Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
The students filled the classroom buzzy jar again for being safe, kind and responsible. We had a special celebration with board games and classroom games.. The students played with partners and tried many new games we can now use in the classroom. They played word games, puzzles, zingo and card games. It was wonderful for the students to have an opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other while playing games.
We practiced finding small mindful moments throughout the day. As you know, we practice mindfulness every day. This week, the students had a new choice; reading a library book as a way to find peace and contentment.
Reading and Writing:
This week, we continued searching for and identifying nonfiction text features in our books and magazines. We have now identified several features which we will use in our own animal research books next week when we start to assemble them. The students' writing is done. They did an outstanding job! I am so proud of these first graders. We partnered up this week so the students could read their books to a friend. The students listened to their peers read their books and then they had a chance to ask clarifying questions and give compliments.
Next week, we will start to assemble our nonfiction books. These books will have a hard cover, complete with a title and cover picture. Inside these books, the students will have several choices on what to include in addition to their writing pieces. They can add maps, diagrams, glossaries and photographs for example. We will use our nonfiction text features booklets to guide us and give us choices.
We also hope to create a habitat diorama of the Arctic regions in the upcoming weeks. We will need shoe boxes for this project. If you have any cardboard/shoe boxes at home and would like to donate them to our project, we would gladly appreciate them. Please send them in with your child as soon as possible. Thank you for your generosity.
Thank you Ms. Anne and Mr. Alex for helping us compare the length/height of our Arctic animals and that of our own height this week. We had two differently colored pieces of yarn representing the length/height of our animal and ourselves. We brought these two strings outside to see the differences. It was eye-opening to see these differences. Understanding what 20 feet, for example, looks like is very different from just reading and writing it down. Seeing 20 feet next to 4 feet also enhances this understanding.
First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians played several partner games this week to build a deeper understanding of place value. We played a game called “Barking Bingo”. It is highly engaging as it combines visual cues/representations of numbers greater than 100 while also adding a competitive aspect since it is played as a bingo game. Ask your child to explain how we celebrated getting a bingo instead of saying bingo (Hint: this game ties in nicely with our Iditarod unit).
First grade mathematicians also played a game called “Two Turns to Build”, a game that allows the players to physically build a representation of two digit numbers showing the groups of ten and groups of ones, while also writing the numerical representation.
The students received a paper analogue clock for home use. While this paper clock was not directly connected to any one math game this week, first grade math teachers hope your child will use it to practice telling time to the hour and half hour at home.
Enrichment:
Ms. Rogers took the class on a walk on an interactive map of the Lake Champlain region, showing the many tributaries that lead into it. Thank you Ms. Rogers for giving us this opportunity to learn more about our region and maps!
Technology:
Ms. Scott joined our classroom and helped us catch up with unfinished activities and projects on SeeSaw. The students also learned how to write kind and respectful compliments on their peers’ posts using complete sentences. Thank you Ms. Scott for helping us.
News and Reminders:
Please make sure your child’s chromebook is fully charged at home before returning it to school. We use it almost every day now in writing class. Thank you.
We voted in the library this week for our favorite Red Clover book. In our class the following book won:
The school-wide winner has not yet been announced. We also have to wait a little longer for the state-wide winner! Stay tuned.
Here's a link to this week's Bell.
Have a great weekend,
Maria
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