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 ☺
