Well, we have just about made it to spring break. Along with warmer temperatures and the melting of the snow, I think it is fitting that Friday is the spring equinox and our last day before the break. I know I need it, and I believe the kids do too. I will be sending home an optional spring break checklist with activities for students to engage in while at home (or abroad), during the relaxing time off. Here's the latest...
Language Arts This week, students worked on visualization using short poems. We read two poems about dogs, one who was actually a crocodile, and another who makes pizza. Students were asked to draw what they saw in their minds and transfer that image onto paper. Later in the week, we will look at some famous artwork, and do something similar (and kind of opposite), when I ask the students to write words to match the paintings. Writer's Workshop The students are becoming such strong writers! They have been working hard on their first (of three) installments of their opinions pieces. They need to be giving multiple and convincing reasons why something in their collections is better than another. We worked on covers today and will have a sharing station a publishing party tomorrow. Math We will be wrapping up our unit on graphing and data this week. We will review today and assess tomorrow. The students have been using a new strategy to help them understand more complex story problems called comparison bars. These enable students to set up the question (which set of data has more/fewer, etc.) in a way to help them find the solution. The next unit will consist of clocks and telling time plus geometry. Science/Social Studies During this week our focus has been on St. Patrick's day and the spring equinox. On Tuesday, students learned all about Ireland by taking a virtual tour using Google Earth and watching a fun video (castles abound!). We learned more about leprechauns and where they like to stash their gold. We will read not one, but two Scholastic Newsletters dedicated to spring this week. We'll learn how the weather changes and how animals change their habits depending on the season. Miscellaneous -Christina will turn seven this weekend. We will be celebrating on Friday afternoon. -Please remember to send in the report card envelope from the 2nd trimester grades, please. -Keep sending in those box tops! A pizza party is at stake! We'll see you on the flip side. Enjoy your break everybody! ~Mr. Layes
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By now, hopefully you have had a chance to look over your child's report card. Please take a moment to discuss the grades with them and reflect on the progress made and any goals they would like to achieve by the end of the year. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Language Arts Last week we celebrated Dr. Seuss and all of his wonderful books. The kids were so engaged and motivated that afterwards the 1st grade team decided that we will spend two weeks next year on the topic. This week we will be looking at different versions of Chicken Little. We will look at cause and effect relationships and make inferences about characters motivations and feelings. We will also talk about the moral or message to learn from these stories. Writer's Workshop The students are sharing their very strong opinions and viewpoints in their writing these days. They are learning that in readers may disagree with their opinion, so in order to persuade them, writers must give many detailed reason. As a class, we worked on counter arguments. Students chose one of these statements to disagree with write a counter argument: R2-D2 is the best Star Wars character; Olaf is the best Frozen character; and sand is the best Minecraft block. Needless to say, there was a flurry of writing. Our first publishing party about their opinion piece written about their collections will happen next week. Math Early this week students will finish up learning about data and graphs. Using terms like more and fewer to compare data has been highlighted. Later in the week we will use a tool called comparison bars to help understand number stories better. This strategy is similar to math mountains, however it highlights the difference between two sets of data. Science This week the students have returned to experimenting with rocks. On Tuesday the young scientists practiced sorting rocks by size; pebble, gravel and sand. Later in the week we will do another experiment with sand and silt. In this experiment, partners will observe how sand and water react to each other in small vials, and will see what happens to the sand and water overnight (the silt will rise to the top layer). Miscellaneous -Please send report card envelopes back to school. I will need these to send your third trimester grades to you as well. At the moment, I have about half the class' envelopes back. -St. Patrick's Day is coming up next Tuesday. We won't be doing throwing a huge party, but I encourage students to wear green and get into the Irish spirit. We will discuss Ireland, leprechauns, and four leaf clovers. -Next Friday we will be celebrating Christina's 7th birthday! -The first day of spring is just around the corner on March 20th. Get out and soak up some vitamin D. Hello everybody,
Room 130 is in a groove! March is such a great month for teaching. Spring is in the air and the kids really understand the routines and responsibilities in class. They are growing their thinking muscle and create more meaningful, detailed, and quality work. Thank you supporting your child on their journey through first grade. Only three months to go! Here's the latest... Language Arts It is all about Ted! Or as you might know him, Dr. Seuss. Theodore Geisel was born on March 2nd, 1904 in Springfield, MA. The students are learning all about one of their favorite authors this week. We'll be reading a biography on the author, several of his books and some early poetry too. We'll spend our computer lab time exploring Seussville.com and look at a timeline of Ted's life. Writer's Workshop We began our next unit on opinion writing this week. After explaining exact what an opinion is, I had students choose their favorite kind of pet (dog, cat, fish, or bird), and stand in the corresponding corner and tell why they think that pet is the best. We also will be understanding how to judge things, and explain with detail why one item is better than another. Students will begin their writing based around collections they have at home (pokemon cards, bottle caps, stuffed animals, star wars figuring, etc.), using that as a jump off point for their writing. Math The students have begun to delve in deeper to data collection and comparisons of said data. They are looking at how to set up the data to give them the best chance of understanding the differences between the two/three data sets. They will be finding errors in data and within solutions to problems to help them have a deeper understanding of the strategies taught. Science Because of the short week, a birthday and focusing on Dr. Seuss, we had only one lesson this week on rocks. The students were able to do a sorting experiment using screens to sift and filter different size river rocks. With partners, they took a cup of rocks and sifted through three different sized screens to get a total of four different sized collections of rock. The reaction they had to a plate full of sand (just miniature rocks!) was priceless. Miscellaneous -This Sunday in Finn Kennedy's 7th birthday and we will be celebrating this Friday afternoon. -Report cards will be sent home next week. Please take a look at them with your child and talk about any positive growth or areas of struggle. Perhaps set a goal or two for them at home to attain be the end of the year. If you have any questions about the grades, please email me. It's supposed to reach the low 50's by next week. I don't know about you, but I am ready for spring. That's it for now... ~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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