Happy birthday to our friend, Leilani! We are so lucky that we get to celebrate with you today during school AND tonight at our first grade musical! We hope your day is extra special!
February 28, 2012
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEILANI!
Happy birthday to our friend, Leilani! We are so lucky that we get to celebrate with you today during school AND tonight at our first grade musical! We hope your day is extra special!
February 26, 2012
Weekly News!
We’ve had another successful week in Room 157!
This week, Luke was our class photographer, and he jumped right in and was taking photos before I even realized he had gone to the hook where our camera hangs and taken it down! What a quiet photographer! Here are his favorite photos and captions from the week:
Luca is working on his grammar packet.
Matthew is writing the answer to a problem.
Matthew had the right answer!
Peter was writing the rule for the What's My Rule problem.
Joe and Emily are playing Coin Top-It.
Reading
This week, our Treasures theme was “Recycling”, and we drew conclusions based upon the inferences we made as we read. Our spelling and word work focused on long /u/ words. During grammar instruction, we learned about when to use “has” (when we are talking about one noun), and when to use “have” (when talking about more than one noun). Next week, our Treasures theme will be “What’s the Weather?” and we will focus on using venn diagrams to compare and contrast as we read the selections for the week. Our spelling and word work words will all contain the long /a/ sound, using the –ay or –ai vowel blends. Our focus for grammar will be on when to use the word “go” and when to use “went”, and when to use “do” versus when to use “did”.
Writing/Social Studies
This week in writing, we will continue to work on our President reports. Each student will choose to write about Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. Then they will organize their facts to put them in a logical order, write an opening and closing sentence, and publish their writing in their neatest handwriting.
Math
This week in math, we practiced completing Frames and Arrows and What’s My Rule function boxes. We then learned about quarters, and began counting them in combination with dimes, nickels, and pennies. We also learned to play the game, Tric Trac, which helps us practice our math facts. This game can also be accessed on everydaymathonline.com, along with other games we’ve played recently, like Coin Top-It and Coin Exchange! I can see that many of you have been logging in at home to practice these games (and more!) and build your math skills, so hats off to you for your hard work at home! If you’ve misplaced your login card, just let me know and I can send another one home with your child. Click HERE to visit the Everyday Math games site:
Finally, this week we learned about digital clocks, as well as telling time to the minute on analog clocks. Counting by fives automatically helped us to count the minutes as we followed the minute hand around the clock. Keep practicing counting by fives at home until it is completely automatic! Next week, we will have no math on Monday due to our musical practice on Monday afternoon. Beginning on Tuesday, we will explore our math reference books, practice collecting data and making bar graphs, and take our Unit 6 math test on Thursday. I know I mentioned this last week, but it is certainly worth repeating, as it is so important. Please don’t forget that each week, a new set of math flashcards will be sent home. Have your child cut them out, write the answer on the back, and keep them in a bag to practice frequently until those addition facts are mastered up to the +9 facts! These should be automatic, or “snappy quick”, and students should be able to give the answer as soon as the card is shown. Keep practicing!!
Announcements
**Tuesday is our First Grade Musical! The musical begins at 7:00 pm, and doors to the school open at 6:30. At 6:40, students will be lead to our classrooms, and are to arrive no later than 6:45. Mr. Deptula has asked that the dress code be "nice clothes." Dresses (No mini skirts above the knees or spaghetti straps please!), Dockers, (non-holey) jeans, collared shirts and ties are encouraged. The kids have been working so hard in preparation for the musical, and I cannot wait to see them perform!
**On Friday morning, we will have a bit of a different schedule, as we will have our “JA in a Day” taking place for the entire morning. Our Junior Achievement representative will complete the entire Junior Achievement program in this half day, rather than coming in for multiple sessions to complete the program. I will also be out of the building this day to attend the ICE (Illinois Computing Educators) conference to learn about various ways to enhance learning with technology. Please make sure that if you have any changes for end of day transportation, you call the office instead of emailing me just to make sure the substitute receives your message!
**Please remember to send in your purple confirmation slips for your conference times if you have not done so already so I can lock in our conference times and finalize the conference schedule.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday evening for the musical!
Mrs. Glaser ☺
This week, Luke was our class photographer, and he jumped right in and was taking photos before I even realized he had gone to the hook where our camera hangs and taken it down! What a quiet photographer! Here are his favorite photos and captions from the week:
Luca is working on his grammar packet.
Matthew is writing the answer to a problem.
Matthew had the right answer!
Peter was writing the rule for the What's My Rule problem.
Joe and Emily are playing Coin Top-It.
