Thanksgiving Edition!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had a wonderful time learning about the First Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, and corn.. The kids did a beautiful job with their Pilgrim dolls and I was so pleased to see and hear about each of your families. We have such a rich culture in our classroom!

Thank you for sending in the bags of popcorn for our corn feast. We enjoyed a variety of popcorn flavors and got to see popcorn being made in a real popcorn machine! What a treat!

Finally I want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. This is such a special time of year and I hope you get to enjoy it and not be too overworked! I am thankful everyday that I ended up at such an amazing school with such a wonderful group of students and parents. I could not have asked for better. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to this great school!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mandy

Blog Update

December 2-6, 2013

Math: This week, we will start learning about Money.  We will learn the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter, and we will discuss the characteristics that make each coin unique.  We will make a money book and compare and contrast the coins.

Reading Workshop:  This week we will begin our "giving" unit.  For the next two weeks we will focus on literature that shows the benefits of having a giving heart.   We will do different activities that focus on giving to others and to nature.  The comprehension strategy that we will use this week is summarizing/retelling.  As we read, we should always stop to ask ourselves what we just read and retell what is happening in the story.  If we don't remember, we should go back and reread.  If we do remember, move on with our reading until we get to the end and then retell/summarize again when we are finished with the story.

Writing Workshop: We are learning all about writing a friendly letter during Writer's Workshop this week. We will be putting our skills to practice by writing a letter to another first grade class as we learn the five parts of a friendly letter. We will learn about "Pen Pals", and encourage writing letters to friends and relatives throughout this unit! 

Social Studies:  For the next several weeks we will be learning about the many different winter celebrations around the world.  This week, we will learn about celebrations in the USA, Israel, England, and India.

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

*Library day is Thursday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder and every day.

Dates to remember:

November 27-29:  Thanksgiving Holidays

December 4:  Early Release Day

December 5:  Family Art Night

December 9-13:  Book Fair

December 23:  Winter Break Begins

November 18-22, 2013

Wow! I cannot believe that we are just over a week away from Thanksgiving! This semester has flown by!

Here are a few important things to add to your list this week...

1. Pilgrim projects are due on Wednesday! The kids have been talking about their pilgrim and they are super excited to share out. I can't wait to see what they bring. 
2. This week we will be talking about corn and where corn comes from. Next Tuesday we will have a "corn party". The kids will be asked to bring a dish that uses corn in some way (corn chowder, cornbread, popcorn...) We will talk more as a class about this later in the week. 
3. Next Tuesday will be our Turkey Trot day in PE. The more parents we have, the more points we get! I hope you can come and run/walk a few laps with us!

Math: Students will use repeating and additive growing patterns to make predictions. They use patterns to skip count by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. We will collect, sort, and organize data in up to three categories using models/representations such as tally marks or T-charts. The Students will display math concepts using concrete and pictorial models in problem solving connected to everyday experiences.

     According to John A. Van de Walle, author of Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics K-3 the "big ideas" behind Algbraic Reasoning are grounded in patterns.  Students who can "recognize, extend and generalize with both words and symbols in many different forms" will master reasoning skills.  "Patterns are found in physical and geometric situations as well as in numbers." 

Reading Workshop:  This week we will be learning how to make meaningful connections.  There are 3 ways to make connections…text to self, text to text, and text to world.  We will also learn why it is important to explain our connections.  Lastly, we will learn that strong readers stay focused on the story once they have made their connection.

Writing Workshop: This week, we will begin learning about Expository text.  We have talked about how Expository texts can be a lot of different types of writing (Informational, How-To, Graphs, Maps, Newspapers, etc…).  We will begin by focusing on Informational text.  We will learn the difference between fact and opinion.  We will learn about the different features of an Informational text, and we will begin writing Informational pieces about topics that we are familiar with.

Social Studies:  This week we will be learning about maps, globes, compasses, and using these tools to tell direction.  We will look at and compare and contrast many different maps. The kids will even make their very own map!

