First Grade is Fabulous!

Here we are using the Chrome books in our classroom for the very first time.  The children were so excited and responsible!!  Ask your child about the lesson that Mrs. Guerrera taught them.

Please send in an old sock to school so that your child may use it as an eraser for their white board.

Please sign up to be a Mystery Reader or sign someone up in your family.  We already have 3 Mystery Readers on the calendar! 

Don't forget to work on your child's Map of the Heart for Writer's Workshop.  It will help them to generate ideas for writing.  Ask the children about the writing process where they Touch and Tell, Sketch and Write.  They will also tell you that we listen to classical music during writing.  It seems to get their creative juices flowing!

We are working on reading fluently.  The goal is to have the children read smoothly and not like robots.  This is so important in helping them become successful readers.  Some of the books in their bags may seem like an easy read but are they reading like a reader??  Also have them use their strategies when they have a book which is a little more challenging. 

Homework will be given each Tuesday and Thursday night.

As you get Math work sent home and you see that the Math sprints are not complete.  Do not worry.  Sprints are designed to develop fluency.  They are fun, adrenaline-rich activities that intentionally build energy and excitement for the students.  The students start to recognize their increasing success and improvement is celebrated.

Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

We have been using our math brains to answer difficult math word problems.  The children made up a list of ways in which we could solve problems.
*drawing pictures
*counting up or back
*using a number line or hundred chart
*using manipulatives
*using our fingers

I read the children If You Give A Pig A Pancake and all of the problems had to do with pig.

The children have been solving problems with addends unknow.

6 + ? = 10
? - 7 =  2

Also solving problems with both addends unknow.

Pig had 5 pancakes.  How many were chocolate chip and how many were plain?

They have been working very hard on answering these "new to them" types of word problems.  Ask them about it!

Teacher Appreciation Week!

This has been such a special week.  Thank you for the posters, fruit and other treats.  The posters and letters were so heartfelt and made me cry.  The children put so much of themselves into them.  Thanks for helping them!

A new sight word list is going home today. 

We are busy adding and subtracting.  I told that children that they could use a number of strategies to help them.  They can draw a number line to 20 on their paper, use manipulatives or count on or back. 

We just finished our unit on shelters.  We read the original 3 Little Pigs and watched a reading of The 3 Javellinas on You Tube.  Then each group got different materials to build a piggie shelter and the wolves, our puppets, tried to blow the shelters down.  Ask your child what happened!

The children wrote opinion pieces about which Henry and Mudge book by Cynthia Rylant was the best.  They worked very hard on these and were eager to share with their classmates.

Please send in a mis-matched sock.  We will use it to erase when we use the white boards.

Thanks again for a great week!

We have the whole world in our hands!

We celebrated Earth Day by talking about how to take care of our world.  The students had a lot of great ideas and were very knowledgeable.  We also watched videos on Brain Pop Jr. about recycling and our planet.

READ, READ, READ!!  Now that the weather is nicer and Spring activities have begun please remember to take a quiet 15 minutes before bed and have your child read to you.  It is the single most important factor in their reading success. 

We have been working on segmenting and blending sounds.  Please play follow the path and also make your own boards with new words.  The children have also been working on writing word families.  These are words that rhyme and also end with the same 2 letters.  I will also send home a new sight word list this week so that you can continue practicing.

We are completing a unit on measurement.  The children have been measuring the length, weight, capacity and area of certain objects.  We have also been comparing the things that we measure.  The children are becoming wonderful math mathematicians.  They are adding and subtracting!

In science we will finish our unit on habitats and shelters next week.