Reading
This week, our Treasures theme was “Recycling”, and we drew conclusions based upon the inferences we made as we read. Our spelling and word work focused on long /u/ words. During grammar instruction, we learned about when to use “has” (when we are talking about one noun), and when to use “have” (when talking about more than one noun). Next week, our Treasures theme will be “What’s the Weather?” and we will focus on using venn diagrams to compare and contrast as we read the selections for the week. Our spelling and word work words will all contain the long /a/ sound, using the –ay or –ai vowel blends. Our focus for grammar will be on when to use the word “go” and when to use “went”, and when to use “do” versus when to use “did”.
Writing/Social Studies
This week in writing, we will continue to work on our President reports. Each student will choose to write about Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. Then they will organize their facts to put them in a logical order, write an opening and closing sentence, and publish their writing in their neatest handwriting.
Math
This week in math, we practiced completing Frames and Arrows and What’s My Rule function boxes. We then learned about quarters, and began counting them in combination with dimes, nickels, and pennies. We also learned to play the game, Tric Trac, which helps us practice our math facts. This game can also be accessed on everydaymathonline.com, along with other games we’ve played recently, like Coin Top-It and Coin Exchange! I can see that many of you have been logging in at home to practice these games (and more!) and build your math skills, so hats off to you for your hard work at home! If you’ve misplaced your login card, just let me know and I can send another one home with your child. Click HERE to visit the Everyday Math games site:
Finally, this week we learned about digital clocks, as well as telling time to the minute on analog clocks. Counting by fives automatically helped us to count the minutes as we followed the minute hand around the clock. Keep practicing counting by fives at home until it is completely automatic! Next week, we will have no math on Monday due to our musical practice on Monday afternoon. Beginning on Tuesday, we will explore our math reference books, practice collecting data and making bar graphs, and take our Unit 6 math test on Thursday. I know I mentioned this last week, but it is certainly worth repeating, as it is so important. Please don’t forget that each week, a new set of math flashcards will be sent home. Have your child cut them out, write the answer on the back, and keep them in a bag to practice frequently until those addition facts are mastered up to the +9 facts! These should be automatic, or “snappy quick”, and students should be able to give the answer as soon as the card is shown. Keep practicing!!
Announcements
**Tuesday is our First Grade Musical! The musical begins at 7:00 pm, and doors to the school open at 6:30. At 6:40, students will be lead to our classrooms, and are to arrive no later than 6:45. Mr. Deptula has asked that the dress code be "nice clothes." Dresses (No mini skirts above the knees or spaghetti straps please!), Dockers, (non-holey) jeans, collared shirts and ties are encouraged. The kids have been working so hard in preparation for the musical, and I cannot wait to see them perform!
**On Friday morning, we will have a bit of a different schedule, as we will have our “JA in a Day” taking place for the entire morning. Our Junior Achievement representative will complete the entire Junior Achievement program in this half day, rather than coming in for multiple sessions to complete the program. I will also be out of the building this day to attend the ICE (Illinois Computing Educators) conference to learn about various ways to enhance learning with technology. Please make sure that if you have any changes for end of day transportation, you call the office instead of emailing me just to make sure the substitute receives your message!
**Please remember to send in your purple confirmation slips for your conference times if you have not done so already so I can lock in our conference times and finalize the conference schedule.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday evening for the musical!
Mrs. Glaser ☺
February 16, 2012
Weekly News!
February is just full of celebration! Last week it was a student’s birthday and the 100th day of school, this week another student’s birthday, Valentine’s Day, and preparation for President’s Day, and soon we will have a third student’s birthday and the first grade musical! We’ve been working hard on putting on our “party hats” to celebrate and then taking those off and putting our “learning hats” back on when it’s time to transition back to learning, and so far, these first graders have done a great job of doing that!
This week, Jesse was our class photographer, and he enjoyed finding just the right moments that he wanted to capture on film. Here are his favorite photos and captions from the week:
Peter is working on his hat for his citizen writing.
Mick is making words out of the word President.
Joe and Matthew are practicing their fact triangles when we had Explorations.
Reading
This week, our Treasures theme was “Birds”, and we read fiction and non-fiction selections about different types of birds. We focused on making inferences as we read, both in whole group instruction and our small reading groups. The students are becoming expert detectives for meaning- putting together their schema, or what they already know, with the clues the author gives them in the text to make inferences and better understand the selection. Our spelling and word work focused on long /o/ words. During grammar instruction, we learned about when to us “was” (when we are talking about one noun), and when to use “were” (when talking about more than one noun). Next week, our Treasures theme will be “Recycling” and we will focus on drawing conclusions as we read the selections for the week. Our spelling and word work words will all contain the long /u/ sound. Our focus for grammar will be on when to use the word “has” and when to use “have”. This goes right along with our theme for the past few weeks of verbs that change based on whether the noun it is paired with is singular or plural.
