Happy Friday! It is hard to believe that it is December! ⛄ I love this month with the kids because of all of the holiday excitement and fun. You can find a review of our week below.
December 19th: Pajama Day
December 20th - January 2nd: No school...Winter Break
January 17th 10:00 AM: American Heroes Play
Math:
As we finish our third week of learning about place value, the students are really beginning to have an understanding of this concept. It can be a challenging one because it is such an abstract concept. The students learned a new place value game this week that they played with a partner. Each student had a bag of tens (on ten frames) and a bag of ones (on ten frames). One student would choose a number between 1-109 and would write it down on a whiteboard. The other student had to build the number using their bag of tens and ones. This required them to break down the number in their mind into tens and ones and then create it. They loved this game and played for 45 minutes straight one day! This game will go into our math workshop tubs next week where they can go and play with a partner.
Literacy:
During our reader's workshop this week, we learned that good readers "try, try, try again" when reading. We learned that when you get to a tricky word, don't just try one thing! Sometimes one strategy will work on one word but not another. Below are the six strategies we learned. These strategies work for all students no matter their reading level.
1. Read the word left to right
2. Can the pictures help me?
3. Does it make sense?
4. Does it look right?
5. Does it sound right?
6. Do I know any parts of the word?
We also continued our writer's workshop time learning about "how-to" books and the students blew me away with their writing! I challenged them to take their book home and read it to their parents so maybe some of you have seen these. :) It has been fun seeing what they want to teach others how to do in their writing books.
Thematic:
The American heroes that we studied this week were Neil Armstrong and Mae Jemison. We learned about outer space, the moon, the phases of the moon, astronauts, and space shuttles. We practiced our song about Neil Armstrong and they are doing great! Students learned about the phases of the moon by using Oreos and toothpicks (for carving), they created their own astronaut helmets they will wear in the play, they wrote an application to be an astronaut, and they solved math problems that had to do with outer space. Next week we move onto Helen Keller.
Sci-Fri:
HUGE shoutout to Sue Sink for our amazing Sci-Fri today! The students learned about how animals prepare for winter and they each got to make a birdfeeder using cones, sunbutter, birdseed, and yarn. They loved this activity and learning about animal habitats and preparations as we move into the winter months. We need more parents to volunteer for Sci-Fri on Friday afternoons! This is a great way to get involved in our classroom and the kids love it. The science experiment does not have to be anything crazy and I am always happy to send you ideas.
Have a great weekend! I guess we will see what winter weather comes our way. 😁⛄
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, December 7, 2018
Monday, December 3, 2018
November 26th-30th
Happy Monday! I hope you all had an awesome weekend! Below is a review of our last week in the classroom ands some important upcoming dates and events.
December 19th: Pajama Day
December 20th - January 2nd: No school...Winter Break
January 17th 10:00 AM: American Heroes Play
Play Lines: Thank you for practicing your child's play lines with them! :) If you have not printed them off yet, please do so and highlight your child's lines for them. Our play will be here before we know it and the lines are more difficult than any of the past plays. They are already doing great on their songs in the classroom and we are also beginning to practice their lines.
Guided reading books, blue folders, snacks/lunch, water bottles: We could really use your help with making sure your child is prepared for each school day. We still have students coming to school without the supplies needed for a successful day. Although they love to blame their parents 😉, we would love for them to start taking on the responsibility of checking their bag before school in the morning or the night before. A checklist with pictures might be helpful and taking on this responsibility is a great life skill, especially as we move towards 2nd grade.
Afternoon dismissal: Dismissal begins at 2:45. We know that there will be times when you need to pick up your child early, and we completely understand and respect this. However, we are asking that if you need to pick up before the 2:45 dismissal time, you make arrangements to do so prior to 2:15 as our front desk area is very busy tending to last minute details at that time of the day. Also it is very disruptive to instruction for the phone to ring repeatedly for multiple children to pack updating the last half hour of the day. Once again, we know that emergencies and special circumstances will arise, but we kindly ask that if you need to pick up your child early from school that you do so prior to 2:15 as not to disrupt end-of-day routines and instruction.
Math:
Literacy:
This week during Daily 5, we learned about how reading is similar to juggling. Readers have to juggle or think about three things while reading:
1. Does this sound right?
2. Does this look right?
3. Does this make sense?
Students practiced this strategy while in their guided reading groups with me and while in Daily 5 (read to self and read to someone). We also began a new unit in Writer's Workshop. This month we will be working on "how-to" books and also realistic fiction. Last week we started with "how-to" books and the students loved it! They got to teach others how to do something whether it was how to make cookies, how to ride a bike, how to do a cartwheel, or how to build a lego tower.
Thematic:
December 19th: Pajama Day
December 20th - January 2nd: No school...Winter Break
January 17th 10:00 AM: American Heroes Play
Play Lines: Thank you for practicing your child's play lines with them! :) If you have not printed them off yet, please do so and highlight your child's lines for them. Our play will be here before we know it and the lines are more difficult than any of the past plays. They are already doing great on their songs in the classroom and we are also beginning to practice their lines.
Guided reading books, blue folders, snacks/lunch, water bottles: We could really use your help with making sure your child is prepared for each school day. We still have students coming to school without the supplies needed for a successful day. Although they love to blame their parents 😉, we would love for them to start taking on the responsibility of checking their bag before school in the morning or the night before. A checklist with pictures might be helpful and taking on this responsibility is a great life skill, especially as we move towards 2nd grade.
Afternoon dismissal: Dismissal begins at 2:45. We know that there will be times when you need to pick up your child early, and we completely understand and respect this. However, we are asking that if you need to pick up before the 2:45 dismissal time, you make arrangements to do so prior to 2:15 as our front desk area is very busy tending to last minute details at that time of the day. Also it is very disruptive to instruction for the phone to ring repeatedly for multiple children to pack updating the last half hour of the day. Once again, we know that emergencies and special circumstances will arise, but we kindly ask that if you need to pick up your child early from school that you do so prior to 2:15 as not to disrupt end-of-day routines and instruction.
Math:
We are focusing heavily on place value right now. We learned two new games last week called "Roll the Snowball" and "Place Value: Dice Game." Both of these games focus on identifying ones and tens, comparing numbers, and more than/less than. I am also pulling students one-on-one to conduct the North Carolina Mid-Year Formative Assessment. This assessment assesses the students on what we have learned so far this year. We are also continuing to work on addition, subtraction, and fact families.
Literacy:
This week during Daily 5, we learned about how reading is similar to juggling. Readers have to juggle or think about three things while reading:
1. Does this sound right?
2. Does this look right?
3. Does this make sense?
Students practiced this strategy while in their guided reading groups with me and while in Daily 5 (read to self and read to someone). We also began a new unit in Writer's Workshop. This month we will be working on "how-to" books and also realistic fiction. Last week we started with "how-to" books and the students loved it! They got to teach others how to do something whether it was how to make cookies, how to ride a bike, how to do a cartwheel, or how to build a lego tower.
Thematic:
During our thematic center time, we studied airplanes and flight and specifically studied Orville and Wilbur Wright, Amelia Earhart, and Bessie Coleman and all of their accomplishments. The students loved rotating through the centers while learning about how planes are designed and work, the story of the first flight, and how to make different styles of paper airplanes. This week we are studying Neil Armstrong and Mae Jemison.
Have a great Monday!
Love,
Mrs. James
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