Dear families,
Which special do you think is best? Why? Listen to these persuasive groups and see if your opinion gets changed by their STRONG reasons.
Here's how we came up with the groups:
1. We signed up on a chart under our favorite special and gave reasons why we thought what we did
2. We split into groups based on our favorite special
3. Anyone was able to switch but we have some brave students in our class who believed in their special and why it was best and were okay with being by themselves or with one other person! All students were brave - don't get me wrong! Public speaking is not easy - but I think our class rocks at coming up with strong persuasive speeches!
P. E. Persuasive
Music Persuasive
Spanish Persuasive
Library Persuasive
Art Persuasive
Computers Persuasive
P. E. Persuasive (group 2)
Monday, May 20, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
Safari Room Sentinel!
Safari Room Sentinel!
Dear families, we had an awesome week this week and finished on a fabulous Friday field day! woo hoo!
Next week:
In Language Arts: We will be reviewing consonant sounds that follow the "Flippy Dolphin" rule, such as: c: /s/ or /k/ sounds s: /s/ or /z/ sounds y: /y/ long i or long e sounds g: /g/ or /j/ sounds and working to apply these in our reading and writing. We are also studying the last comprehension strategy of synthesizing. This is hard to say, and we've learned that we synthesize all the time when we read. We've learned that as our thinking changes and we make new meaning in a text based on our schema and our connections, we are synthesizing.
We've been reading stories about diverse families and hardships they go through -- and how things are not always as they seem at the beginning of a story. This has been a lot of fun to hear how your child synthesizes in their own reading, too.
In Math: We are continuing to work on adding two digit numbers. Students are able to use the strategy that works best for them: either drawing all the sticks and circles and grouping them, or making the new group within the equation. I am amazed at their understanding of this concept and we will continue to practice next week! Look for a short show me modeling another strategy for grouping within the equation next week! We have also been working with coins in class. Practicing identifying and counting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Any chance that you have spare change around and your child can practice counting it is a great way to help them get ready for this in second grade! We use fake money and I know they love it, but nothing is quite as good as counting real change :) hehe.
In Social Studies: We've studied maps and learned about absolute locations-places with addresses. We've also studied how humans modify the environment to meet their needs and adapt to the environment to survive. We read a very interesting book (all wordless) called, "The Window" that shows how the environment changes over time to meet the needs of humans. We had mixed reactions on whether these modifications are good or bad - it was an interesting discussion to have!
In Writing: Have you been persuaded yet? We are loving working on persuasive writing and making sure our reasons are "strong" and "juicy." I know I'm working on persuading Mr. Richert to get a puppy, but I'm not sure my reasons have been strong enough yet :) We will continue working on this and incorporating social studies concepts about the environment and taking care of it next week.
Dates to Remember: May 24: Last Day of the Just Right Book Room
May 27: No School - Memorial Day
June 4 & 5: Half Days of School / Last Day of School
This has been a great year and I wish your families the best this summer. Hopefully we have a lot of sunshine and your child has a great time with family, friends, Summer Stretch activities and of course, curling up with some great books!
Next week:
In Language Arts: We will be reviewing consonant sounds that follow the "Flippy Dolphin" rule, such as: c: /s/ or /k/ sounds s: /s/ or /z/ sounds y: /y/ long i or long e sounds g: /g/ or /j/ sounds and working to apply these in our reading and writing. We are also studying the last comprehension strategy of synthesizing. This is hard to say, and we've learned that we synthesize all the time when we read. We've learned that as our thinking changes and we make new meaning in a text based on our schema and our connections, we are synthesizing.
We've been reading stories about diverse families and hardships they go through -- and how things are not always as they seem at the beginning of a story. This has been a lot of fun to hear how your child synthesizes in their own reading, too.
In Math: We are continuing to work on adding two digit numbers. Students are able to use the strategy that works best for them: either drawing all the sticks and circles and grouping them, or making the new group within the equation. I am amazed at their understanding of this concept and we will continue to practice next week! Look for a short show me modeling another strategy for grouping within the equation next week! We have also been working with coins in class. Practicing identifying and counting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Any chance that you have spare change around and your child can practice counting it is a great way to help them get ready for this in second grade! We use fake money and I know they love it, but nothing is quite as good as counting real change :) hehe.
In Social Studies: We've studied maps and learned about absolute locations-places with addresses. We've also studied how humans modify the environment to meet their needs and adapt to the environment to survive. We read a very interesting book (all wordless) called, "The Window" that shows how the environment changes over time to meet the needs of humans. We had mixed reactions on whether these modifications are good or bad - it was an interesting discussion to have!
