April 30. 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:

Tuesday: Library 
May 10: Field Trip to Shelburne Farms
May 13: Field Trip to Flynn
May 25: Delayed Start
May 30: No School

We had a great week back from vacation. The students worked so hard in all subject areas! Super readers, writers, and mathematicians!





Literacy:
We finished up another fiction unit. Throughout this unit we worked on ways to talk about books and how to sound like a story teller when you read. I can tell you that everyone sounds like a storyteller! It gets pretty exciting during independent reading time! On Friday everyone created a character hat. Each student chose a character and then decorate their hat to represent that character. I think they would have worked on those hats all day long.


Math:
This place value math unit pushes the students' thinking and  they are loving it! We are discovering different ways to represent numbers while thinking about them using tens and ones. We also have started to work on telling  time to the hour and half hour. As usual, we do a lot of partner work and hands on activities to help the mathematicians make connections in their learning.

Classroom Fun:
We celebrated Green Up day at school on Friday. The kids did a great job greening up the playground. They filled our trash bag in no time at all! Good team work boys and girls!

April 21, 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:

Tuesday: Library 
April 25 - Back from vacation!



I hope everyone is enjoying the vacation! It is so nice to have sunshine and some warm days!

Literacy:

We continued to work on how to talk about books with our reading buddies. Listening to each other and asking questions are two areas we are working on. The students are reading such wonderful books that they love spending time sharing their thinking with each other.

Some students have finished publishing their small moments. They have worked so hard on writing, editing, and publishing. Super job writers!


Math:
Learning how two digit numbers can be taken apart helps us to be more flexible in our mathematical thinking. We expand on this concept by then adding and subtracting 1 or 10 to a two digit number. The mathematicians played a game that had them using a number grid and base 10 blocks to figure out the new number. Everyone worked hard and persevered through this tough activity!

 
Classroom Fun:
We have been reading several of Helen Lester's books, including a bunch of books about Tacky the Penguin. Everyone made their own penguins on Friday! We had Luke Skywalker Penguins, Kilo Ren Penguins, superhero penguins, and crazy, wild penguins!

April 9, 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:

Tuesday: Library 

Week of April 18: vacation



I enjoyed meeting with all of your for parent/teacher conferences. Thanks so much for all your support. If you were unable to come to your appointment, please feel free to reschedule. I look forward to sharing all the hard work your child has been doing.

Literacy:
We joined up with Mrs. Moulton's second grade class on Friday. The second graders partnered up with the first grader and read books with each other. Everyone did a great job and it was fun to see some of my old students back in the classroom. The second graders modeled great reading and were good listeners when the first graders were reading to them. I can't wait for the next first grade/second grade get together.

Math:
Our new core math idea is:

 How do mathematicians break apart numbers? 

rekenrek

 

This core math idea brought us into understanding place value. For example, the number 23 is 2 tens and 3 ones or 10+10+3 or 20+3. A better understanding of place value makes us more flexible mathematicians. We have a variety of math tools to build this concept: rekenreks, tens frames, and base ten blocks.

Classroom Fun:

On Friday, we had time to play the sight word game, POP, before dismissal. We had a good time and I loved how the kids cheered each other on. Super job team!

April 3, 2016

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday: Library 
April 7 and 8: Parent/Teacher Conferences, Students are dismissed at 11:00 
Week of April 18: vacation



I am looking forward to meeting with all of you at Parent/Teacher conferences. Please let me know as soon as possible if you need a new time or if you can't make it.

Literacy:
Our new unit is all about partner work. We are learning how to share our books with our partners and how to ask questions about the books our partners have read. The students also finished up their character posters. I will be hanging those up this week. What great artists!


Math:
We finished up our math unit which focused on story problems and various additive reasoning strategies such as fact families, make 10, counting on, etc. Our new unit is all about place value! I can't wait to start it on Monday with the mathematicians!




Classroom Fun:
I love playing with the class during inside recess. The students love using the big blocks, ponies, coloring, Legos, and games. We have master Jenga players!

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week! I'll be better at taking pictures for our next update. :-)