Thursday, January 12, 2017

We are growing!

These first graders are growing so much!

Here's what we're working on:

LITERACY

Reading:  We've started a unit on learning about the world through reading informational texts.  We've learned how to study each page's texts and pictures thoroughly.  We've practiced thinking inferentially.  We've learned to reread to make sure we've understood what we've read.  We're working now on fluency to make our reading sound less robotic and with more expression and intonation.

Spelling: Not only have we mastered (yes, mastered!) all of the digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ck), but we also have a solid understanding of the glued sounds "am", "an", and "all".  We started a new unit today on basewords and the suffix "s" to indicate plural words.  We learned that the suffix "s" can sound like either /s/ or /z/.

MATH

We've just finished our math unit on composing and decomposing numbers to 10.  The students did a fabulous job of learning different strategies to add and subtract!

We started our new unit last week on equations that have 3 addends.  Within these 3 addends, we're searching for a way to make 10.  Then, we include the third addend.  For example, if we have the equation 8 + 6 + 2, we would pull out the 8 and 2 to make 10, then add the 6.

This strategy increases flexibility with numbers and encourages efficient problem solving.

Here's a link from the Eureka program that gives parents more information about what we'll be focusing on with this new unit:  http://www.lpssonline.com/uploads/Eureka_Math_Grade_1_Module_2_Tips_for_Parents.pdf

SCIENCE

We're in the midst of our science unit on how sounds interact with the environment.  The experiments we've done so far have showed us that sounds can't occur without some sort of movement.

AND NOW...FOR FUN EVENTS:

Next week, Craig Newman for the Outreach for Earth Stewardship program at Shelburne Farms, will be joining us in the woods with a rehabilitated bird of prey.  We'll get to see this bird up close!  Craig will also be teaching us about winter breeding for birds of prey and signs of their nesting and feeding areas.  The kids are so excited about this!

Also, for their next Cat Card Celebrations, the students voted to have their faces painted!  (I love hearing their very creative suggestions!)  Sandy Hawkes - our dynamic art teacher - will be helping with this, so I'm anticipating some very beautiful results.