In Writing: Have you been persuaded yet? We are loving working on persuasive writing and making sure our reasons are "strong" and "juicy." I know I'm working on persuading Mr. Richert to get a puppy, but I'm not sure my reasons have been strong enough yet :) We will continue working on this and incorporating social studies concepts about the environment and taking care of it next week.
Dates to Remember: May 24: Last Day of the Just Right Book Room
May 27: No School - Memorial Day
June 4 & 5: Half Days of School / Last Day of School
This has been a great year and I wish your families the best this summer. Hopefully we have a lot of sunshine and your child has a great time with family, friends, Summer Stretch activities and of course, curling up with some great books!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Safari Room Sentinel 4 - 15 - 13
What's Up Next Week...
In Language Arts we will continue to study Narrative Texts and also start studying the theme of Cooperation in Reading Workshop. We will build on this theme which will culminate in a district-wide writing assessment in a few weeks. We are learning to identify themes within narrative and supply evidence to prove those themes.
We will start to learn about different "Vowel Teams" in Phonics. This goes with the old rule, "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." We will study this throughout April.
In Writing workshop, we are continuing to use different text structures to write narrative stories. We've studied fairy tales, sequential stories and cumulative stories this week. Punctuation and Capitalization for beginning of sentences and names of people and things are a focus area for us at this time of the year.
In Math, we will start Unit 7 which focuses on Time and Measurement. Unit 6 was challenging for many students, especially with comparison story problems and representing them with the comparison bars, so we used a few extra days on working on those strategies in small groups. As I am learning this new math curriculum too, I am hoping to be able to revisit these concepts later in the year to work on mastery!
In Science, we are hoping to finish our Weather Watchers unit! Unforutnately, we've had so much "Weather" this week that we haven't had a good chance to get outside and continue our observations! Crossing our fingers for next week!
Classroom Donations:
Thank you to parents who have continued to donate snack, kleenex and hand sanitizer! We never seem to have enough of any of those items and any time they are donated, it is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Dates to Remember:
April 16: Spring Book Fair!! Our Book Fair time is 9:45 - 10:27 on Tuesday, but you are welcome to come in anytime!
April 17: Donuts with a Special Person at 8:00am in the Multi-Purpose room!
*Have a lovely weekend!
In Language Arts we will continue to study Narrative Texts and also start studying the theme of Cooperation in Reading Workshop. We will build on this theme which will culminate in a district-wide writing assessment in a few weeks. We are learning to identify themes within narrative and supply evidence to prove those themes.
We will start to learn about different "Vowel Teams" in Phonics. This goes with the old rule, "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." We will study this throughout April.
In Writing workshop, we are continuing to use different text structures to write narrative stories. We've studied fairy tales, sequential stories and cumulative stories this week. Punctuation and Capitalization for beginning of sentences and names of people and things are a focus area for us at this time of the year.
In Math, we will start Unit 7 which focuses on Time and Measurement. Unit 6 was challenging for many students, especially with comparison story problems and representing them with the comparison bars, so we used a few extra days on working on those strategies in small groups. As I am learning this new math curriculum too, I am hoping to be able to revisit these concepts later in the year to work on mastery!
In Science, we are hoping to finish our Weather Watchers unit! Unforutnately, we've had so much "Weather" this week that we haven't had a good chance to get outside and continue our observations! Crossing our fingers for next week!
Classroom Donations:
Thank you to parents who have continued to donate snack, kleenex and hand sanitizer! We never seem to have enough of any of those items and any time they are donated, it is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Dates to Remember:
April 16: Spring Book Fair!! Our Book Fair time is 9:45 - 10:27 on Tuesday, but you are welcome to come in anytime!
April 17: Donuts with a Special Person at 8:00am in the Multi-Purpose room!
*Have a lovely weekend!
Celebrating Self-Publishing!
Today we celebrated working through the writing process by sharing our self-published versions of "Cookie's Week" in sharing circles. Your child should be bringing their published piece home tonight to enjoy with you!
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Safari Room Sentinel - April 8, 2013
Safari Room Sentinel
Dear families,
Welcome back! I hope your child had a great week of rest, relaxation and is recharged and ready to rock for our final two months of school!
Language Arts
This week we will be diving into the genre of narrative texts in both reading and writing. We will learn and identify problems and solutions that common fairy tales have and will try to change the characters or settings in writing our own fairy tales.
