January 31, 2015

Classroom News:

• Penguin Plunge: February 7
• February 18: Delayed Start
• February 22-March 3: No School

Do you have an old pair of snow pants or boots? We could use them as extras for when students forget to bring some to school. Feel free to send them in and we will put them in the extra clothing locker.

 

Penguin Plunge

Winooski School District has a Penguin Plunge team made up of staff, students, parents, and other family members. I am doing it for the second year and this time around my aunt is joining the team too! I'm so excited to help support Vermont Special Olympics. Feel free to come on down to the lake on Saturday, February 7 to cheer on Team Winooski! Or better yet, join the team yourself! You can register, donate, or find out more information through this link:  Penguin Plunge.

Literacy

We finished up our study of how readers read nonfiction texts and we are back to looking at fiction. As usual, our focus is on how readers think about books and the questions they ask themselves. This month we take a close look at the characters in fiction texts. As we read we ask questions about the characters:

• What is my character doing?
• Why did my character do it?

We have closely analyzed the books Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats and Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems.

 

Math

We finished up our measurement unit and are not working on deepening our understanding of the number system and the many ways flexible mathematicians can work with numbers. 

One strategy for working with numbers is to create a "friendly number." This is a number that is easier to work with, for example the number 10. We call this strategy Make 10.

In the example to the left, the student is adding 6 + 9. They know that 6 + 4 = 10, so they take 4 out of the 9, that makes the new equation:

6+4+5=n.

10+5 is easy to add, so the student knows n=15.

By working with this strategy, students are becoming more flexible in decomposing (breaking apart) and composing (putting together) numbers.  Then, the students start applying this to story problems and addition equations with larger numbers.

January 4, 2015

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fun vacation. I'm ready to be back and looking forward to seeing everyone!

Classroom News:

• Monday is library day. Don't forget to send back library books.
• Delayed start: Wednesday, January 14
• No School: Monday, January 19

Literacy

We had a new focus in December during read aloud and independent reading time. We've been learning all about nonfiction and we love it!

We read nonfiction differently fiction. Authors write nonfiction to teach us information. They do pictures, labels, headings, and words. Before reading, we look at all of this on the page to get an idea what the page will be about. Then we read the page and think about how the information goes with the rest of the book.

this by using
As we read we ask ourselves:

• What is the author trying to teach me here?
• How do those two pages go together?

The students have loved our study and have learned really cool facts about a large variety of topics.  By understanding how nonfiction works, the students  are able to take control of their own learning and read about topics that interest them, allowing them to become experts. We will continue our study of nonfiction into January.

Project Based Learning

We finished our projects! The students investigated how to create a classroom to help us learn. They worked in groups of three or four to research the words in STARS. Each group chose an expert, developed interview questions, filmed the interview, and then created a poster to show what they learned. The posters came out great and are hanging in the hall. Make sure you check them out when you come into the building.

Math:
We have started our study of measurement. During this unit, we are learning how mathematicians measure objects and compare lengths of objects. The mathematicians have been working with partners to measure a variety of objects using different units of measure (paper clips, unifix cubes, and tiles).

November 14, 2014

Classroom news:

• I'm looking forward to meeting with everyone on November 24 for parent teacher conferences. - Please let me know if the time I scheduled doesn't work for you.
• Library is on Monday - don't forget your library books
• Homework is now going home on Mondays. Make sure to send it back on Friday. 

Literacy:
We had a teacher from the Flynn come in this week and run an acting workshop to prepare us for the shoe we are going to see this week on the field trip: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Chester's Way, and Julius Baby of the World. 

The kids did a great job participating and we all had so much fun! We are definitely ready for the show on Tuesday. 

 
We also started reading some books by Jacky Davis and David Soman. We read Ladybug Girl goes to the Beach. This coming week we will ready about Bumblebee Boy.  

Math: 
The question we have focused on this week: How do mathematicians use addition to solve subtraction? 

The mathematicians in the room have figured out that we can use fact families and adding on to help solve subtraction problems. We will continue working with this throughout the week. 

Special Performance:
We had a trio from the VSO called Symphony Reel come and perform for the school on Thursday. One of our students was picked to waltz with one of the musicians! 

November 7, 2014

  Classroom News:

• Permission slips went home on Friday for our field trip. Please send back on Monday
• Parent/teacher conference forms went home on Friday also. Please fill out and return.
• Library is on Monday - don't forget your library books
• Homework is now going home on Mondays. Make sure to send it back on Friday. 

Literacy: The children are doing so well discussing the characters, problems, and solutions in their own independent reading! I'm so proud of them! We model the thinking and talking about books during our read aloud, then they apply it to their own reading.