Writing/Social Studies
This week in writing, we combined our Social Studies instruction with writing. We learned about what it means to be a good citizen, and the students completed a pre-writing activity in which they brainstormed ways we are good citizens. They then chose three reasons each of them are good citizens and wrote about it. Once they planned their writing, they did a final draft and colored a piece that will be used for a special hallway display. We also began studying Abraham Lincoln and selecting facts that are important about his life. Next week, we will begin taking notes on these facts before following the same routine as we learn about George Washington. In the coming weeks, students will then choose their favorite of these two former presidents to write a report about.
Math
This week in math, we learned how to use the addition/subtraction facts table, and practiced solving problems with this tool. Some students really enjoy this method, and others find it terribly confusing! That’s completely ok! I always tell them that once they find a method that works for them, they can use that method exclusively, or use a combination of methods. We will introduce and practice many ways to solve problems, but when they are solving math problems on their own, they should always choose the method that works best for them! Next, we learned about measuring to the nearest centimeter and practice measuring objects and drawing a line segment. Finally, we wrapped up the week with an Explorations day to practice and review some of the concepts we’ve been working on. The home link for tonight is another set of fact triangles, so those do not need to be returned to school. Just have your child cut them out and add them to their bag of fact triangles from the previous set earlier in the unit. Keep them handy to practice when you have a chance, just like the math flashcards! Don’t forget that each week, a new set of math flashcards will be sent home. Have your child cut them out, write the answer on the back, and keep them in a bag to practice frequently until those addition facts are mastered up to the +9 facts! These should be automatic, or “snappy quick”, and students should be able to give the answer as soon as the card is shown. Keep practicing!!
**If you haven’t turned in your conference time preference sheet yet, please email me with your preference, as all of the teachers are meeting before school on Tuesday morning to schedule our conferences! The time slots you can request are Monday (March 19th) morning, Monday afternoon, Monday evening, or Tuesday (March 20th) morning.**
**Also, we will have a Monday schedule on Wednesday of next week, so don't forget your library books on Wednesday!
Have a fantastic long weekend!
Mrs. Glaser ☺
This week, Jesse was our class photographer, and he enjoyed finding just the right moments that he wanted to capture on film. Here are his favorite photos and captions from the week:
Peter is working on his hat for his citizen writing.
Mick is making words out of the word President.
Joe and Matthew are practicing their fact triangles when we had Explorations.
Reading
This week, our Treasures theme was “Birds”, and we read fiction and non-fiction selections about different types of birds. We focused on making inferences as we read, both in whole group instruction and our small reading groups. The students are becoming expert detectives for meaning- putting together their schema, or what they already know, with the clues the author gives them in the text to make inferences and better understand the selection. Our spelling and word work focused on long /o/ words. During grammar instruction, we learned about when to us “was” (when we are talking about one noun), and when to use “were” (when talking about more than one noun). Next week, our Treasures theme will be “Recycling” and we will focus on drawing conclusions as we read the selections for the week. Our spelling and word work words will all contain the long /u/ sound. Our focus for grammar will be on when to use the word “has” and when to use “have”. This goes right along with our theme for the past few weeks of verbs that change based on whether the noun it is paired with is singular or plural.
Writing/Social Studies
This week in writing, we combined our Social Studies instruction with writing. We learned about what it means to be a good citizen, and the students completed a pre-writing activity in which they brainstormed ways we are good citizens. They then chose three reasons each of them are good citizens and wrote about it. Once they planned their writing, they did a final draft and colored a piece that will be used for a special hallway display. We also began studying Abraham Lincoln and selecting facts that are important about his life. Next week, we will begin taking notes on these facts before following the same routine as we learn about George Washington. In the coming weeks, students will then choose their favorite of these two former presidents to write a report about.
Math
This week in math, we learned how to use the addition/subtraction facts table, and practiced solving problems with this tool. Some students really enjoy this method, and others find it terribly confusing! That’s completely ok! I always tell them that once they find a method that works for them, they can use that method exclusively, or use a combination of methods. We will introduce and practice many ways to solve problems, but when they are solving math problems on their own, they should always choose the method that works best for them! Next, we learned about measuring to the nearest centimeter and practice measuring objects and drawing a line segment. Finally, we wrapped up the week with an Explorations day to practice and review some of the concepts we’ve been working on. The home link for tonight is another set of fact triangles, so those do not need to be returned to school. Just have your child cut them out and add them to their bag of fact triangles from the previous set earlier in the unit. Keep them handy to practice when you have a chance, just like the math flashcards! Don’t forget that each week, a new set of math flashcards will be sent home. Have your child cut them out, write the answer on the back, and keep them in a bag to practice frequently until those addition facts are mastered up to the +9 facts! These should be automatic, or “snappy quick”, and students should be able to give the answer as soon as the card is shown. Keep practicing!!