We will be learning that Flippy Dolphin also flips the sound of many consonant letters such as c making /k/ and /s/ , etc. This is a concept we will spiral back to many times.
We will continue to learn about synonyms, homophones and antonyms as parts of speech.
Math
We will revisit those complicated comparison story problems this week. I will do a ShowMe Lesson for you to review with your child if you feel its necessary and I will do a re-test this Wednesday or Thursday, after we spend some time reviewing the concepts from the Unit we tested on before Spring Break. These comparison story problems are a new concept to first grade and so I am working through how to best teach and re-teach them, right along with your child learning them :)
Our next unit will focus on time and measurement and data. More on that in the future!
Science
We are continuing our unit on Weather Watchers and will learn about more tools that scientists use to measure weather. Hopefully your child's wind sock made it home before spring break okay! :)
Social Studies
We will be studying Earth Day and how to be a good citizen to our Earth and environment in the next few weeks as well as how humans adapt and change the Earth for their wants and needs. This will continue throughout April and May as we balance learning about Science and Social Studies.
I believe that about does it for our first week back! We will be doing a lot of review and then picking up and continuing to soar through the month of April!
Dear families,
Welcome back! I hope your child had a great week of rest, relaxation and is recharged and ready to rock for our final two months of school!
Language Arts
This week we will be diving into the genre of narrative texts in both reading and writing. We will learn and identify problems and solutions that common fairy tales have and will try to change the characters or settings in writing our own fairy tales.
We will be learning that Flippy Dolphin also flips the sound of many consonant letters such as c making /k/ and /s/ , etc. This is a concept we will spiral back to many times.
We will continue to learn about synonyms, homophones and antonyms as parts of speech.
Math
We will revisit those complicated comparison story problems this week. I will do a ShowMe Lesson for you to review with your child if you feel its necessary and I will do a re-test this Wednesday or Thursday, after we spend some time reviewing the concepts from the Unit we tested on before Spring Break. These comparison story problems are a new concept to first grade and so I am working through how to best teach and re-teach them, right along with your child learning them :)
Our next unit will focus on time and measurement and data. More on that in the future!
Science
We are continuing our unit on Weather Watchers and will learn about more tools that scientists use to measure weather. Hopefully your child's wind sock made it home before spring break okay! :)
Social Studies
We will be studying Earth Day and how to be a good citizen to our Earth and environment in the next few weeks as well as how humans adapt and change the Earth for their wants and needs. This will continue throughout April and May as we balance learning about Science and Social Studies.
I believe that about does it for our first week back! We will be doing a lot of review and then picking up and continuing to soar through the month of April!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Safari Room Happenings
Enjoy this last week before our vacation!
In Language Arts this week we are finishing up studying Small Moments and will be studying Fictional Narrative after Spring Break.
We are learning to apply inferencing in our reading both independently and whole group.
We are studying spelling patterns with bossy e at the end as well as double letter making one sound patterns. We are almost finished studying the Sitton 100 list. From here on out, your child is free to make their own lists of words they want to learn based on their independent reading, science, social studies etc.
We are still working through our Sitton Spelling Units. I've noticed that with all of our studying of the "wh" blends, many children are spelling "with" as "whith." We will be working on that as necessary! :)
In Math, we may finish Unit 6 on organizing and representing data before Spring Break, but if not, we will finish right after. We are working on using those comparison words of more, fewer, most, fewest independently as we graph and compare during math investigations.
In Science, we are continuing our study of Weather and will be learning about different weather tools this week. Your child will be bringing home their very own "Wind Sock" that can be planted in the ground outside your home for them to further study wind, if you'd like. We've learned science descriptive words such as "windy, breezy and calm."
Just a reminder, we will be on Spring Break from March 29-April 7. Enjoy your break!
For homework over spring break, your child may choose to journal about their break and bring it in to share with the class! There will not be much "formal" homework as I know many families will be traveling all over the place. Anytime your child can read with your or anyone else or independently, is a great way to keep up their reading growth ---- reading on the beach is a very relaxing pasttime for anyone heading south! :)
Have a wonderful week ahead!
Enjoy this last week before our vacation!
In Language Arts this week we are finishing up studying Small Moments and will be studying Fictional Narrative after Spring Break.
We are learning to apply inferencing in our reading both independently and whole group.
We are studying spelling patterns with bossy e at the end as well as double letter making one sound patterns. We are almost finished studying the Sitton 100 list. From here on out, your child is free to make their own lists of words they want to learn based on their independent reading, science, social studies etc.