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

*Library day is Thursday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder every day.

Dates to remember:

November 20:  Pilgrim Dolls are due!

November 26: Turkey Trot during PE

November 27-29:  Thanksgiving Holidays

December 4:  Early Release Day

December 5:  Family Art Night

December 9-13:  Book Fair

December 23:  Winter Break Begins

November 11-15, 2013

We are very busy this week! On Monday we learned all about Veterans and the important impact that they have on our lives. The rest of the week we will be creating our ABC book about the first Thanksgiving, in addition to our other daily tasks!

We are currently working on creating our very own class book, that we will be sending off to get published. It will be turned in to a real, hardback book! The kids are super excited about seeing their hard work as authors turned in to a real book. You will be getting information about the book in Tuesday folders this week. There is a form that you need to fill out about purchasing the book. You do not have to purchase the book, but I DO need the form signed and sent back to me. This is due by THURSDAY. Thank you! 

In addition to working on our class ABC book we will be learning...

Math: This week we will be continuing our unit on Addition Strategies that focus on Computational Fluency (quick math fact recall).  We will discuss strategies that count on 2 and count on 0.  These skills help children build their computational knowledge as they learn thinking strategies.  Children will relate their knowledge of solving math facts when they are problem solving now and later in life.

Reading Workshop:  This week, we will continue our research on Thanksgiving.  We are learning to read Expository Texts for the purpose of finding the answer to a question.  We are also learning to take notes. 

Writing Workshop: Our research of the first Thanksgiving is well under way. We have already read several books about the first Pilgrims to settle in the United States of America, the Native American Indians, the Mayflower, and the first feast with the two different cultures together to celebrate a new beginning and a bountiful harvest. We have been learning so much about the history of our country and are excited to continue researching and writing. We will even be sighting our works and making a glossary in our research writings this week!

Science: This week in science we will put our knowledge and understanding of energy and force and understand how energy, force and movement are related.  Energy causes force and force causes movement. We will explore how objects change location when they move such as moving closer to, nearer to, and farther from.  We will also demonstrate and record ways that objects can move such as in a straight line, zig zag, up and down, back and forth, round and round, and fast and slow.

Habit #5:  Seek first to understand, then to be understood.  I listen to others without interrupting.  I try to see things from their viewpoint.  I am confident in voicing my own ideas.

 

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

*Library day is Thursday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder every day.

Dates to remember:

November 13:  Family Skate Night

November 27-29:  Thanksgiving Holidays

December 4:  Early Release Day

December 5:  Family Art Night

December 9-13:  Book Fair

December 23:  Winter Break Begins

Have a great week!

-Miss Hill

Happy Fall Friday! I wanted to give a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for my wonderful birthday celebration! The flowers were beautiful and the gift cards were amazing. I could not have asked for a better day! 

There are a few things that are coming up that I wanted to make everyone aware of:
1. Tonight is the Hoot Family Picnic. I am excited to be a part of this fun tradition and I hope to see everyone there!
2. Next week kicks off Red Ribbon week. We will be talking throughout the week about making healthy choices and how that affects our bodies. Each day will have a different theme, so please see that weekly plan below for what to wear. I always love the fun Red Ribbon week days!

Monday: “Sock it to Drugs” day – wear crazy or mismatched socks

Tuesday: “Stomp out Drugs” day - wear tennis shoes

Wednesday: “Boot out Drugs” day – wear boots or western wear

Thursday: “Pledge to be Drug Free” day - wear red, white and blue

Friday: “Say BOO to Drugs” day – wear Halloween colors or t-shirt

More dates to remember:

October 14:  Student Holiday

October 18:  Hoot Family Picnic

October 30:  Early Release Day

November 2:  Harvest Festival

November 13:  Family Skate Night

November 27-29:  Thanksgiving Holidays

December 4:  Early Release Day

December 5:  Family Art Night

December 9-13:  Book Fair

December 23:  Winter Break Begins

The week of October 21-25 we will be learning about....

