End of Year Celebration

We will have our end of the year celebration on the last day of school after our scheduled brunch which ends at 10:00 am.

Unfortunately

Unfortunately I forgot, but I had intended to tell parents that I had mentioned to the kids that they should retell to you the story, Whistle for Willie, which corresponds to the inferences made on the reverse of their homework tonight; but, alas everyone should already be tucked in for the evening.

Contest

If anyone is interested, I have received notice of the following contest:

21st Annual "Jr. Fire Chief for a Day" Poster Contest

The goal of this contest is to encourage people of all ages to enjoy a safe holiday celebration by attending a public fireworks display.

Six grand prize winners will be chosen from all entries submitted by Friday June 15th, 2012. The winners will be honored as "Jr. Fire Chiefs for a Day" on June 28th, 2012.

The words: "Visit a local professional fireworks show" must be included in the design of the poster. Maximum poster size is 12" x 18". Posters are to be flat and two dimensional. Artwork must be done in ink, crayons, pencil, acrylic, water colors, or tempera paints. No cutting/pasting, overlays, computer generated artwork may be used. Entrants must attend school in Los Angeles County, grades 1 through 6.

All posters should be mailed directly to:

Los Angeles County Fire Department

Employee Services Section (Attn: Poster Contest, Room 255)

1320 N. Eastern Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90063-3294

The following information is to be included in the following format on the reverse of the poster:

NAME:____________________________HOME PHONE:________________

HOME ADDRESS:___________________CITY:____________ZIP:_________

SCHOOL/SCHOOL DISTRICT:_____________________________________

GRADE:______TEACHER:______________________PHONE: (310)320-8570

PARENT/GUARDIAN SIGNATURE:________________________________

If you would rather have a copy of the entrant form, write "contest" on the NAME line of your child's homework and I will send home a copy.

Unit 6 Week 2 Preview

This week we will recall things we've learned to do that were difficult as we see that learning things can be an adventure. Our oral vocabulary words are: dare, permit, humble, predicament, and solution. Our high-frequency words are: along, early, instead, nothing, and thought. Our reading vocabulary words are errand, and suddenly. We will again be asking questions as a reading strategy to improve our reading skill of making inferences. We will focus on variant short-o spellings 'aw', 'au', and word families _all, and _alk for phonics. For grammar we will review pronouns. We will be writing a report on a job we are interested in using a Tree Map to organize our ideas.

We have begun our fractions unit in math. We will add like fractions, find some equivalencies, and find equal parts of a whole.

This week we will also be taking our final reading skills battery.

Notes for the Week

Twenty students passed the math test with an adjusted score of 17 or better. Two students made a perfect score.

The first grade teachers have decided to have the students wear jeans and a white shirt on the day of the Spring Dance.

Reminder: Last reading logs of the year are due Thursday.

One Hundred Fifty-Ninth

We took topic 20 math test today.

There is no homework.

One Hundred Fifty-Eighth Day

There is no homework today.

Math test tomorrow.

Unit 6 Week 1 Preview

In our last unit we will explore adventure itself. We will learn we can find adventure in our daily lives: in the places we go, in the things we learn to do, in our jobs as we grow, in very special days, and even in our imagination.

In week one, we will talk about the places people can go, how they get there, and what they do when they arrive. We will learn how we can gather information for report writing by interviewing people and other types of research. Our oral vocabulary words are: adventurous, anxious, inquisitive, insignificant, and route. In phonics we will focus on words with 'oo' spellings. Our high-frequency words will be: always, father, four, love, and mother. Our comprehension skill will again be visualizing in order for us to explain the difference between fantasy and reality, our comprehension strategy. In grammar we will learn about subjects and predicates.

In social studies we will discuss some basic economic concepts like goods and services, work and compensation, and how products come to market.

In math we will continue our work with regrouping in order to subtract.

Unit 5 Week 5 Preview

This week we will take a look at the growth and development of animals in nature. We will reread and summarize reading selections as our comprehension strategy to improve our comparing and contrasting skills. Our oral vocabulary words are: mature, newborn, process, remain, and slender. The reading vocabulary words are cub and wild. Our reading sight words will be: air, enough, eyes, learn, and open. Our phonics focus is diphthong /oi/ spelled 'oi_' 'oy'.

Second Parent Discussion Question

Was this blog useful? Is there any information that you would have found helpful that was not included here? Do you have any other comments about the use of this forum this year?

Unit 5 Week 4 Preview

We will compare the characteristics of the four seasons. Our oral vocabulary words are: blaze, increase, observe, outline, and scorch. Our spelling pattern focus will involve the diphthong: 'ou', 'ow'. Our high frequency reading words are: against, below, fall, orange, sure, and yellow. Our reading vocabulary words are: wondered and season. We will again practice our reading comprehension strategy of visualization in order to develop the comprehension skill of sequencing. 

Our talk of the four seasons will of course lead to discussion of the Earth's rotation and revolution in science. We will discuss myths and facts regarding these concepts. 

We will work with art application standard 2.3 to use media to create form in works of art.

We will again revisit the concepts of past and present in social studies.

Reminder and Notes

Reminder: Please remember that we've have had our last early dismissal Tuesday for the year. Starting next Tuesday dismissal is the regular time of 2:04.

This past week we took our Topic 18 math test. Results are forthcoming. We also took our final district writing test. Those not passing will write to another prompt in a few weeks for another chance to pass.

Your child now holds the last reading log of their 1st grade year.