We are still working through our Sitton Spelling Units. I've noticed that with all of our studying of the "wh" blends, many children are spelling "with" as "whith." We will be working on that as necessary! :)
In Math, we may finish Unit 6 on organizing and representing data before Spring Break, but if not, we will finish right after. We are working on using those comparison words of more, fewer, most, fewest independently as we graph and compare during math investigations.
In Science, we are continuing our study of Weather and will be learning about different weather tools this week. Your child will be bringing home their very own "Wind Sock" that can be planted in the ground outside your home for them to further study wind, if you'd like. We've learned science descriptive words such as "windy, breezy and calm."
Just a reminder, we will be on Spring Break from March 29-April 7. Enjoy your break!
For homework over spring break, your child may choose to journal about their break and bring it in to share with the class! There will not be much "formal" homework as I know many families will be traveling all over the place. Anytime your child can read with your or anyone else or independently, is a great way to keep up their reading growth ---- reading on the beach is a very relaxing pasttime for anyone heading south! :)
Have a wonderful week ahead!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Safari Room Sentinel
Safari Room Sentinel:
Language Arts
We are continuing to study the different sounds letters can make in combination with each other, specifically focusing on vowel teams and bossy e word parts.
We are studying the comprehension strategy of inferring and learning how to infer and provide evidence of why we infer what we infer.
Writing
We are learning how to write a small moment with lots of detail by 'exploding' the moment for the reader.
Math
We just finished Unit 5. It is extremely important for your child to understand the difference between adding tens and adding ones. We've learned how to add tens by drawing out the tens and ones sticks and then counting all. This helps your child develop an understanding for place value. If they can recognize patterns when counting on by tens (for example 27, 37, 47, 57, etc.) they can add quickly in their heads, but for now, if they are not confident in that strategy yet, I encourage them to draw the tens and ones out and then count all. We will be learning how to sort and graph data in Unit 6, starting this week.
Science
We are continuing to study the weather and compare temperature and learn ways to measure weather such as with a rain gauge, a wind sock, etc.
Have a great week!
Language Arts
We are continuing to study the different sounds letters can make in combination with each other, specifically focusing on vowel teams and bossy e word parts.
We are studying the comprehension strategy of inferring and learning how to infer and provide evidence of why we infer what we infer.
Writing
We are learning how to write a small moment with lots of detail by 'exploding' the moment for the reader.
Math
We just finished Unit 5. It is extremely important for your child to understand the difference between adding tens and adding ones. We've learned how to add tens by drawing out the tens and ones sticks and then counting all. This helps your child develop an understanding for place value. If they can recognize patterns when counting on by tens (for example 27, 37, 47, 57, etc.) they can add quickly in their heads, but for now, if they are not confident in that strategy yet, I encourage them to draw the tens and ones out and then count all. We will be learning how to sort and graph data in Unit 6, starting this week.
Science
We are continuing to study the weather and compare temperature and learn ways to measure weather such as with a rain gauge, a wind sock, etc.
Have a great week!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Safari Room Sentinel March 4, 2013
Safari Room Sentinel
Language Arts
We are studying and analyzing mentor texts on the genre of personal narrative (we call them 'small moments).
We are applying knowledge about bossy -e to the end of words as well as learning that some consonants make more than one sound, too ( for example: g can say /g/ and /j/).
We are learning how readers infer meaning from text and applying that knowledge to our own reading.
Math
We are learning to add 3 addends (6+4+7) by making a ten out of the partners of ten and then adding extra ones. So for the example, we would know 6+4 = 10 and then 10+7 = 17.
I will have a show me lesson for homework due on Wednesday diving deeper into adding and subtracting teen and larger totals as well as place value.
Science
We are learning about weather patterns, instruments scientists use to measure weather precipitation and how to use evidence to write conclusions.
Dates to Remember:
March 4: No School - Conferences
March 8: 9:00 - 11:30 : Field Trip to DeGraaf Nature Center
March 15: Adams Fun Night!
March 29 - April 5: Spring Break!
Language Arts
We are studying and analyzing mentor texts on the genre of personal narrative (we call them 'small moments).
We are applying knowledge about bossy -e to the end of words as well as learning that some consonants make more than one sound, too ( for example: g can say /g/ and /j/).
We are learning how readers infer meaning from text and applying that knowledge to our own reading.
