Freedom, freedom, let it ring!

Congrats to Room 4 students and all of first grade on a wonderful performance out our assembly. They were brave, confident, sang beautifully and did an awesome job! Thank you to all the parents who were able to come watch and support them and thank you to the parents who practiced at home with their child. 

This week was a lot of fun in science! We looked at clouds, the water cycle and today we got a little silly and tried to find hidden images in clouds. Next week we will finish up one or two more weather lessons and finish reading some books. Students also did an activity where they looked at their skin color and one student pointed out to the class that it is silly to think we can separate people by skin color because not one single person has the same color skin. First graders are so wise and so right!

In math we looked at fact families and started to see the relationship between addition and subtraction. Students played a fun card game called, "Salute!" You should ask them about it and you can actually play it at home with a deck of cards if you use only the number cards. Next week we will be looking at greater than and equal to and the function machine and following a rule, which relates to subtraction, addition and skip counting. Next week we will finish up this unit in math. Here is a link with some games to play at home: 

https://pmm.nasa.gov/education/sites/default/files/article_images/Water-Cycle-Art2A.png



In Superkids we continued to work on our pattern words and new memory words. Students are really starting to grasp the idea of doubling the consonant (or making sure there already are two consonants) before adding an ending (ex. -ing, -er, -ed). Students also can identify base or root words. We are working on stopping and jotting when we read and reading thoughtfully by making text-to-text or real life connections. I shared ways that we can feel connected to a character or how characters in books (or movies) can remind us of people in lour real lives.

Remember to return permission slips for our upcoming field trip to downtown Amherst for our Yelp reviews. We would love to have some chaperones if you are available! Here are some things we would love to have (a wishlist) for our class:  multicultural crayons, rolls of  1/4" cork board (without a backing) for a project, modge podge and would would LOVE more snack!

Your kids are doing a great job filling up the pom-pom jar.... we are almost there! Have a great weekend!

Cloudy with a chance...

Mid-year assessments have been the theme this week and what troopers your children have been! They have shown such maturity and cooperation through it all. We have done the BAS reading assessment, and aimsweb for math and reading. I keep reminding myself that although assessments may not be very fun, they are a great tool to see what areas we need to work on with students, to help identify struggling students and also students who may need more of a challenge. There is always a silver lining, which leads into our exploration of weather and clouds...

Student have been learning all about clouds and weather. We have learned about cirrus, cumulonibus, cumulus, and stratus clouds. Students have observed, recorded, read about, and illustrated about these clouds and created a diagram.We have also watched weather reports and observed the weather.

In writing students discussed their opinions on various topics, while learning to respect the opinions of others. For example: chocolate or vanilla, the circus or aquarium, favorite season, and others. Next week we will start opinion writing.

In math students are working on relational thinking and balancing equations with a missing addend and subtrahend. Students solved equations and were asked to become more flexible thinkers and to really stretch their brains. Next week we will look at fact families.

In reading students were introduced to new memory words for unit 5 of Superkids. We talked about the cvc and the cvcc pattern words and talked about how you need to have a double consonant before your ending (-ed, -er, -ing). Students are doing a great job with these when reading and writing. Please keep reading with your child each night! It is very supportive of your child's growth in reading! 

Have a great weekend!

2017!

Hello Room 4 families! I hope you had a great vacation! Here we go, back in gear in 2017. Here is a quick update of the learning we have been doing this week...

In reading we wrapped up units 3 and 4 of Superkids and students did an awesome job spelling memory and pattern words with -le and -ed, where a double consonant is required before the ending. Students have been isolating the root word and practicing a lot with memory words. Next week I will be doing reading assessments (BAS) with all students to determine their current reading levels and to tracking progress. Math and reading assessments will also be given with AIMSWEB by reading and math interventionists.

In writing students worked on snow globe projects where they wrote about what they would do if they lived in a snow globe. There were many creative ideas such as: breaking out, skiing, drinking hot chocolate, going sledding, building snowmen, digging holes, and going ice skating. I took a picture of students and they created a snow globe world of their own.Next week students will start a mini-unit connected to specialists and writing as a scientists where students will write their own book all about an animal. The following week students will start opinion writing.

In science students have started to learn about weather. We watched several weather reports, observed weathered and extended our daily recording of the weather that happens during morning meeting into the afternoon with a more detailed report. We will continue to learn about wind and clouds next week.

In math students have started the initial thinking behind relational thinking and fact families. Students will start to understand that addition and subtraction are actually related. Students first explored the idea of the equal sign and what equivalent means. Students played with pan balances and making things the same or equal on both sides. It was a lot of fun to get some time to explore hands-on materials and explore with a less structured learning activity. Students also worked on balancing equations. 