**If you haven’t turned in your conference time preference sheet yet, please email me with your preference, as all of the teachers are meeting before school on Tuesday morning to schedule our conferences! The time slots you can request are Monday (March 19th) morning, Monday afternoon, Monday evening, or Tuesday (March 20th) morning.**
**Also, we will have a Monday schedule on Wednesday of next week, so don't forget your library books on Wednesday!
Have a fantastic long weekend!
Mrs. Glaser ☺
February 14, 2012
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Today the students in 1-1 had a fantastic party with all of their snacks and Valentines! Thank you to all of the parents for helping everyone address their Valentines, create their Valentine holders, and for the wonderful treats, plates, and napkins that were sent in! The kids really enjoyed themselves!
Bravo, First Grade Problem Solvers!
Many of you noticed that there was an error on our home link last night. I tried to respond to all of your notes personally, but I'll just make a blanket statement so that everyone understands what happened! While we have used the Everyday Math program for many years, they do update and modify the program every so often, and this year is the first year for the newest edition. I hadn't thought to proofread all of the home links, as I hoped their editors would have caught any errors, but unfortunately, we had one that slipped past them and was on the home link last night. There were two plus signs that should have been minus signs in the fact family problem at the top. If you ever come across an error like this, please feel free to make the necessary changes to complete the problem as these fantastic problem solvers did! Thank you, and I apologize for any confusion or added stress over this mistake!
February 13, 2012
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY!
Today, we celebrated our friend Emily's birthday! Her parents surprised us as Royal Readers, and they brought the book "365 Penguins" along with one of Emily's stuffed penguins for the reading. The students loved the story! Thanks so much for coming in to read to us!
February 12, 2012
Weekly News!
This week brought much excitement in first grade, as we celebrated our 100th day of school! We are all 100 days smarter!
This week, Mykolas was our class photographer, and he did a fantastic job of taking his photographs independently and capturing a wide variety of activities. Here are his favorite photos and captions from the week:
Lily is a great cutter when she cut the band-aids.
Jesse is doing his greatest work on the contraction surgery.
Mick is doing a good job doing doodle buddy for fact families.
Everyone is wearing great suits. (Mrs. Glaser took this photo, but Mykolas really wanted to include it!)
Jesse is really helpful for others at spending his 100 dollars.
Reading
This week was our review and assessment week for Treasures, so we did not have a regular spelling pattern or Treasures theme for the week. We took our Unit 3 assessment using the Mimio Vote system, and performed surgery on word parts to make them contractions! This was a fantastic review of contractions for our first grade doctors, and they did a stellar job of piecing those little guys back together! We also took the OLSAT test in three parts this week, and the students did their very best work! In the few spare minutes that we had, we completed another week of Text Talk, as we do on these review and assessment weeks for a short focus on vocabulary words. Next week, our Treasures theme will be “Birds”. Our spelling and word work focus will be on long /o/ words. As we read the selections for the week, we will practice making inferences, or using what we know along with what clues the author gives us to take meaning from the selection. Our grammar lessons will focus on when to use “was” and when to use “were” when speaking and writing.
Writing
This week in writing, we focused on a few special writing projects revolving around the 100th day of school! The students wrote a class book about what they would buy for someone else if they had 100 dollars. Their responses were very sweet (and some were funny!), and the class book will be in our class book basket at conferences, so be sure to check that out. Next, the students used the iPads to create a book about what they would be like or do when they are 100 years old. First, they used the camera on their iPad to take a photograph of themselves. Next, they made their picture the background in the Doodle Buddy app so that they were able to add mustaches, beards, gray hair, wrinkles, glasses, and things of that nature to age themselves ! Then, they imported their photo to the Explain Everything app to add a sentence about what they will be like when they are 100 years old. Finally, they emailed their project to me so that I could compile them in an iMovie. Can you believe what these first graders are capable of? They amaze me!!
Math
This week in math, we learned about equivalent names, or finding other ways to show numbers. Last week I shared this example, but it’s worth sharing again as we will continue using these name collection boxes throughout the year. For instance, if you selected the number 10, you might write the word “ten”, make 10 tallies, draw a long to show 10 in base ten blocks, draw a domino with 6 dots on one side and 4 on the other to show a total of 10, draw a dime to represent 10 cents, write the addition fact 5+5, or write the word 10 in another language. Next, we introduced fact families by using dominoes. For example, if a domino has 3 dots on one side and 4 dots on the other, the fact family would be:
3,4,7
3+4=7
4+3=7
7-4=3
7-3=4
Once we learned about fact families, we moved on to fact triangles. The students have a set at school and they will be developing a set at home. This was mentioned on the home link that came home with the fact triangles, so whenever you receive a home link with a set of fact triangles to cut out and practice, do not worry about sending those back to school. You can just keep them in a bag at home so you can add to them as more fact triangle home links come home. We will be practicing with our school sets here at school. Finally, on Thursday we celebrated our 100th day of school! We had many cute little 100 year olds in our class, and they were so excited throughout the day! After we did our writing activities about 100, we played a game where we rolled a die 100 times and flipped a coin 100 times and tallied our results to determine the winner (the number shown on the die the most times and heads or tails on the coin), did an odd/even numbers coloring that resulted in a secret message, raced to 100 by rolling a die and counting hops on the number grid, and writing about what we could buy if we had 100 pennies (much to their disappointment, some had to be reminded that 100 pennies is VERY different from 100 dollars)!
