Sixty-Fifth Day of School

In Writing, we began the revision process on procedural writing. We learned that a good process for revising procedural work is to act the steps out to see if anything is missing. The revision steps we used today are:

1. Reread
2. Act it out
3. Add to the writing if necessary

We will likely have a Math test early next week.

Today we made predictions while reading the story The Stray Dog. We also learned how to confirm our prediction. This is a comprehension strategy. We also learned that it's okay to be incorrect with our predictions as long as we are making evidence based predictions. If we could predict everything, that would mean there are no surprises.

In Social Science we began discussing the important elements of map creation.

December reading logs will go home tomorrow and are due December 18, 2015.

Reminder: Please make sure 1st graders are in bed by 8:00.

Unit 3 Week 2 Preview

This week we ask the question: What do family members do with one another to have fun? Our comprehension skill focus will be to make and confirm predictions using the strategy of analyzing story structure. We will take a brief look at alliteration (consonance). We will continue our exploration with long vowel spellings in particular: long vowel-u spelled 'i_e' (bike, strike) and 'open syllable with i' (pilot, diver). In grammar we will examine present-tense verbs.

Our oral vocabulary words are typical, possessions, connections, relief, and support. Our high-frequency words are call, funny, how, more, so, there.

As you read with your child at home, please continue to predict and confirm as you read (What do you think will happen? Do you think Goldilocks will get caught?). When finishing a fiction selection or chapter, ask your child to confirm predictions and summarize what happened. When reading a nonfiction selection, have your child state the main idea and details.

In Writing, we will begin to revise our procedural pieces.

As part of this unit, we will collect favorite riddles for our "Riddle Wall." Students may wish to share riddles that they may have read or heard at home and write the questions for other students to guess on the wall. Last year, some students had time to make a riddle book.

We may begin learning and memorizing our vowel poem this week, time permitting.

In Social Science we will continue to compare the past and the present. We will also work towards understanding our location in the world while learning the continents and the oceans (tested). We will compare globes and maps.

In Visual Art, we will begin our exploration of the basic elements of art beginning with line.

In Drama, we are combining all the skills we have learned so far to tell a story using dialogue.

For one of our PE lessons we will practice tossing and catching.

Chapter 3 Math Test Results

Of the 23 students taking the Chater 3 Math Test, 21 students passed with an adjusted score of 13 or better.  Six students achieved a perfect score.

Unit 3 Week 1 Preview

In our new unit we will be exploring fun and laughter. In the first week we ask what makes us laugh and how do we make other people laugh. Our oral vocabulary is amuse, delighted, humorous, mood, ridiculous. Our reading sight words are away, school, today, way, why. For spelling we will focus on 'long-a' spellings. We will listen to and generate rhyme. Time permitting we will use a Flow Map to generate a retell. We will incorporate time-order cues and words into our retell.

In Writing we will begin our unit on informational texts beginning with writing a "How to"

In Social Science we will discuss good sportsmanship and rules (HSS 1.1.2) In the coming weeks we will also learn the basic components of a simple map.

In Science we will soon begin studying the elements of weather.

Periodic Math Assessment Results

Of 23 students taking the test 20 students passed with 17 students achieving a perfect score. Results available in class or during Parent Conferences.

Fifty-Third Day of School

We will take our Social Science and Science tests on Friday. Please find exam review notes with your child today.

The children chose information on which to be tested for Social Science. The basic concepts are:

• In order of importance, what are a humans needs for survival?
• Compare the past with the present considering education, commerce (stores), transportation, and communication.
• What are some traditions we share?

The concepts for Science are:

• The 3 forms of matter
• How one form of matter transforms to another
• Examples of each form of matter
• Properties of liquids and solids

Fifty-Second Day of School

The 5 candidates for Class President delivered their speeches today. tomorrow we will vote by secret ballot.

Reminder: School shoes should be secured to foot by either a lace or Velcro strap.

Fifty-First Day of School

Today we discussed high and low notes in music and how different tones are made. We also discussed the song element of melody.

Tomorrow we will do our first round of filming. those wishing to run for class president or take part in the interviews should not wear any green tomorrow.

On Wednesday we will take the periodic math assessment.

Unit 2 Week 5 Preview

For the next few instructional days we will ask what neighbors do together for fun. Our oral vocabulary words will be: audience, entertain, brilliant, enjoy, perform. Our sight words will be: all, put, show, together, under, want. In phonics we will be introduced to the digraphs 'sh,' and 'th'. We will again generate retells and summaries of our selections using visualization.