Now that we're back on our usually schedule, most of the students are getting back into the routine of school. They are all reading a ton and making great strides. As a 1st grade teacher, nothing warms my heart more than to see a bunch of kids, sprawled out across the room reading books quietly and independently. Woo!
Here is the latest from room 130... Language Arts We are smack-dab in the middle of our informational text unit. We are studying animals group, and more specifically about elephants (did you know that baby elephants suck their trunk like a human baby might suck a thumb?) Students are learning more about text features, visualization, and authors purpose. Thank you for all your help with their reading logs and new reading responses as well. Writer's Workshop We are rounding the corner on our informational text teaching books. We will be having our second publishing party next week to celebrate these great chapter books. I have learned much about Minecraft, baking, sharks, Star Wars, etc. from the students. They are using table of contents to form chapters that include how-to's, lists, and introductions/conclusions. Math We have begun our math scrolls this week (thank you to those of you who donated paper towel rolls.) Math scrolls are just 1-100 grid paper that the students fill out from time to time. Once they reach 100, they paste another page that goes from 101-200. Hopefully many of them will reach 1000 before the end of the year (about 10' in length). The kids love this activity, and it really helps them understand place value. In addition (pun intended), we will continue to cover addition/subtraction with teen numbers. Science Rocks are still our focus. The students have been experimenting away, sorting rocks in various piles as per specific property (i.e. texture, color, size). We are watching another Billy Nye the Science guy video, and will take our first quiz on the unit by the end of the week. Miscellaneous -Our field trip is coming upon us soon. Please send in any forms and/or money if you have not already done so. Side note, please send the form and money in an envelope/baggie that is clearly marked with your child's name. Morning can be hectic and it is difficult to keep these things organized. -We are inviting a new student named Alaynah into room 130 this week. My hope is that all students will do their very best to make her feel welcome and help her with any routines or questions she has. -Wellness week starts up again next week. Any yoga instructors, doctors, nutritionists, or the like with a few extra minutes in the day to talk about their craft and how it affect health, please contact me. We'd love to have you come in and speak. As usual, I'm sure there is more to add, but it is late. Take care everybody. ~Mr. Layes
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Hello again. Here's a few things I forgot to mention in my last post...
-I'd like to thank all of you that have helped your children fill out the weekly reading log, and have thus helped them become better readers by reading every single day. Some students continue to struggle with this important homework. If you have any questions or for some reason misplace this document, please email with any concerns. -We are still collecting box tops. Please keep sending these in. Every little bit counts. -I have recently updated all Raz-kids accounts. If you are not seeing two new books come home every night, feel free to read a couple of books off of Raz-kids to fulfill your reading homework. -Please continue to use the IXL website if you sense your child is struggling with math, or needs to be challenged further. - Hello everybody,
Some of you may have noticed that my usual Wednesday night blog ritual has been disrupted this year. I have a confession to make: I am moonlighting as the 7th grade basketball coach at McCracken. This new position has left me with precious little time during the week to blog, or for that matter, get to all my correcting. If you do not see a ton of work coming home, wait until Monday (or in this case Tuesday). My bball duties will cease in early March. I will continue to write a blog at least once a week, but not at any particular time. I hope that is ok by all of you. With most of our winter testing done, I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine. So let's get to it. Here's the latest... Language Arts Students will be reading and learning all about the Rain Forest and what kind of animals live there. We will be highlighting text features including headings, captions, and labels. I will be using maps as well. Additionally, we will also read a story about how a leopard got his spots. This story will help us with sequencing and inferring character motives. Writer's Workshop We are knee deep into our teaching books. Teaching topics covered during this week include how to use comparisons to illustrate meaning, giving greater details using shape, color, and size, and finally how to properly use introductions and conclusions. Math We have just begun Unit 5 in Math. The students will be solving addition and subtraction problems using teen numbers. There will be more story problems as well (unknown total and addend). I make a point to have each story problem show a math mountain and equation as