Science & Social Studies
This week, we wrapped up our living things unit during Science time with our final observation of our celery that had been sitting in colored water. We discovered that the xylem turned red from the red water, and so did the leaves! We were then able to conclude that these little tubes inside the stem are what carries the water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves of a plant. Next, we cut the celery in half to examine a cross section and see how the inside of the celery had changed after being in the red water. We concluded our unit with a special QR code scavenger hunt along with the students in Mrs. Coyle and Miss Bandur’s classes! We split up into groups with a few students from each class and an adult for each group. We had some great adult helpers in Dr. Jares, Mr. Robinson, Mrs. Breaux, Mrs. Tanny, and Mrs. Kenney. The groups then traveled around the building looking for clues and answering questions to review what we have learned about plants and animals. After students answered a question correctly, they used the iPad to scan the QR code, and the next clue popped up on the screen to give them a hint about where they might find their next science question. They absolutely loved this scavenger hunt, and did a fantastic job of answering the questions! When we returned to our room, the students earned their prize for completing the hunt, a few seeds they could plant to observe at home. I can’t wait to hear how the seeds do with these first grade plant experts growing them at home!
During Social Studies time this week, we learned about American Symbols, such as the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Liberty Bell, the American Flag, Bald Eagle, and several more! We used the iPads to research these symbols on the facts4me.com website, and each student chose their favorite to use for their project. Next week, we will begin discussing citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen.
On Tuesday, we will celebrate Valentine’s Day with a party after the last recess of the day. Don’t forget to bring your Valentine collection box to hold all of your Valentines! And if you need another class list with all of the students’ names, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Mrs. Glaser
This week, Mykolas was our class photographer, and he did a fantastic job of taking his photographs independently and capturing a wide variety of activities. Here are his favorite photos and captions from the week:
Lily is a great cutter when she cut the band-aids.
Jesse is doing his greatest work on the contraction surgery.
Mick is doing a good job doing doodle buddy for fact families.
Everyone is wearing great suits. (Mrs. Glaser took this photo, but Mykolas really wanted to include it!)
Jesse is really helpful for others at spending his 100 dollars.
Reading
This week was our review and assessment week for Treasures, so we did not have a regular spelling pattern or Treasures theme for the week. We took our Unit 3 assessment using the Mimio Vote system, and performed surgery on word parts to make them contractions! This was a fantastic review of contractions for our first grade doctors, and they did a stellar job of piecing those little guys back together! We also took the OLSAT test in three parts this week, and the students did their very best work! In the few spare minutes that we had, we completed another week of Text Talk, as we do on these review and assessment weeks for a short focus on vocabulary words. Next week, our Treasures theme will be “Birds”. Our spelling and word work focus will be on long /o/ words. As we read the selections for the week, we will practice making inferences, or using what we know along with what clues the author gives us to take meaning from the selection. Our grammar lessons will focus on when to use “was” and when to use “were” when speaking and writing.
Writing
This week in writing, we focused on a few special writing projects revolving around the 100th day of school! The students wrote a class book about what they would buy for someone else if they had 100 dollars. Their responses were very sweet (and some were funny!), and the class book will be in our class book basket at conferences, so be sure to check that out. Next, the students used the iPads to create a book about what they would be like or do when they are 100 years old. First, they used the camera on their iPad to take a photograph of themselves. Next, they made their picture the background in the Doodle Buddy app so that they were able to add mustaches, beards, gray hair, wrinkles, glasses, and things of that nature to age themselves ! Then, they imported their photo to the Explain Everything app to add a sentence about what they will be like when they are 100 years old. Finally, they emailed their project to me so that I could compile them in an iMovie. Can you believe what these first graders are capable of? They amaze me!!
