Three cheers for science!

Important Dates:

January 29 - Library
February 14 - Early Release 12:15
February 26-March 6 - No School








Science:
We started our science unit all about sound this week! The kid are having fun exploring different sounds and discovering how sound is produced. Our big word this week was vibration, vibrating matter can make sound. We listened for sounds around the school, explored the sounds different materials make, and made kazoos!

The scientists worked so hard when we went to three different places throughout the school to find sounds. And even when it was time to stop and walk to a new place, they would continue writing while walking in a line!


Next week, we are going to continue to explore sound. The students will get to create their own instruments form a band, and create a song! I can't wait for next week!

The kids probably shared their kazoos when they got home on Friday. You should have heard the first grade hallway! All four classes using their homemade kazoos! Here is a video that shows how to make a kazoo at home. It's a little different from ours (I just got 4 inch by 4 inch squares of plastic wrap, wax paper, and aluminum foil). Enjoy!

These students work hard!

Important Dates:

January 29 - Library
February 14 - Early Release 12:15
February 26-March 6 - No School

I know I've said before how hard this class works. But you need to understand they LOVE to learn and work! They moan on Friday because we don't have school on Saturday and Sunday. They write, read, and work on math with smiles and great conversations that further their learning. I just love this class!

And I made a mistake about library. We won't have library on the 22nd, but starting on the 29th, we will be going every Monday.

Literacy: 
Nonfiction and first graders just go together. Their curiosity and quest for new learning pushes me to buy more books and increase my knowledge also. Today (Friday), when I finished up reading with some students, I just enjoyed walking around the room and listening in on all the conversations the students were having about the books they were reading. Topics included: flags, sharks, whales, frogs, dinosaurs, tornadoes, food chains, and reptiles.

Math:
Our measuring unit continues. The students are working really hard to be accurate. We do a lot of whole group and partner discussion time. This allows students to share their thinking and new strategies they have discovered. We are now comparing lengths and next week will be ordering lengths.

Lots of writing and math

Important Dates:

January 15 - No School
January 17 library (On Wednesday because of no school on Monday)

Literacy:
Our read aloud focus and nonfiction writing has been on Martin Luther King, Jr and Ruby Bridges. Biographies and autobiographies about these two people who helped change the world have led to wonderful, thoughtful, compassionate discussions. Some of the books we have read so far:

Martin's Big Words, by Doreen Rappaport
Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, by Jean Marzollo
Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story by Ruby Bridges

After reading from one of the above books, writers worked on their own books to teach others about Martin Luther King. We made sure to make time each day for the writers to read what they wrote.

Math:
Wow! The discovery and discussion about measurement is amazing! The mathematicians are making connections and generalizing measurement concepts while working with a partner to measure objects and now pictures of fish. The partner work allows for more discussion so students can formulate their thinking, share and compare ideas, and build generalizations.

Happy New Year!

Important Dates:

January 8 - Library
January 10: Early Release
January 15 - No School

It was so good to see all the students back after vacation. I know it was a short week, starting on Wednesday and then a snow day on Friday, but we got a ton of work done in those two days! This class works hard and loves new learning!

Also, we now are able to go to library every Monday. Hooray! Mr. Gile reads us great stories (and he also has the best read aloud voice!). Look for library books coming home each week. Make sure to send the books back each week so your child can take more books out. 

Literacy:
We started learning how to read and write nonfiction. To kick off our unit, we compared fiction and nonfiction and then sorted the books in our bags. The students added lots of nonfiction books to their reading bags so we could use them as we develop new reading habits. 

Math:

We also started a new math unit: measurement. Throughout the unit, students will be using nonstandard units of measure to compare lengths of various objects. As mathematicians, we analyzed pictures of students using measurement tools (clocks, scales, rulers, etc.) and shared our thinking about how and what they were measuring. 

I can't wait for next week when we continue learning about nonfiction and measurement!