Math
We are learning to add 3 addends (6+4+7) by making a ten out of the partners of ten and then adding extra ones. So for the example, we would know 6+4 = 10 and then 10+7 = 17.
I will have a show me lesson for homework due on Wednesday diving deeper into adding and subtracting teen and larger totals as well as place value.
Science
We are learning about weather patterns, instruments scientists use to measure weather precipitation and how to use evidence to write conclusions.
Dates to Remember:
March 4: No School - Conferences
March 8: 9:00 - 11:30 : Field Trip to DeGraaf Nature Center
March 15: Adams Fun Night!
March 29 - April 5: Spring Break!
Podcasts Day 3
All About Luke
All About Deaglan
All About Keyland
All About Kinsey
All About Meeka
All About Riley
All About Martin
All About Mason
All About Haylee
All About Jasmine
All About Brylee
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Podcasts of Biographies: Day 2
Here are 3 more podcasts that were recorded today. Our writers today even wanted to try adding background music! I hope to have all finished/recorded/uploaded by tomorrow! Enjoy :)
Biography of Colton: By Joe
Biography of Joe: By Colton
Biography of Destiny: By Jasmine
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Student Biographies:
First Graders have been working on interviewing, planning, writing, revising and editing biograhpies on a friend in their class. We are working on publishing them via garageband as a 'podcast.' I will post them as they are finished. Our goal, as we get used to using digital tools for publishing, is to work on our fluency and be comfortable reading our work for an audience! Enjoy our first round of first grade podcasts!
All About Sam: By Zack
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Safari Room Happenings
Safari Room Sentinel - February 25, 2013
Language Arts: We are continuing to study flippy dolphin and how sounds can change and how important it is to cross-check: seeing if a word sounds right, looks right with the sounds and makes sense. This is incredibly important as your child enjoys longer texts and can easily lose meaning if they aren't monitoring for understanding. A great way to support this practice is by having them tell the "who" and the "what" at the end of a page and/or chapter and retelling with you on their Shape Go! Map.
We will also be starting to learn about how readers Infer when reading. Inferencing is to make an educated guess based on a reader's schema and clues from the text. We will be learning that sometimes the author doesn't give you the "whole story" and we have to use our knowledge and what we learned in the story to come up with a way to "fill in the blanks." Please look for a more detailed explanation about Inferencing in your email and how you can support this strategy with our young readers at home.
Writing: We finished our research projects by self-publishing our books last Friday. Many of our first graders need to work on their neatness and handwriting. I am not concerned about perfection, but I am going to start watching for correct formation, spacing between words, neatness/care for product and process in handwriting as we are approaching the last term of the year and need to solidify letter formation and writing for fluency in writing longer passages for second grade.
We will be ending our informational unit this week by writing biographies about a friend while immersing ourselves in some mentor texts about personal narrative. Personal Narrative are true stories a writer writes about themselves. These stories are "zoomed-in" to focus on one small moment, or even in time that is given a lot of descriptive detail.
Math: We are learning strategies for subtracting, by making a ten as we subtract or by counting up from the partner that we know. There will be 1 ShowMe Homework lesson that will be due by Wednesday. You will receive an email when the ShowMe is uploaded. This is an important unit for your child to slow down, take their time in counting and recognizing partners of 10. If you notice they do not know their partners of 10 fast, fluent and firmly, making flashcards to practice at home, logging on to www.xtramath.org or using a manipulative(such as 10 m and ms, pretzels, carrots, etc. and breaking them into the two partners of ten and having your child practice counting and saying them for automaticity) to group partners of ten are all strategies that will build your child's number sense.
Social Studies: Although we finished our unit on important holidays, president's and economics, we will continue to study these areas as they come up on our calendar.
Science:
We will be taking a pre-assessment on the next unit which is Earth Science - Studying the Weather, before I begin to plan specific lessons based on your students background knowledge of this content area.
Field Trip:
March 8 is our final Field Trip to DeGraaf Nature Center for Seasonal Surprises which ties directly into our Science curriculum. We have 4 parents joining our field trip, which will be fabulous! Parents, you are free to meet us at school and ride the bus with us at 9:00 or meet us at DeGraaf Nature Center in Holland at 9:30. Please let me know by March 1 what your preference is so I can plan accordingly with transportation.
March 4: No School for students. This is a day for parent-teacher conferences on an 'As-Needed' basis. Hopefully, you received a time slot from me on Friday in your child's folder if you or I requested a conference about your child. If you are still interested in having a conference for your child, please let me know and we can set up a time that works for you. Thanks!
