Reading
In Reading we are finishing up the short e sound and beginning the short u sound. The children have been blending sounds and creating words and word families too. We worked on the l blends and the ck sound. We worked on the ick, ack, eck, and ock word families as well as short e word families.We also continued to work on chunking up the words and stretching out the words to help us read. We learned that good readers ask questions and make predictions while they are reading. We used Post Its and recorded questions that popped in our heads as we read our Independent Reading books. We also worked on identifying character traits. We read some wonderful books with some very memorable characters. Here is a list of a few of the children's favorites...
1. Koala Lou by Mem Fox
2. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
3. Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
4. The Art Lesson by Tomie Depaola
5. Little Nino's Pizzeria by Karen Barbour
We have been reading many books written by Mem Fox. We created character webs for the main characters in her books. The children have also been working on these skills in their guided reading groups and literacy centers.
Authors at Work
We have started the Writing Process! We used our idea boards during the Pre-Writing Stage and we came up with our story topics. Then we learned how writers hook the readers with an interesting lead sentence. The children wrote their lead sentence and then we began our First Drafts or Sloppy Copies of our stories. The children wrote their beginning, which included a problem, and then we began to write the middles of our stories. We learned how to use Time Cue words to show that time is passing and we have started to use more adjectives to "jazz up" our pieces. We will move onto the endings next and then writing an interesting closing sentence. Here are some examples of our Lead sentences...
* In March something special happened... My brother was born!
* It was my second to last day of vacation but there was a problem... There were too many people at the gate.
* I was waiting and waiting for this day to come.
* I couldn't wait to get a cat but what kind would I pick?
* I was soooo excited to meet my baby sister but there was a problem.
* I could not wait to go to my dance recital. I was sooooo excited!
* I was getting out of bed and I felt sooo excited because today was the day of the trip.
* I really wanted a dog.
* There were two soccer teams but no game.
* One day I was playing football but something happened...
* March 8th was such an exciting day and I was so happy but Oh No!
Stay tuned for information about our Publishing Party in December...
We also worked on writing friendly letters and handwriting. We wrote thank you letters to the community workers from our trip to Warren.
Science
In Science we have been learning all about weather and the different kinds of weather. We made thermometers and learned about temperature. We did a fun experiment with thermometers. Ask your child all about it! We learned about the sun and how the sun makes day and night and the seasons. We used a flashlight and a globe to show that the earth is always spinning and how the sun makes day and night.
Math
In Math, we worked on counting up and counting back to add and subtract numbers to 18. We worked on identifying Even and Odd numbers and reviewed skip counting. We also learned how addition and subtraction are related and worked on fact families. We learned how to use key words in word problems to help us choose the correct operation to solve the problem. We played Go Fish for Sums of 10 and Even and Odd Roll. We also worked on our timed Fact Packs.
Thanksgiving Feast
Every year the First Grade has a special Thanksgiving Feast in the Oakwood Room. This year it will be on Tuesday, 11/22 from 11 to 12 in the Oakwood Room. There will be a sign-up sheet for both classes on Mrs. Jacobson's door. You can sign up for foods, refreshments,paper goods and /or volunteer to help set up, heat up, and serve the food to the children. The children enjoy having this special Thanksgiving Feast with their classmates.