Math
This week in math, we learned about equivalent names, or finding other ways to show numbers. Last week I shared this example, but it’s worth sharing again as we will continue using these name collection boxes throughout the year. For instance, if you selected the number 10, you might write the word “ten”, make 10 tallies, draw a long to show 10 in base ten blocks, draw a domino with 6 dots on one side and 4 on the other to show a total of 10, draw a dime to represent 10 cents, write the addition fact 5+5, or write the word 10 in another language. Next, we introduced fact families by using dominoes. For example, if a domino has 3 dots on one side and 4 dots on the other, the fact family would be:
3,4,7
3+4=7
4+3=7
7-4=3
7-3=4
Once we learned about fact families, we moved on to fact triangles. The students have a set at school and they will be developing a set at home. This was mentioned on the home link that came home with the fact triangles, so whenever you receive a home link with a set of fact triangles to cut out and practice, do not worry about sending those back to school. You can just keep them in a bag at home so you can add to them as more fact triangle home links come home. We will be practicing with our school sets here at school. Finally, on Thursday we celebrated our 100th day of school! We had many cute little 100 year olds in our class, and they were so excited throughout the day! After we did our writing activities about 100, we played a game where we rolled a die 100 times and flipped a coin 100 times and tallied our results to determine the winner (the number shown on the die the most times and heads or tails on the coin), did an odd/even numbers coloring that resulted in a secret message, raced to 100 by rolling a die and counting hops on the number grid, and writing about what we could buy if we had 100 pennies (much to their disappointment, some had to be reminded that 100 pennies is VERY different from 100 dollars)!
Science & Social Studies
This week, we wrapped up our living things unit during Science time with our final observation of our celery that had been sitting in colored water. We discovered that the xylem turned red from the red water, and so did the leaves! We were then able to conclude that these little tubes inside the stem are what carries the water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves of a plant. Next, we cut the celery in half to examine a cross section and see how the inside of the celery had changed after being in the red water. We concluded our unit with a special QR code scavenger hunt along with the students in Mrs. Coyle and Miss Bandur’s classes! We split up into groups with a few students from each class and an adult for each group. We had some great adult helpers in Dr. Jares, Mr. Robinson, Mrs. Breaux, Mrs. Tanny, and Mrs. Kenney. The groups then traveled around the building looking for clues and answering questions to review what we have learned about plants and animals. After students answered a question correctly, they used the iPad to scan the QR code, and the next clue popped up on the screen to give them a hint about where they might find their next science question. They absolutely loved this scavenger hunt, and did a fantastic job of answering the questions! When we returned to our room, the students earned their prize for completing the hunt, a few seeds they could plant to observe at home. I can’t wait to hear how the seeds do with these first grade plant experts growing them at home!
During Social Studies time this week, we learned about American Symbols, such as the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Liberty Bell, the American Flag, Bald Eagle, and several more! We used the iPads to research these symbols on the facts4me.com website, and each student chose their favorite to use for their project. Next week, we will begin discussing citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen.
On Tuesday, we will celebrate Valentine’s Day with a party after the last recess of the day. Don’t forget to bring your Valentine collection box to hold all of your Valentines! And if you need another class list with all of the students’ names, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Mrs. Glaser
February 9, 2012
100 days of first grade!
Happy 100th day of school from these 100 year old first graders!! Please check out the project they worked so hard on today as well! It is posted to the right- entitled, "When we are 100 years old..."
February 3, 2012
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MYKOLAS!
It's our friend Mykolas's special day today and he was surprised with a Royal Reader visit! His dad joined us to read "Froggy Bakes a Cake" which was the PERFECT book to read for a birthday! Happy birthday!
February 2, 2012
How-To Publications!
The first grade authors have been hard at work on their How-To projects. Each child selected a topic, planned their steps, typed their directions, and took photos to demonstrate each step. Finally, they emailed me a link to their books! All of their work is 100% their own! They did each step independently using the iPad 2s. I am so proud of how much they were able to do! If you are having trouble decoding their writing, ask them to read it to you- some of them that were difficult for me to read made so much sense once they told me what they were writing! Great job first graders! Click on each child’s name below to view their books.
Lily
Ellie
Luca
Andrew
Mick
Emily
Katerina
Mykolas
Isabel
Leilani
Jill
Emilia
Luciana
Joe
Matthew
Peter
Luke
Kate
Jesse
Lily
Ellie
Luca
Andrew
Mick
Emily
Katerina
Mykolas
Isabel
Leilani
Jill
Emilia
Luciana
Joe
Matthew
Peter
Luke
Kate
Jesse
Weekly News!
We had another thrilling week in first grade, with many exciting activities!
This week, Emilia was our class photographer, and she captured so many great moments! We had a lot to take pictures of this week, and she did an excellent job keeping up! Here are a few of her photos, along with her captions:
Luca and Mick were acting out how to play football for Mick’s How-To book.
We were graphing who predicted if he would see his shadow or not.
This is one of our papers we used to graph our predictions.
We were making groundhog hats for Groundhog Day!
We were using the Mimio vote to get ready for our math test.