Notices of Unsatisfactory Performance will be sent home next week. Those students in a position to end the year with a grade of 1 or 2 in a major subject will receive a notice. Students not passing the last district math exam or the writing LPA will automatically receive a notice if they have yet to pass a classroom equivalency test. If you have not already been informed of the possibility of your child being retained in 1st grade, your child will be advancing to 2nd grade next year.

Unit 5 Week 2 Preview

This week we will be focusing on many different scientists how they develop questions to discover new things about the world around us. We will read about the many contributions of Benjamin Franklin and read again about Alexander Graham Bell. We will also read about the important contributions of George Washington Carver to the field of botany. We will again use the strategy of summary to develop our skill of making inferences, which is probably one of the more difficult comprehension skills to master. When making an inference about material we've read, we connect what we've read to what we already know to draw a conclusion which has not been explicitly stated by the author. Our oral vocabulary words will be: career, curious, fascinating, improve, and investigate. Our site words will be: grew, house, knew, and would. Our reading vocabulary words are: curious, and idea. For spelling and phonics we will focus on the r-controlled vowel 'a' (harm, yarn).

We are continuing with our coin counting in math and will be coming up on a test early next week.

In social studies we will be reviewing the concept of needs vs. wants and the use of money as the basis of our trade system.

For science we will be doing the "fountain experiment" to see how air pressure will interact with water.

News for the Past Week

We started the week with our 3rd and final district quarterly exam. We took a portion of the test on 3 consecutive days. Of the 23 students taking the test 5 scored perfectly and altogether 19 students passed with a "proficient" rating.

We enjoyed a field trip to the Gene Autry Museum on Thursday and learned much about westward expansion and immigration.

On Friday we explored air pressure and got a feeling for how strong it can be and used it to launch small projectiles.

Unit 5 Week 1 Preview

We will be looking towards the sky to see what we can learn this week in our new unit on nature. We will read pourquoi tales from a few indigenous cultures. Our vocabulary words are: discover, dusk, mysterious, pale, and scatter. We will spell with r-controlled vowels. Our comprehension strategy will be to generate questions in order to develop the skill of identifying cause and effect. Our high frequency words will be: another, climbed, full poor, and through. We will discuss "voice" as a writing trait.

Topic 16 Math

You should have already received your child's Topic 16 math test at this point. All enrolled children present to take the test passed. The adjusted passing minimum score was 16.

Unit 4 Week 5 Preview

We will explore animals working in teams. Insects in colonies, cleaner fish, and the protective nature of herds are a few examples. We continue to work on narratives using a flow map to brainstorm beginning, middle, and ends to our creative response to literature stories. Our oral vocabulary words are: behavior, group, plead, soar, and vivid. In phonics we will continue work with long-vowel 'e' and use its spellings 'y' (sunny) and 'ey' (monkey). Our high frequency focus words are: also, because, blue, or, other, and until. We will analyze text structure in order to hone our retelling comprehension skill.

In spite of the fact we are still working on the weather unit in science, it will be necessary to overlap our 3rd unit and immediately begin our growing plants and animals-life-cycle unit.

In Social Studies our work with relative direction came in quite handy when we were left a map of sorts to a hidden stash before our break. We will continue work with maps intermittently in the coming weeks.

We will continue our study of coins and counting money in math as this concept will be covered in our next and final District Quarterly Math Exam which comes up in less than two weeks' time. The test appears rigorous yet fairly straightforward. We will soon be taking timed math tests as well to show our ability to apply math strategies learned this quarter.

Some of Room 11's work is currently being displayed in the main office for the month of April.

Unit 4 Week 4 Preview

We are continuing our discussion of teamwork, in particular, how in working together, teams can accomplish big things. We have been interactively writing a narrative in response to literature we've read this year. We will work on story structure, organization, and word choice. Our comprehension focus strategy will be visualization; our focus skill will be problem and solution. Vocabulary words for the week are: approach, assist, determined, quarrel, and view.

Individually we are working on and completing our Social Studies/Language Arts projects which will be on display for Open House (TBA). Seven students have worked steadily enough this week to finish. More are very near completion.

Also in Social Studies we will discuss transportation of long ago. We will continue our work with maps adding the concept of relative direction in greater detail. We will use what we learn with relative direction to locate hidden treasures.

In science we continue our study of air with lessons on resistance, propulsion, and pressure.

Results of the last two topic math tests are forthcoming.

One Hundred Twenty-First Day

Will be getting back on track posting plans soon. Plans and evaluations consumed much energy and time.

We are working hard on on a Social Studies/Language Arts project. We combine our map making skills, our imagination, and our describing and persuasive writing skills for one big project.

We set a 2011-'12 record with Topic 14 math test. We had 7 students with 100%. A passing score was 14 points.

This week we have been learning about Cesar Chavez and working together to accomplish a goal.

In science we are exploring the properties of air and it's effect on weather. We will continue to record weather measurements and observations as standard requirements.

Home Projects

The 1st grade will be hosting the Citizen of the Month Assembly at the end of March. One child will be chosen to read an essay on the subject of sportsmanship. All students wishing to read a speech to the student body need to submit their essay by the 16th of March. One essay will be chosen from those submitted. This is good public speaking experience and an excellent opportunity for video memories.

For social studies we have been working on neighborhood maps. At this point in the year I like to suggest that parents direct students to a mapping program on the Internet and locate your home's satellite photograph. Magnify the view to approximately 100ft/inch. Size to show their block and a portion of surrounding blocks. Have your child make a simple map with legend (key) under your direction but in their hand. On your child's map, buildings could be shown as simple rectangles. Print a view of the satellite picture (preferably w/o address and real estate information, which can be blacked out if necessary) and attach to the hand-drawn map and send with your child to class.