Math:  Students will collect, sort and organize data in up to three categories as well as draw conclusions, generate and answer questions about the graphs.  They will construct picture graphs, bar-type graphs, and graphs using real objects.  Students will display math concepts using concrete models in problem solving connected to everyday experiences.

Reading Workshop:  This week in reading workshop we will continue our unit with reading and studying nonfiction/expository texts.  So many students are really enjoying this unit and even checking out nonfiction in the library now.  I love the learning that takes place with this unit!  This week our focus will be on reading nonfiction books about bats and using our reading time to research and learn facts that we don’t already know about them.  This unit will extend into writing workshop too.  We will also spend some time on comparing and contrasting fiction vs. nonfiction books on bats.  Take a look in the halls to see our facts about spiders and watch for our bat facts to appear soon!  We are going “batty” over learning about this unit!

Writing Workshop:  This week during writer's workshop, we will continue learning about the elements of non-fiction versus fiction. We will be learning all about bats as we practice finding information, taking brief notes, and turning our research into a non-fiction piece of our own.

Social Studies:  This week, we will continue to learn about our National symbols.  We will discuss the vocabulary in the Pledge of Allegiance, and we will learn about the Statue of Liberty and the Bald Eagle.  We will also be creating some wonderful art projects!

Have a wonderful weekend and week!

-Miss Hill

Fall is here!

I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! The rain was a wonderful blessing! We are in full swing and I have so enjoyed meeting with everyone during conferences. It truly is such a wonderful time in your child's life and I am happy to be a part of it!

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for PE.

*Library day is Thursday.

Dates to remember:

October 14:  Student Holiday

October 18:  Hoot Family Picnic
October 20: Miss Hill's birthday

October 21 – 25: Red Ribbon Week

October 30:  Early Release Day

November 2:  Harvest Festival

November 13:  Family Skate Night

November 27-29:  Thanksgiving Holidays

December 4:  Early Release Day

December 5:  Family Art Night

December 9-13:  Book Fair

December 23:  Winter Break Begins

This week in first grade we will be learning about....

Math:   Students will continue to develop their conceptual understanding of the relationships between the numbers 1-10.  Students will practice and develop an understanding of how to compose and decompose numbers 0 – 120 using concrete and pictorial representations. Students will count up and back between 1 and 120.  Students will continue to develop their ability to conceptualize a number as being made up of two or more parts and their understanding of the part-part-whole model and related number relationships. They will also continue to explore, in this unit and throughout the year, a variety of addition/subtraction problem situations including joining, separating, part-part-whole, and comparing, with different unknowns: result/change/start, or part/whole or difference, in order to develop an understanding of the operations of addition and subtraction. Sums and differences are limited to 20. Students will generate a problem solving situation from a given number sentence and use concrete and pictorial models to solve problems using addition and subtraction with whole numbers to 20.

Reading Workshop:  This week in reading workshop we will continue reading and studying nonfiction/expository texts.  This week our focus will be on reading nonfiction books about spiders and using our reading time to research and learn facts that we don’t already know about them.  This unit will extend into writing workshop too.  We will also spend some time on comparing and contrasting fiction vs. nonfiction books on spiders.  This is fun unit and the kids always have fun researching with this unit! J  Be sure to ask your child what they learned this week about spiders!

Writing Workshop:  During the next several weeks in Writer’s Workshop, we will be learning how to write expository texts to communicate ideas and information that we are learning.  Our learning this week will focus on bats and begin with KWL charts in which we will write down facts that we already “know”; then write down questions that we “want to know”; and conclude with an informative writing that communicates what we have learned about bats. Please be watching for our work to begin filling the halls this week as our new unit of study unfolds.

Social Studies:  This week, we will be learning about Freedom, Liberty, and various United States symbols.  We will read and write facts about the Liberty Bell, the United States Flag, and our National Anthem.

As always, do not hesitate to call or email me with any questions you may have. Have a wonderful week!

-Miss Hill