Seventy-Fifth Day of School

Today we published and turned in our procedural writing sample. We also completed writing and sharing our gingerbread person stories (poor poor gingerbread people).

Reminder: please remember, leggings and a t-shirt does not constitute an outfit sufficient for the LAUSD dress code.

Seventy-Fourth Day of School

Reminder: school shoes should be fastened with ties or a Velcro strap. Socks should be worn everyday.

First graders are being asked to wear black (dark) pants and a red or green shirt for Friday's performance.

In Science we discussed air and wind. We discussed several things that wind can do (push, make noise). We used wind to move a variety of objects.

FYI: A book was read about Santa Mouse (a treasury from childhood) to the children. A child asked (as is always the case) after the second story was finished, 'Are you sure that's true?' Hmm....So the legend goes, that if you should happen to find a small (tiny) gift tucked somewhere in your tree, perhaps tied with a yellow bow, then you will know that Santa Mouse has been to your house. *Shrugs* I don't know, it's just what I've heard. Who knows how these stories get started? But maybe all first graders should check the branches of their trees on Christmas morning just to make sure.

Seventy-Second Day of School

We did not begin a new focus for this week but rather are catching up with things we didn't have time for in previous weeks.

Earlier this week we learned about possessive 's' (apostrophe 's') to indicate possession.

In Writing we have been working on editing. Today we edited for capitalization and punctuation.

In Music we learned an additional music element: harmony.

In Social Science we compared the past with the present. We learned that the recording of things that have already happened becomes history. We learned that many things that were made by hand in the past (clothing, baskets, etc.) are often made by machine now.

We will have our winter celebration on Friday, the 18th. Set-up for the celebration will begin at 11:30.

Chapter 4 Test Results

Of 23 students taking the test, 20 passed with an adjusted score if 12 points or more the modal average was a score of 15. Two students achieved a score of 18.

Sixty-Sixth Day of School

In Writing we added "hints" to our work as a revision step. Our process was to reread and decide if our audience would benefit from an extra bit of information in any given step. An example from our writing:

First, cook the macaroni. Hint: don't cook for too long.

The strategy for our Math homework (make 10 to subtract) may be a bit beyond some students. Let's try not to stress if the strategy is not mastered at this point.

December reading logs are in students' possession.