Hello Families!
The winter weather has found us inside enjoying the warmth of recess in our classrooms. Here are some friends getting creative:
Here's a sneak-peek at the rest of our week:
Writer's Workshop
We continue to focus on fixing- and fancying-up our All About books. We learned about "Editing on the Go." Here are the steps:
Say it!
Write it!
Mark it!
Reread it!
This is a way for first grade writers to remember ending punctuation. As a reminder, it is an end-of-the-year expectation that first graders are consistently using ending punctuation in their writing. We'll continue to polish our writing pieces next Tuesday and set writing goals for ourselves by looking at the writing we've done in this unit and at our writing checklists and thinking about what we're doing well as writers and what we feel we need to work on.
Reader's Workshop
On Monday, we shared our nonfiction projects in small groups. Each child taught his/her small group about their topic. Then, group members asked questions.
I was lucky enough to catch one such group having a lively discussion about meerkats. Have a look!
Be sure to ask YOUR expert about his/her main topic and three key details!
This week we also spent some time with our latest issue of Scholastic News on Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a great opportunity to not only learn more about why we honor and celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. but also for us to use what we know about nonfiction text features to help us get the most out of the article.
On Wednesday we began our new reading unit: Readers Have Big Jobs to Do - Fluency, Phonics, and Comprehension. This is an important unit as our readers are moving into more difficult texts that require them to do the comprehension work of more proficient readers in these longer books. By focusing on efficient word-solving strategies, they will be better equipped to focus their attention on meaning and fluency.
Math Workshop
We continue to work with teen addition strategies with a focus this week on investigating doubles, doubles +/- 1, and doubles +/- 2 strategies.
Next Week's Word Wall Words:
did
get
now
day
back
Science
The Great Melting Race happened on Friday, and was it ever fun! We first observed the change in one state of matter - liquid to solid. Our water from last week was now ice. We noted our observations of the solid then were given the challenge of melting our ice cube as quickly as we could.
Our first grade scientists experimented with many different methods: rubbing the cube, blowing warm air into the baggie, sitting on the baggie, putting the baggie close to our bodies, putting the baggie in our shoes, and the list goes on! Some of our friends were able to melt their ice cubes in about 5 minutes, others took closer to 20 depending upon their methods. Ask your scientist about the method(s) s/he used and why.
Again, we observed the change in the state of matter: Now our solid changed back to a liquid. We then took our liquid and put it into petri dishes. Each group of scientists has a petri dish. Two of the dishes are covered, and two are uncovered. Finally, we made predictions about what we think will happen to the liquid in those petri dishes. Share with your first grader your predictions! Next week we'll make our observations.
Until then...
Michelle Mullen
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
Conference slips should be returned as soon as possible so that we can better accommodate your choices.
Your child brought home a letter asking for him/her to bring in a collection of items from home. Please be sure to read the specifics about the collection in terms of how many items, how large they should be, etc. If you need a shoe box, let me know. These collections are due by Wednesday, January 20th. Thank you for helping with this project!
Our field trip to Marquette to see Ivy & Bean is on Friday, January 22nd. We had an overabundance of families hoping to volunteer for our outing. Unfortunately, we can only take 2 per class, so one of my daughters chose 2 slips out of a bin. Thank you so much to everyone who was willing to offer their time. We hope you'll consider a future volunteer opportunity!
Mark Your Calendars!
January 18: No School - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 20th & 27th: MAP Testing
January 22: Ivy & Bean at Marquette
January 27: Early Release Day
February 2: PAJAMA DAY!
Bedtime Stories First Grade Event 6:30-7:30
February 10: Early Release Day
February 11: Conferences in PM
February 12: Valentine's Day Celebration
February 15: No School for Students/Nicolet Partnership meetings for staff/Conferences in PM
February 18th: Conferences in PM
February 24: Early Release Day/Conferences
March 9: Early Release Day
March 14: Report cards
March 25-April 3rd: Spring Break
April 13: Early Release Day
April 19: Schlitz Audubon
April 22: No School for Students
April 27: Early Release Day
May 11: Early Release Day
May 25: Early Release Day
May 30: No School
June 9: Last day of first grade
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