Comparing Numbers

It was only a 3-day week, so it flew by! Students worked hard and we only need one more pom-pom in our CARE jar! Nice work! On Monday we reviewed comparing numbers and students really got the concept of <, >, =, explained as a "hungry gator" who always wants to eat the bigger number. Students also used a function machine and learned to identify the rule or how a number is changed, following a pattern such as adding 10 each time or subtracting 3 each time.

Students wrapped up unit 5 of Superkids today and are doing an awesome job with pattern words ending with -ing and -ed. Students are doubling the consonant when appropriate and did a great job spelling both pattern words and memory words (be, to, there, be, from, or) on their spelling test today. Please encourage your students to keep doing their best handwriting even when the amount of writing output increases. I give positive praise for thoughtful writing, meaning an effort to write neatly. 

Next Wednesday we will go on our field trip to review restaurants in downtown Amherst. Students have been writing their opinions about matchbox cars and we also read, "I Wish I had Duck Feet," and students wrote about what animal part they would want. There were some very creative ideas and great ideas as to why. I cannot wait to see their art projects that we will do on Monday to go with their writing. Students have completed their "All About" animals books that they worked on in small groups and will share them with the class on Monday.

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!