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! If you have time, stop by the PGO ski and skate sale at Crocker Farm! I bought some awesome snow shoes last year and use them all the time-brand new but at such a great price! I plan on checking it out!

Literacy at home

Hello Room 4 families! As we head into the winter break at the end of this week, I wanted to share some literacy links that I like and that your child can access from home. I hope you find some time to snuggle up with your child and do some reading over the break as well. Room 4 students have grown so much this fall! In January we will be checking in with each student to check his/her current reading level with use of the BAS assessment. Aside from reading, and more importantly, I also hope you have time to relax and spend some quality time with your friends and family. Wishing you all a happy and healthy winter vacation! 

http://www.uniteforliteracy.com

https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2010/07/20-sites-to-improve-your-childs-literacy.html

http://pbskids.org/games/reading/

Parachutes and Pajamas

Science is off to an awesome start in room 4! Students are grasping concepts about air, learning about compression, pressure, solids, liquids and gases and matter. Students did an exploration activity where they build parachutes and dropped them both inside and outside. They did a wonderful job working in teams and every person was involved. Then students were challenged to add a load to their parachute and design their own parachute. Students shared their parachute with the class and we discussed what worked and what didn't. It was amazing. Today students experienced air pressure using syringes and tubes. Students watched as air pressure built up and eventually launched the end of their syringe across the room. Students worked in pairs for this.

Pajama day was a hit and students were the envy on a day like today with the frigid weather. Students had time to read with their blankets, pillows and stuffed animals and got to design their own pajamas as a fun end of day activity.

In ELA we are looking at -er and -ed words. We are learning root works and have also learned that -ed can make 3 sounds: /ed/, /d/ and /t/. Students have been focused on retelling stories and more specifically on problem and solution and connecting with characters.

Tomorrow we will wrap up the first part of subtraction for the year. Students have done a great jobs using different strategies to solve subtraction story problems. Next week we will look at tallying and some data collection before the start of break!

The Nutcracker Ballet

Students had a great trip to the Nutcracker Ballet at the Academy of Music in Northampton! Students learned about the Nutcracker story, the characters, dancers, different moves the dancers do, ballet terms, the set and props, practice and hard work, and much more. It was fun and students did a great job listening and seemed to be engaged. One of our students will be performing as a gingerbread girl tonight and this Saturday as part of the ballet. We wish her luck and know she will do a fantastic job!

Students had the opportunity to visit their reading buddies class this week, which was set up like a long house and they learned a little about how the Womponogs lived. In science students are learning about air, wind, matter, pressure, force, resistance and gases, solids and liquids. Students made parachutes and got to drop them both inside and out. Students act as scientists, as they record their observations in science journals. Next week they will design their own parachutes and add a load to their parachute. 

In math, students are continuing to learn about subtraction as take away or less that and difference. Students have counted backwards, use manipulatives and built towers to compare numbers, drawn pictures, and used a number line to show different ways to solve subtraction and show difference. Students will be solving subtraction story problems next week and playing more subtraction games. 

In ELA students have started unit 4. We are looking at new pattern words that end in "er" and "ed". Students will also learn about non-fiction texts that author's write, taking on  the role of specialists on a specific subject. Students will then write thei own "All About" specialist book.

Just a reminder that next Wednesday is a 1:20 release and next Thursday is Pajama Day in room 4 and we also have a "Pizza, Pajama and Game Night" with families from 6:30-7:00. We are all set on supplies but would love some donations to put toward purchasing the pizzas. Have a great weekend!

Here comes the wind...

Well, we made it through a full 5-day week (it has been a while since we had a "normal" week). I suddenly came to the realization this week of just how much growth Room 4 students have made, when they read the morning message to me! Some of the words were not words I had intended for them to be able to read but they did it! YES!

Students finished their "How To" books and got to share their books with some of the students in Ms. Donoghue's and Ms. Bartolini's classes. It was a fun way to hear from other friends and see the learning that is going on across the grade.

Students are working on the endings: -le and -ng and have been noticing some patterns in words that end in -le, such as most of the time you need a double consonant before the -le (of course there are always a few exceptions to the rule). Students worked on categorizing and retelling stories. We also played a fun story game called "Fiddlesticks", where students worked together to tell a story and each student added a part to the story.

In math we have started subtraction and have solved using the number line and using concrete objects. Next week we will continue to explore "difference" by comparing and building numbers. 

We will also be building some background knowledge about the Nutcracker before we go on our field trip (Friday) and we will start a science unit which will include our writing curriculum, where students will learn about wind and clouds. Students will do experiments and explorations and then respond through projects and journaling. Students will have an opportunity to think outside the box and do some designing and trial and error. It should be really interesting.