Report cards will be coming home at the official end of the second term, so parents that have a conference with me will not be able to take their child's report card home, yet. Thanks for your understanding of this matter!
As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns or ideas, please feel at ease to contact me!
Cheers to some sunshine and a FULL week of learning this week.
Language Arts: We are continuing to study flippy dolphin and how sounds can change and how important it is to cross-check: seeing if a word sounds right, looks right with the sounds and makes sense. This is incredibly important as your child enjoys longer texts and can easily lose meaning if they aren't monitoring for understanding. A great way to support this practice is by having them tell the "who" and the "what" at the end of a page and/or chapter and retelling with you on their Shape Go! Map.
We will also be starting to learn about how readers Infer when reading. Inferencing is to make an educated guess based on a reader's schema and clues from the text. We will be learning that sometimes the author doesn't give you the "whole story" and we have to use our knowledge and what we learned in the story to come up with a way to "fill in the blanks." Please look for a more detailed explanation about Inferencing in your email and how you can support this strategy with our young readers at home.
Writing: We finished our research projects by self-publishing our books last Friday. Many of our first graders need to work on their neatness and handwriting. I am not concerned about perfection, but I am going to start watching for correct formation, spacing between words, neatness/care for product and process in handwriting as we are approaching the last term of the year and need to solidify letter formation and writing for fluency in writing longer passages for second grade.
We will be ending our informational unit this week by writing biographies about a friend while immersing ourselves in some mentor texts about personal narrative. Personal Narrative are true stories a writer writes about themselves. These stories are "zoomed-in" to focus on one small moment, or even in time that is given a lot of descriptive detail.
Math: We are learning strategies for subtracting, by making a ten as we subtract or by counting up from the partner that we know. There will be 1 ShowMe Homework lesson that will be due by Wednesday. You will receive an email when the ShowMe is uploaded. This is an important unit for your child to slow down, take their time in counting and recognizing partners of 10. If you notice they do not know their partners of 10 fast, fluent and firmly, making flashcards to practice at home, logging on to www.xtramath.org or using a manipulative(such as 10 m and ms, pretzels, carrots, etc. and breaking them into the two partners of ten and having your child practice counting and saying them for automaticity) to group partners of ten are all strategies that will build your child's number sense.
Social Studies: Although we finished our unit on important holidays, president's and economics, we will continue to study these areas as they come up on our calendar.
Science:
We will be taking a pre-assessment on the next unit which is Earth Science - Studying the Weather, before I begin to plan specific lessons based on your students background knowledge of this content area.
Field Trip:
March 8 is our final Field Trip to DeGraaf Nature Center for Seasonal Surprises which ties directly into our Science curriculum. We have 4 parents joining our field trip, which will be fabulous! Parents, you are free to meet us at school and ride the bus with us at 9:00 or meet us at DeGraaf Nature Center in Holland at 9:30. Please let me know by March 1 what your preference is so I can plan accordingly with transportation.
March 4: No School for students. This is a day for parent-teacher conferences on an 'As-Needed' basis. Hopefully, you received a time slot from me on Friday in your child's folder if you or I requested a conference about your child. If you are still interested in having a conference for your child, please let me know and we can set up a time that works for you. Thanks!
Report cards will be coming home at the official end of the second term, so parents that have a conference with me will not be able to take their child's report card home, yet. Thanks for your understanding of this matter!
As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns or ideas, please feel at ease to contact me!
Cheers to some sunshine and a FULL week of learning this week.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Safari Room Sentinel 2-18-13
I hope everyone is enjoying our President's Day Break! See everyone tomorrow!
This week...
Language Arts
This week we will be studying why we celebrate President's and President Lincoln and Washington and comparing what they did for America. We will continue using the comprehension strategy of Questioning as we learn about brave and influential African Americans who helped shape civil rights for America.
Our chunks for the week are: -oat, -ain -ake, and the -y ending making an e sound like in baby. Our words for this week are water, over, very, her, his, him and we will be studying the pronouns her,she, him, his. We will also review the long e sound in words like sheep and read.
Social Studies
We will continue to identify and explain economics in first grade terms.
Writing
We are finishing up our Animal Research "All About" Books and will try some different presentation tools to share our learning with our learning community.
Math
We took our Unit 4 test and will be finishing learning loops on Tuesday and then moving on to Unit 5 to study different place value situations by representing two-digit numbers using drawings, using strategies to find 10 more and 10 less and model adding and subtracting two-digit numbers using the Make a Ten strategy for addition and subtraction.
