Learning about Thanksgiving and sharing what it means to be thanksful:
Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
We continued our work around being accountable and active listeners in class.
We also focused on gratitude and what it means to be thankful. The students completed a wonderful Thanksgiving Tree with Ms. Shelby. The students also created greeting cards to teachers and family members at our school in an effort to spread kindness and gratitude to all.
The students all participated in a Friday Workshop Thanksgiving Day parade. We learned about the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade in NYC through read-alouds and a short video. The students engineered their own balloon creations. We marched around the school. So many classrooms and teachers stopped their activities to cheer us on in our Thanksgiving celebration. We have such a supportive school!
Reading:
The students continued practicing what it looks like and what it sounds like to be fully engaged in our reader’s workshop. They focused on improving their reading stamina vehicle Ms. Shelby and I met with small groups. In small groups, the students are exposed to direct instruction in reading in the areas of phonics, word study, fluency and comprehension.
The students also participated in whole class activities to learn about the differences between fiction and non-fiction books. The students helped Ms. Shelby brainstorm different text features, which they tried to find inside non-fiction magazines in a scavenger hunt.
Writing:
The students started thinking about nonfiction writing as Ms. Shelby read many such books aloud. The students noticed that nonfiction books are very different from the fictional stories we have read lately together, such as Mercy Watson.
The students started planning their new non-fiction writing pieces. This unit will focus on “All About…” writing. All about writing means that the students will write all about something they know, and can do, really well, such as soccer, gardening, making paper airplanes or building a snowman. Throughout this unit, they will integrate nonfiction text elements, such as table of contents, labels, headings and glossaries to make their stories more interesting.
First Grade Math:
The students focused on addition strategies this week. They learned that mathematicians solve problems in many different ways and understanding different strategies for solving addition problems help us be more flexible and efficient as mathematicians.
The students practiced “the counting on” method. They learned that we start with the larger number and count on from that number to help us solve addition problems accurately. Sometimes, we use our math hands to help us count on. Sometimes we rely on pictures, dots and other mathematical tools to count on.
The students also started math problem-solving in class. We start with a little story and use pictures, diagrams and equations to show our thinking and justify our answers. They are doing a fantastic job organizing their thinking in mathematical representations, with proper spacing, labels and a key! WOW! We are so proud of these first grade math students!
News and Reminders:
Please make sure you remove all unfinished worksheets and packets from your child’s Home Folder. They are getting very heavy and full. It is hard to pack all of their books, which started coming home this week. Please keep any unfinished school-work in a safe place at home so your child can finish it at some point and bring it back. The only papers we need back are the reading logs and the assigned books from class. Thank you for helping us.
Books and Home Folders stay home until the following Tuesday when they are returned.
Fully charged chromebooks and head-phones must be returned on Thursdays (and then again on Mondays)
It is getting cold outside. Please make sure your child comes to school in weather-appropriate clothing. Layers are best.
We have no school next week due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday. School resumes again on 11/30.
Here's a link to this week's Bell.
Have a great weekend,
Maria
Painting planets outside:
Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
The students participated in a series of activities learning how to listen effectively. We have focused on whole body listening since the beginning of school and the students use a variety of visual cues to improve their listening skills, such as eyes watching, quiet voices, calm bodies and ears listening. This week, Ms. Shelby introduced the game “My Turn/Your Turn”, which encourages everyone to pay close attention to repeat a series of motions. Not only are we learning to improve our listening skills, we are also having so much fun playing these games too. We even tried it outside in math! Ask your child to explain.
We finished our Hopes and Dreams this week too. We will share them at our online parent-teacher conferences next week. The students were encouraged to create hopes and dreams for school. In preparation for our upcoming conferences next week please think about what your hopes and dreams are for your child this school year? Thank you.
We also continued learning about digital safety and how we can be safe, kind and responsible online. Ms. Scott joined our classroom again for another activity.
Reading:
We continued our unit on Mercy Watson this week. Our classroom mural about character traits is slowly growing as we are discovering more words to describe this character. The students are doing a terrific job sharing their ideas and listening to their peers in class.
We have brand new reading boxes/book boxes in our classroom to help us organize all the individualized materials we have to keep track of. Your child is currently learning to increase his/her reading stamina while at school. We have several visual organizers to help us stay on track. The students are encouraged to read 3 “just right” books before reading on raz kids at school. The students are also encouraged to do a reading response and write/draw about the books read to actively engage with the text. They are doing a great job navigating all of these choices.
Next week, your child will take home a couple of books inside his/her Home Folder on Tuesdays. These books are to help facilitate successful completion of the reading logs. The books can stay home until the following Tuesday, when they are returned inside the Home Folder long with the reading log. Thank you.
Your child will also take home a book-mark containing some of the reading strategies we are using at school. Please encourage your child to use these when he/she encounters an unfamiliar word in the book read at home. Thank you.
When your child is reading on raz kids at home, please make sure your child reads the book and answers the questions following the book instead of just listening to the story. Thank you.
Writing:
The students continued their personal narratives this week. They learned how to stretch their stories over several pages by adding details to their pictures and their words. For example, the students learned to add many different colors in their pictures, show the setting and add labels to identify the people in their pictures. We also learned how to use dialogue and speech bubbles to add more details to our characters and stories.
We started our new remote learning collaboration with Ms. Patti, one of our fabulous ELL Teachers at ABS. Once a week, we meet online to do a class together called “Word of the Week”. Through various digital and visual tools, we explore interesting vocabulary while finding synonyms and antonyms. This week’s word was enormous. Ask your child to use it in a sentence and give you synonyms and antonyms for it. We also started looking at specific content vocabulary relating to our space unit. We read a book together on the document camera about the earth, the moon and the stars and the sun while also highlighting words we need to know pertaining to space. We will continue being word detectives next week!
First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians participated in a post-assessment on partners to 5 and 10 this week. Our new unit is primarily emphasizing partners to 20, teen numbers and groups of ten. We will explore these concepts using rekenreks, dominoes and games.
Please remember to bring your child’s math tool kit back to school on Thursdays. We do not always have additional materials to share with the students for full math participation in our games and activities.
We encourage the students to practice their number writing at home. Please encourage your child to complete one page in their number writing packet each day. Many students are reversing their numbers.
Science:
We continued learning about space and our solar system this week. For Friday Workshops, we went outside to paint planets. We had so much fun being creative using paint while also learning about space. We are also making a large moon which we will hang outside our classroom. When the students return their completed reading logs on Tuesdays, they will receive a sticker to place on the wall leading all the way up to the moon. That is how we will collectively read together all the way to the moon!
News and Reminders:
Our EA rotations switched this week to Art on Mondays/Tuesdays and Music on Thursday/Fridays.
Please make sure your child does not log onto our remote google meets on Wednesdays before the teacher is there. Our morning meetings start at 8:20. Thank you.
Here's a link to this week's Bell.
Please remove all student worksheets, packets and other papers from their Home Folders. When lots of materials are being “housed” inside their Home Folders we have very little room to pack new materials, the folders are starting to tear and we are worried we won’t be able to fit reading books next week. The only thing we need back to school on Tuesdays (starting next week) is the homework check-list for the week, the reading log and any other assignments your child wants to show the teacher. Thank you.
I am looking forward to seeing you at our remote conferences next week!
Have a great weekend,
Maria
Our self-portraits:
