March 20, 2015

Classroom News: 

• Hopefully the weather will warm up. As it does, the playground gets really wet, it's a good idea to send in an extra pair of socks to change into after recess
• Don't forget, gym is on Monday and Thursday. Please send in sneakers on those days.

Literacy

We celebrated the end of our reading with expression unit by having Mrs. Moulton's class come and partner read with us. The first graders worked hard on preparing a book that they could read fluently and with expression. They also put in a sticky note to mark a good spot to stop and ask the second grader to make a prediction about what will happen next in the book. All students, first and second graders, did a great job!

Math

We have started our next math unit: place value. We are exploring how our number system is organized by using tens and ones. The student have jumped right into this unit and are doing great! Even coming up with the observation that in the  number 37, the 3 is more than the 7 because the 3 is really a 30! Super work mathematicians!

Science
The five senses are so much fun to learn about! One of the activities we did this week was a taste test to discover the some of the different things we can taste: salty, sweet, and bitter.


Cross Grade Connection

This is a district wide project where  each JFK class is paired with a middle or high school class. The goal is to build relationships across the grades and district. Last month, Mrs. Sherrer's class  came to our room and joined us for mindfulness and introductions. This month we went over the middle school and had a blast! Mrs. Sherrer and her students led us in a movement activity and a dance. Then the younger students worked with their older partners for a building activity. Mrs. Sherrer and I saw and heard great discussion between the partners. The projects came out great!

March 13, 2015

Classroom News: 

• Delayed Start: March 18
• Fun Fair: March 20 4:30-6:30 - hope to see you there!

Literacy

For the last few weeks we have been working on listening to ourselves read. Before reading, we look that pictures for clues to how the characters are feeling and what they are doing. Then we read, focusing on reading with expression to show how the characters feel and  what they are doing. We pay attention to punctuation, including quotation marks. Talking tag words (said, whispered, yelled, etc.) also help us know how to sound. The goal is to sound smooth like a storyteller.


Each child is working on reading one of their just right books. This coming week, Mrs. Moulton's second grade class is coming and the first graders will have a chance to show off their expressive reading! We are looking forward to the visit from our neighbors!


Also, the entire district participated in Vermont Writes Day!

Math

We finished up our big unit that developed our additive reasoning strategy toolbox. We learned how to count on/add up, count back, use fact families, make 10, and be more flexible with how we use numbers. Monday we start our next unit which is all about place value. I'll talk more about that next time! We also will be working on telling time to the hour and half hour.


Jump Rope for Heart:
I've been teaching first grade a long time. I've never had such a great class of jumpers! We had so much fun jumping together, getting good exercise, and taking care of our hearts.

February 19, 2015

Classroom News: 

• No School: February 21 - March 3
• Jump Rope for Heart information went home on Tuesday. We are jumping on March 11
  

Penguin Plunge

 

I loved participating in the Penguin Plunge for the second year in a row! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Celebration!

JFK had a school-wide celebration in honor of earning 100,000 stars! We got to see a show put on by Foodplay. We learned all about healthy food choices and activities to keep our bodies healthy. There are lots of great resources on the Foodplay website, including a video to teach you how to juggle!

Literacy
We read a wonderful book called Ish by Peter Reynolds. We are also currently reading Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts. The class and I are really enjoying these books! As we read, we are working on making our voices match the emotion in the story. We also are starting to learn how to stop and jot while we read to help us keep track of events in the story.


We also have started to write stories about penguins. We even made some penguins to inspire us!

Math

We are continuing to work with our additive reasoning strategies. This means we are learning many different strategies that mathematicians can use to solve addition and subtraction equations.


Brain Break
We discovered a fun new song that makes us laugh until we cry. I hope you have as much fun with Shake Break as we do!

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!