well, to make sure that the student has mastery over the problem. Science The students will be experimenting with river rocks this week. Along with their partners, they will be sorting rocks by different properties. We will begin to build another word bank of words that include, sharp, round, flat, shiny, pointy, etc. Feel free to add to our growing collection of rocks for our Classroom Rock Museum too. Miscellaneous -A big thanks to all of you who came out for Parent Visitation Day. It was a pleasure having you in our room for the day, and thanks for all of your kind words as well. It is truly an honor to be able to teach your children, and I strive to do my best every single day. -Another big thank you to those of you who purchased books from the book fair to add to our classroom library. I will be savoring these books over the course of the next few weeks by reading one of them everyday during our read aloud. -If any of you have spare paper towel rolls, please send them in (not toilet paper rolls though). The students will soon begin their 1st grade number scrolls and we need supplies. Thanks! -Recently a few students have been interested in Highlights Magazine (which I have displayed and ready to read in the classroom). If you are interested in a subscription, or want more information, please contact me at your earliest convenience. -Again, Happy Birthday to Paul (today is his real birthday). He turns 7. Thanks to Mr. Baba for reading the class Creepy Carrots too! I think that about wraps it up. I hope everybody enjoyed their three day weekend. Perhaps you watched my lovely Seattle Seahawks shock the nation yesterday. I hope none of you are Packers fans (sorry about that). Can't wait for that Super Bowl. But I digress. Take care, ~Mr. Layes Happy New Year to everybody. First off, my apologies not getting a blog post to you sooner. Last week was very strange with the two snow days, and a Friday that felt like a Monday with more than a few kids absent. Because of this wonky first week, and a second week full of testing, you might not see much new material. I'm hopeful that after MLK day things will get back to normal.
*Note: We did not test last weeks' word wall and spelling words. We will cover the 1/5 words this week and 1/12 words next week. Also, the reading log will look very similar from last weeks since we are covering similar material. Language Arts Guided reading will be postponed due to testing, however we will have a few whole group lessons on Sea Animals. We will review the important parts of informational text and talk about why an author writes about a topic. This ties into our unit in Writer's Workshop. We will read books about sharks, fish, and other sea creatures, and watch a video or two as well. Writer's Workshop We will be reviewing the how-to's and expectations of their 1st grade news folders (stories they write about their weekends on Monday's). We will dive back into our unit on informational teaching books the students were writing before the winter break as well. We will discuss how to create chapters with sub-topics as well as how to organize our stories effectively. Math We finished up Unit 4 before the break, and last week we pre-assessed for Unit 5. The new unit will look similar to the previous one, except that the numbers will be larger. Think 60 + 13 instead of 14 + 7. We will be working with a hundreds chart, and look at different ways to count with that tool (add/subtract by ones moving left/right, by 10's up/down). We will start the unit later in the week, so the homework will not be the familiar 5.1 worksheets. Science/Social Studies This week we will be learning more about seasons with an emphasis on winter. We will learn more about how animals live in wintry climates and talk about arctic habitats. Later in the week we will highlight Martin Luther King, and the holiday coming up on Monday. Miscellaneous -Book Fair is coming tomorrow and will be at Middleton all week. Please note that the students will be perusing the selection on Tuesday and making a wishlist complete with book titles and prices. If you wish (and will not be able to come shop with them sometime during the week), please send money with your child on Wednesday morning. There will be an opportunity for those students with money to buy books in the morning. If you are unable to make it, you can place an order online. Please see the Middleton Weekly for details. -Parent Visitation Day is on Friday. Feel free to stop by and see Room 130 in action between the hours of 8:30 and 2:30. This will be a good time to take your child to the book fair and buy and items they asked for earlier in the week. -Happy Birthday to Paul Baba who will turn seven on Monday the 19th. We will be celebrating this upcoming Friday afternoon. -Don't forget to send in any winter enrichment paperwork soon. Forms are due tomorrow 1/12. I'm sure there is more, and I'll make an update if needed on my usual Wednesday night. Thank you for sending your kids in warm outfits, and we'll try to keep all their gloves, hats, and scarves accounted for. Take care, ~Mr. Layes |
AuthorMr. Layes hails from the Pacific NW, cut his teeth on the streets of NYC, and now calls the Midwest... home. Archives
September 2017
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