Reading
This week our Treasures theme was “Family Time”. Our spelling and word work lessons focused on triple consonant blends (spl-, str-, scr-). As we read this week, we focused on identifying the characters and setting of each story. We also asked questions as we read both for clarification and for further thinking (What do we wonder about?). We also practiced these strategies in our guided reading groups, along with practicing our fluency, expression, and decoding skills. During grammar instruction, we learned about contractions with the word “not” (hasn’t, isn’t, can’t, etc.). Next week will be a Treasures review week, so we will have no spelling lists or grammar packets coming home. We will take our Unit 3 assessment using the Mimio Vote system. The students will have the opportunity to perform surgery on a set of contractions to make their two word parts as good as new! I am confident that these first grade doctors will be effective healers for these contractions after all they have learned this week! We will also be conducting our OLSAT test next week, which you should have already received a letter explaining the test. If you did not, please let me know and I can send home another copy! We will continue our guided reading groups throughout the week like normal.
Writing
This week in writing, we continued to publish our How-To writing about our individual topics. The students finished typing their writing using the StoryKit app. Next, they partnered up to take photographs of one another using the camera on the iPads to demonstrate each step in their book. Once the students’ books were published, they emailed me a link to their book so that I could compile all of the links for you. Check the post below this one to find the collection of links!
Math
Our main objectives in math this week were to check in and see how we have been doing with all of the new concepts that have been introduced recently. We began the week with a Unit 5 review, which we completed using the Mimio Vote system. Next, we took our Unit 5 test, focusing only on the most recent unit. Those were sent home on Wednesday. Then, we took our Mid-Year assessment to see how we are doing with all of the concepts that should be mastered at this point in the year. Those tests will be shared with you at spring conferences. On Thursday, we began Unit 6 with a lesson on the addition/subtraction facts table. We also played “Addition Top-It” with our Top-It cards. You can play this at home with cards or by using the online version at the Everyday Math Online games site. (There is a link on our class webpage! Please let me know if you need a reminder of your child’s login information!) When you get to the site, it will be under 2 player games. Click the drop down menu for Top-It and you will see “Additon 0-5”. After our regular math work was completed this week, we continued to use the iPad apps to practice our skills! This week, we focused on time, using the following apps to work on telling time: Clockmaster, Clocks4Kids, and KidsTimeFun. Next week, we will begin the week with a lesson on equivalent names. This is thinking about how many ways you could write the same number. For instance, if you selected the number 10, you might write the word “ten”, make 10 tallies, draw a long to show 10 in base ten blocks, draw a domino with 6 dots on one side and 4 on the other to show a total of 10, draw a dime to represent 10 cents, write the addition fact 5+5, or write the word 10 in another language. Next, we will introduce fact families by using dominoes. For example, if a domino has 3 dots on one side and 4 dots on the other, the fact family would be:
3,4,7
3+4=7
4+3=7
7-4=3
7-3=4
This will tie in with the lesson on the following day-fact triangles. These are basically triangles with one of three numbers in a number family on them, and they help the students to generate fact families for those numbers. On Thursday, we will have a special 100th day of school celebration, so we will not have a regular math lesson. Instead we will focus on games, writing, and other activities all about the number 100. Don’t forget to dress up like you are 100 years old on Thursday! I can’t wait to see all of my first grade friends as little 100 year olds!
Science & Social Studies
Focusing again this week on living things, the first grade scientists dissected celery to learn about stems. We used the proscopes to get an up close and personal view of the xylem, which are the tubes inside the celery stalk that carry water and nutrients throughout the plant. During our experiment, we also learned that a cross section is the surface that you see when cutting through an object. So scientific! We wrapped up our study of living things with a discussion and video about mold rather than a hands on experiment to avoid any issues with allergies. We also learned about Groundhog Day, and made predictions leading up to the big day. Surprisingly, our class was split almost exactly down the middle when students voted on whether or not the groundhog would see it’s shadow! So about half of our class was excited to find that Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow on Thursday morning!
Next week, we will switch gears as we move begin our February Social Studies focus on the Presidents (specifically Washington and Lincoln) as well as what it means to be a good citizen. We will kick this study off with a few activities focusing on US symbols before diving into Presidents and citizenship in the coming weeks! We will of course be celebrating Valentine’s Day as well on the 14th, so don’t forget to make your box to collect the Valentine’s from your classmates! You should have received a note about this with a list of the students’ names in our class on Wednesday. If you didn’t, please let me know and I will send home another copy!
This week also brought another session of Art Appreciation! Today, Mrs. Colias joined us to teach us about Henri Rousseau. The students made observations about his painting, "The Waterfall", and then created their own jungle scene!
Have a SUPER weekend!
Mrs. Glaser ☺
This week, Emilia was our class photographer, and she captured so many great moments! We had a lot to take pictures of this week, and she did an excellent job keeping up! Here are a few of her photos, along with her captions:
Luca and Mick were acting out how to play football for Mick’s How-To book.
We were graphing who predicted if he would see his shadow or not.
This is one of our papers we used to graph our predictions.
We were making groundhog hats for Groundhog Day!