*Please make sure you and your child view the first ShowMe lesson for homework by Wednesday, when we start unit 5. There is also a short additional video further explaining Make a Ten if you feel your child may need some extra practice at understanding. If you have trouble viewing these videos and have not already let me know, please do, so I can set up alternate viewing for your child.
Dates to Remember:
March 4 is our requested conference day. Please make sure to return your child's conference slip by February 22 so I can start to create my schedule based on requests or on the "as-needed" basis. Reminder, these are conferences that either you or I request - not for everyone, like in the fall. I hope that clears this up.
March 8 from 9:00 - 11:30 is our last field trip of the year. We will participate in the Seasonal Surprises program at DeGraaf Nature center. I am looking for 3-4 parent volunteers. Please let me know if you are interested!
March 29 - April 5: Spring Break!
This week...
Language Arts
This week we will be studying why we celebrate President's and President Lincoln and Washington and comparing what they did for America. We will continue using the comprehension strategy of Questioning as we learn about brave and influential African Americans who helped shape civil rights for America.
Our chunks for the week are: -oat, -ain -ake, and the -y ending making an e sound like in baby. Our words for this week are water, over, very, her, his, him and we will be studying the pronouns her,she, him, his. We will also review the long e sound in words like sheep and read.
Social Studies
We will continue to identify and explain economics in first grade terms.
Writing
We are finishing up our Animal Research "All About" Books and will try some different presentation tools to share our learning with our learning community.
Math
We took our Unit 4 test and will be finishing learning loops on Tuesday and then moving on to Unit 5 to study different place value situations by representing two-digit numbers using drawings, using strategies to find 10 more and 10 less and model adding and subtracting two-digit numbers using the Make a Ten strategy for addition and subtraction.
*Please make sure you and your child view the first ShowMe lesson for homework by Wednesday, when we start unit 5. There is also a short additional video further explaining Make a Ten if you feel your child may need some extra practice at understanding. If you have trouble viewing these videos and have not already let me know, please do, so I can set up alternate viewing for your child.
Dates to Remember:
March 4 is our requested conference day. Please make sure to return your child's conference slip by February 22 so I can start to create my schedule based on requests or on the "as-needed" basis. Reminder, these are conferences that either you or I request - not for everyone, like in the fall. I hope that clears this up.
March 8 from 9:00 - 11:30 is our last field trip of the year. We will participate in the Seasonal Surprises program at DeGraaf Nature center. I am looking for 3-4 parent volunteers. Please let me know if you are interested!
March 29 - April 5: Spring Break!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Safari Room Happenings
Language Arts: We are researching in our inquiry groups about a specific animal and writing a nonfiction descriptive text based on our learning.
We've started the final Daily 5 choice of Buddy Reading. We remember to Check For Understanding when we read at the end of each page by telling who we read about and what we read about (Using a checkmark helps us to remember and in turn, better understand the story).
The FACE of our growing readers...
Fluency:
We are working to apply expression in our reading as well as paying attention to punctuation.
Accuracy:
We are working to apply Flippy Dolphin to flip the vowel sound if the word we read does not look or sound right or make sense.
We are remembering to Cross Check in our reading. Does the word you said look right based on the sounds? Does the word sound right in the sentence? Does it make sense with the story? If not, use Tryin' Lion to try a different word!
Comprehension:
We are learning how to ask questions before, during and after a text to better understand the characters, the problem, the author's message, etc. This is an important part of comprehension.
Expanding Vocabulary:
We are learning how to write down a word we do not know, try using clues from the text to infer what it means or ask an adult to define it.
Math:
We can identify tens and ones in place value.
We can group a new ten when adding a two-digit and a one-digit number together.
We can add ones, tens and tens and ones (mixed) number sentences.
We can count two-digit numbers and switch to one digit numbers.
**Please make sure your child and you have watched the ShowMe Lesson on Lesson 4.18 by Tuesday evening and filled out the Student Activity Sheet that comes home tomorrow (on Monday). This is your child's homework for the first half of the week. The beauty of a ShowMe lesson is you can pause it, rewind it or replay it at any time to help the concepts sink into your child's understanding. If after working through the lesson together you are noticing some areas of concern with your child, please mark it on their activity sheet or contact me in another way and I will be sure to follow up at school immediately and re-teach where necessary. This will be happening anyway! :)
ShowMe Lessons can be viewed on iPods, iPads, PCs, Laptops, iPhones, or any other device that allows you to play video. Please contact me if you have trouble viewing these lessons. This is my first attempt at "Flipping" my classroom so that the whole-group lesson and guided practice can be watched at home and viewed with a math-partner (parent) and then I can work with small groups and 1 on 1 with students when they start applying their concepts. If you have any questions about Flipped Classrooms or would like to read more information on it, I would be happy to pass on what I am learning. I am sincerely inspired by how transforming a classroom experience helps your child to learn and apply concepts in more meaningful ways!