December 15, 2017

Important Dates:

December 25-January 2: No School
January 10: Early Release

Hour of Code:
Last week, every classroom in JFK celebrated Hour of Code. During this time, students had the opportunity to work on introduction to coding concepts. They loved it and everyone did a great job! We used an app from Kodable for our Hour of Code. This is a free app you can download to an iPad.



Winter Performance:
Thanks to everyone who was able to come to the winter performance! The students sounded great! They worked really hard on the songs in music class and it showed in their performance. The students' mandalas were hanging in the hallway. The students made these in art class. 

Literacy:
We are finishing up our literacy units next week. Our unit during reader's workshop has been learning all the good habits that readers use when starting a book, working with a partner, and solving hard words.

In writing, we have been working on our small moments, writing about a small event that happened to us. In our writing, we have learned to use dialogue, movement, and feeling words. I am so impressed with what the writers have done!

Math:
We are also coming to the close of our second math unit. This unit has built on all the concepts of our first unit. The mathematicians are becoming more flexible with numbers and how to break them apart and put them back together. They are also becoming more flexible in their thinking.

We also celebrated our time with the St. Mike's buddies. These college students came in every Friday during math to work with the students. We had a pizza party and enjoyed time together.

Where did November go?!

Important dates:
December 4: library
December 13: early release
December 14: Winter performance


Only a few days left in November! I can't believe it! It was so great to chat with everyone during parent/teacher conferences. Every child works so hard during the day! I loved sharing their work with you and celebrating each child's growth.



Literacy:
We continue to develop good reading habits. Students are learning to ask themselves questions as they read and ask questions to their reading partners.

I am so impressed with the students' writing! They love writing time and hate for it to end! We continue to develop our writing of small moments, I shared many of the students' writing during our conferences. The writers need to think of an idea, plan it, sketch it, write it, and then revise it. Revision has always been a tough part for first graders, but this group takes it so seriously! Students work together to ask questions of each others' writing. This prompts the writers to add more. They are using editing marks to add in words and phrases, plus they are using revision strips to add even more.


Math:
Before vacation we took our first unit test in math. Our new unit builds on the concept we learned in unit 1. The mathematicians discovered that there is a pattern that can be used when finding combinations of a number: 1 +9 = 10, 2 + 8 = 10, 3 + 7 = 10, etc.

The start of a new month

Important Dates:
November 8 - early dismissal (12:15)
November 20 - no school parent/teacher conferences
November 20-24 - no school


This past week was a quick one: no school on October 30 due to the storm, Halloween on Tuesday, and lots of fun work in reading, writing, and math!

For our Halloween celebration we made healthy spider treats. The PTO also provided popcorn. Yum!

I had the honor this weekend of presenting with 3 of our ELL teachers at the Northern New England Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages conference on Saturday. We had  a big turn out for our presentation. We ran out of chairs, had people standing and sitting on the floor, and then more people came! We finally had to turn some people away because there just wasn't any more room. I am so lucky to be able to co-teach math with Sarah Forbes. Thanks for all you do Sarah!

Literacy:

We have started to learn how to read with a partner. Partner reading is an important part of our literacy time. Partner work on asking each other questions about the books and help each other to use learned strategies when they are stuck on a word. The students are doing a great job transitioning from our whole group mini-lesson to independent reading to partner reading.

During read aloud, I am reading books that focus on a small moment. This will help the students as they write about their own small moments. One book we used this week was Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee. It's a book I've just discovered and it's fantastic to teach about small moments.

Mrs. Lapointe came in at writing time and helped us revise our writing. The writers are doing a great job of going back, rereading their work, and adding more to help it make sense.


Math:

Our fact power is growing! The mathematicians love developing their math fact fluency during fact power time. Students are working through their levels and applying this new learning throughout math time!

We continue to work on combination problems. During our work, the students have discover the "turn around fact" rule. This rule means that 1 + 3 = 4 is the same as 3 + 1 = 4. Here is a video of a student explaining the discovery.