Books we read this week:
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Rosco Riley: Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs, by Katherine Applegate (this is a chapter book we have started reading each day)
 
Want to know about great books? Check out our librarian's YouTube channel.  Laura Abbene, our librarian has books trailers for picture, tween, upper elementary, and young adult books. A great resource!

PBL:  Project Based Learning 
Driving Question: What kind of classroom do we need to help us learn?
We finished our list of questions and experts! Next week we start our group work and set up interviews with our experts.
 
Math:
This  week we sorted addition, subtraction, and combination problems. Then we worked on proving true/false equations. Our mathematicians are really pushing their thinking and love challenging problems!
 
Social Thinking:
One game the class loves playing during transitions is our Pass the Ball game. This game actually works on some social thinking skills. We often talk about how you need to let people know you are thinking about them. One way is to look at them when they are talking. The class has also discussed how facial expressions and body movements can change the meaning of what you say.

We  play this game in complete silence. You only communicate through your eyes and facial expressions/body movements. We sit in a circle and one child has a ball. That child passes the ball to someone who is looking at him/her. Before passing, they make eye contact and nod heads to let each other know they are thinking about each other.

The class does a great job with this game!

October 31, 2014

 Classroom News:

• Library is on Monday - don't forget your library books
• Homework is now going home on Mondays. Make sure to send it back on Friday.

It's been a busy 2 weeks since my last website update!

The class did so well on Halloween! They worked hard all day and I surprised them at the end of the day with zucchini eyeballs! It was a healthy Halloween treat that was also delicious! The kids loved them!

Literacy: We are still thinking about characters and now we are also thinking about the problems and how the character tried to solve the problem.

Books we read this week:
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes
Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes 
Vanishing Pumpkin, by Tony Johnston

Big Pumpkin, by Erika Silverman

Shake dem Halloween Bones, by W. Nicola-Lisa


We love Big Pumpkin! The children will be taking turns bringing home a copy of the book and the CD. 

 

 
 PBL:  Project Based Learning 
Driving Question: What kind of classroom do we need to help us learn?
We are developing our list of experts and interview questions. We can't wait to start the interviews!

Math:
The students spent this week analyzing story problems and sorting them into addition and subtraction problems. Then they used the appropriate strategies to solve each problem. This week we will be adding a third type of problem!

Wellness:
Diane Polson came in and taught us how important our teeth are to us. She talked about brushing, flossing, and going to the dentist. 

 Officer Dean came in and talked about Halloween safety. I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Book order

Time for a book order!

I'm sending home the Scholastic Book Order information. You can send back the form in a labeled envelope with a check written out to SCHOLASTIC READING CLUB. Or, you can order right online. Go to https://orders.scholastic.com/DZPMV or scholastic.com/readingclub our activation code is DZPMV. Please place your order by October 30. Please let me know if you have any questions!


You can also always access our Scholastic site through this picture.

October 16, 2014

 Classroom News:

• Delayed start on Wednesday, October 22
• Library is on Monday - don't forget your library books

Our school wide celebration spirit day on Thursday was so much fun! First grade was one of the winning grades that showed the most spirit! We made blue posters and blue paper chains to decorate the hall and add to the fun. Good job first grade!

And even though the teachers didn't win, there were a ton of stripes at school on Thursday!

Literacy: Our read aloud and mini-lesson focus this week was thinking about our characters.  We practiced using the questions that readers use while they read.
What is the character doing?
Why is the character acting this way?
Why is the character making this decision?
 
Books we read this week:
Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon, by Patty Lovell
Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog, by Cynthia Rylant
A Bad Case of the Stripes, by David Shannon
 
 PBL
This stands for Project Based Learning. In groups and individually, the students will be investigating a driving question for an extended period of time. First grade has launched their project! First grade's driving question is What kind of classroom do we need to help us learn? We will be using the STARS acronym, talking to experts, and figuring out how to use those concepts in our classroom to create a vibrant learning environment. The students are so excited!

At this point, we are taking time to write and share about striving, thoughtful, accepting, responsible,  and safe. Once we finish that step, we will work on our Need To Know  list and start researching experts.  


 
Math
We finished up our first math unit and took our test. The students worked very  hard on this. We talked about how the test is really a celebration of all the learning and hard work they have put in. We celebrated the next day by playing some math games. 

Our new unit is an extension of the first unit, but with higher numbers, more organization, and higher expectations. We started off by working with multiple ways to represent a number using different addition equations. One way we worked on this was with the activity Counters in a Cup. Students were given 10 counters. One partner had to hide some under the cup and they other partner had to figure out what was hiding.