We will be taking our Unit 4 Assessment on Wednesday and then either working in enrichment groups or re-teaching Learning Loops based on your child's mastery of the major concepts.
Social Studies:
We are slowly working through our Economics Unit. With snow days and other events happening, we are working to catch up in the next few weeks!
Valentine's Day:
Our party is from 1:00 - 2:15 on Thursday, February 14. If supplying valentines for your child is a hardship, please let me know and I will be happy to discreetly pick some up for them to make and pass out to the class.
Spring Conferences:
Conferences in March are done by request only. If there is a need for you and I to meet about your child's growth or areas of concern, I will send you a conference request slip. If you would like to request a conference with me for your child, please let me know soon, so I can be sure a conference request slip goes home to you. As always, I am happy to conference about your child via phone, face-to-face, g-chat or Skype at any time during the year.
Dates to Remember:
Monday February 18: President's Day: No School!
Have a LOVEly week!
Monday, February 4, 2013
2013 Inquiry Groups - Day 1
First, I modeled what researchers sound like and look like when they are wondering and learning about a topic. Next, the learners explored different inquiry tubs full of books and printed articles about animals they may be interested in. Each group will also get a chance to research either on the iPad on a safe-website or on the smartboard.
Then, they wrote down their top 3 choices and I organized the groups based on who would work well together, interest, etc.
Finally, they met in their groups for the first time and explored their resources at their fingertips.
We will track our learning and then taking the information and organize it into an informational book. Our final project will be a creation using a digital tool, such as an iMovie, a podcast, an interactive published book, a song, a play, etc....the possibilities are endless and we will be learning different digital tools to use together!
Friday, January 25, 2013
Dear families,
This week we learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what an important leader he was to children and adults alike. We described what we thought Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream meant to us and compared his dreams for the United States of America with our dreams for ourselves as we grow up. We then wrote down our 'dream words' that we hoped to experience, feel or be a part of for the rest of our lives. Finally, we worked with an iPad app called "Skitch" (free download for any with iPads/iPods/iPhones at home) where you can take a graphic and describe it with text - kind of a visual graphic organizer surrounding ourselves. After teaching the class how to use the app, for the most part, they were able to manipulate the tools and text boxes themselves. Mrs. Rottschafer was also a wonderful help in guiding us through this 1:1 process. It was inspiring to see how quickly their brains can understand and apply sequential steps with technology.
Enjoy our "Dream Words"
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| Eva |
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| Kinsey |
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| Meeka |
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| Brylee |
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| Natalie |
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| Luke |
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| Destiny |
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| Riley |
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| Reese |
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| Shelby |
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| Keyland |
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| Jasmine |
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| Mason |
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| Ethan |
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| Casey |
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| Joe |
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| Christian |
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| Colton |
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| Martin |
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| Christy |
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| Haylee |
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| Nick |
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| Sam |
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| Deaglan |
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| Zack |
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Christmas Party 2012
I apologize for the lateness of this post! Here are some pictures from our Christmas Party!
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| Jasmine & Mrs. Creswell |
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| Eva & Mrs. Malaski |
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| Deaglan & Mrs. Tucker |
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| Christian & Mrs. Rottschafer |
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| Meeka & Mr. VanPortfleet |
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| Kinsey & Mr. Inman |
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| Ethan & Mrs. Rosenberg |
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| Haylee & Mrs. Jordan |
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| Reese & Mr. Nykamp |
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| Riley & Mrs. Clark |
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| Mason & Mrs. Zeerip |
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| Brylee & Mrs. Boetsma |
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| Making "Stained Glass Windows" |
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| Christmas Tree Ornament |
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| Learning how to make the "Stained Glass" |
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| Identifying & Adding Coins To Buy Christmas Tree Ornaments |
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| Joe found a nice place to store his candy cane he won :) |
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| Learning about pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters |
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| mmmmm.....decorating cookies |
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| working on patterns and making more ornaments |
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