We were using the Mimio vote to get ready for our math test.
Reading
This week our Treasures theme was “Family Time”. Our spelling and word work lessons focused on triple consonant blends (spl-, str-, scr-). As we read this week, we focused on identifying the characters and setting of each story. We also asked questions as we read both for clarification and for further thinking (What do we wonder about?). We also practiced these strategies in our guided reading groups, along with practicing our fluency, expression, and decoding skills. During grammar instruction, we learned about contractions with the word “not” (hasn’t, isn’t, can’t, etc.). Next week will be a Treasures review week, so we will have no spelling lists or grammar packets coming home. We will take our Unit 3 assessment using the Mimio Vote system. The students will have the opportunity to perform surgery on a set of contractions to make their two word parts as good as new! I am confident that these first grade doctors will be effective healers for these contractions after all they have learned this week! We will also be conducting our OLSAT test next week, which you should have already received a letter explaining the test. If you did not, please let me know and I can send home another copy! We will continue our guided reading groups throughout the week like normal.
Writing
This week in writing, we continued to publish our How-To writing about our individual topics. The students finished typing their writing using the StoryKit app. Next, they partnered up to take photographs of one another using the camera on the iPads to demonstrate each step in their book. Once the students’ books were published, they emailed me a link to their book so that I could compile all of the links for you. Check the post below this one to find the collection of links!
Math
Our main objectives in math this week were to check in and see how we have been doing with all of the new concepts that have been introduced recently. We began the week with a Unit 5 review, which we completed using the Mimio Vote system. Next, we took our Unit 5 test, focusing only on the most recent unit. Those were sent home on Wednesday. Then, we took our Mid-Year assessment to see how we are doing with all of the concepts that should be mastered at this point in the year. Those tests will be shared with you at spring conferences. On Thursday, we began Unit 6 with a lesson on the addition/subtraction facts table. We also played “Addition Top-It” with our Top-It cards. You can play this at home with cards or by using the online version at the Everyday Math Online games site. (There is a link on our class webpage! Please let me know if you need a reminder of your child’s login information!) When you get to the site, it will be under 2 player games. Click the drop down menu for Top-It and you will see “Additon 0-5”. After our regular math work was completed this week, we continued to use the iPad apps to practice our skills! This week, we focused on time, using the following apps to work on telling time: Clockmaster, Clocks4Kids, and KidsTimeFun. Next week, we will begin the week with a lesson on equivalent names. This is thinking about how many ways you could write the same number. For instance, if you selected the number 10, you might write the word “ten”, make 10 tallies, draw a long to show 10 in base ten blocks, draw a domino with 6 dots on one side and 4 on the other to show a total of 10, draw a dime to represent 10 cents, write the addition fact 5+5, or write the word 10 in another language. Next, we will introduce fact families by using dominoes. For example, if a domino has 3 dots on one side and 4 dots on the other, the fact family would be:
3,4,7
3+4=7
4+3=7
7-4=3
7-3=4
This will tie in with the lesson on the following day-fact triangles. These are basically triangles with one of three numbers in a number family on them, and they help the students to generate fact families for those numbers. On Thursday, we will have a special 100th day of school celebration, so we will not have a regular math lesson. Instead we will focus on games, writing, and other activities all about the number 100. Don’t forget to dress up like you are 100 years old on Thursday! I can’t wait to see all of my first grade friends as little 100 year olds!
Science & Social Studies
Focusing again this week on living things, the first grade scientists dissected celery to learn about stems. We used the proscopes to get an up close and personal view of the xylem, which are the tubes inside the celery stalk that carry water and nutrients throughout the plant. During our experiment, we also learned that a cross section is the surface that you see when cutting through an object. So scientific! We wrapped up our study of living things with a discussion and video about mold rather than a hands on experiment to avoid any issues with allergies. We also learned about Groundhog Day, and made predictions leading up to the big day. Surprisingly, our class was split almost exactly down the middle when students voted on whether or not the groundhog would see it’s shadow! So about half of our class was excited to find that Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow on Thursday morning!
Next week, we will switch gears as we move begin our February Social Studies focus on the Presidents (specifically Washington and Lincoln) as well as what it means to be a good citizen. We will kick this study off with a few activities focusing on US symbols before diving into Presidents and citizenship in the coming weeks! We will of course be celebrating Valentine’s Day as well on the 14th, so don’t forget to make your box to collect the Valentine’s from your classmates! You should have received a note about this with a list of the students’ names in our class on Wednesday. If you didn’t, please let me know and I will send home another copy!
This week also brought another session of Art Appreciation! Today, Mrs. Colias joined us to teach us about Henri Rousseau. The students made observations about his painting, "The Waterfall", and then created their own jungle scene!
Have a SUPER weekend!
Mrs. Glaser ☺
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