color! We continued to work on our persuasive writing skills during writing workshop time, and worked on writing letters to convince Dr. Jares and Mr. Robinson to improve something in our school. To honor Earth Day, we did a few writing projects to brainstorm ways we can help the earth. We also wrote an acrostic poem using the letters in "Earth Day" to describe the holiday. Those are now hanging outside our classroom for all to enjoy, so be sure to take a peek if you find yourself in our hallway anytime soon!

This week, our Treasures theme will be "I Can Do It". We will continue to practice our questioning skills, and will revisit the concept of making inferences as we read. Our spelling and word work pattern will be r-controlled vowels, specifically /or/ words. Grammar instruction will continue to focus on adjectives, but this time on adjectives that tell how many, or number words. We will continue to work on our persuasive writing during writing workshop time, and think about ways to make our writing more convincing.

Math:
Last week in math, we worked on finding fractional parts of collections. We practiced sharing groups of pennies among small groups of people to divide them equally. On Tuesday, we had math explorations, and rotated to math centers to strengthen our math skills in a fun way! Finally, we reviewed Unit 8 with the Mimio Vote system on Wednesday, and took our Math test on Thursday. The kids did a great job on this math test- they should be so proud of themselves! We continue to work on our Gumball Math as well, taking the timed fact tests and graphing our progress in our folders. Please remember to keep practicing those math facts at home to help your child memorize them! We are working towards being able to automatically identify the answers to each addition problem without using a number grid.

This week in math, we will begin Unit 9 by identifying tens and ones patterns on the number grid. Next, we will practice adding and subtracting tens. This will be followed by number grid puzzles, which help us use number grid patterns to our advantage and really make us think about counting by tens and ones on the number grid. Finally, we will work on adding and subtracting two digit numbers.

Science:
We continued our science focus on magnets this week, and the children loved the exploring they were able to do! First, we broke into groups and experimented with various materials to test whether or not magnets would work through those materials. We tested things like plastic, paper, cardboard, fabric, and foil. We discovered that the magnets were able to work through these materials! Next, our groups made their own plans for ways to test the strength of magnets. They tested three different types of magnets- donut, bar, and horseshoe magnets. Each group developed a plan, listed the materials they needed, and then presented their plan to me. I helped them gather their materials, and then they were off to conduct their experiments! We found that some of our results were the same, but some were different, and this is why scientists must do many different tests in many different ways before they are able to form a hypothesis. Our first grade scientists LOVED the chance to create their own experiments and did a fantastic job of carrying out their plans! Nice work!

Other:
Don't forget that our Reading Passports are due each Monday! Because our LMC day is also on Monday, this works nicely if your child wants to check out their next book from another genre this same day. While they do have the opportunity to choose a book from the LMC for their passports, they are certainly not limited to books from the Dryden LMC. They can use books from the public library or books they have at home if they prefer to use other books!

I look forward to another productive week in first grade!

Mrs. Glaser ☺