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.

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.

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.

Eighty-Seventh Day

We had an interesting conversation about Goldilocks. We found her to be resourceful (able to solve her problems of tiredness and hunger) but unwise. We also discussed recycling, reusing, and repurposing.

We took topic 12 math test today. When all are finished, scores will be posted.

We will likely go ahead and take our social studies geography test tomorrow.

Unit 3 Week 4 Preview

We will be discussing how we can be creative and resourceful and likewise how the characters in our selections exhibit these characteristics and what it is that inspires them. Our vocabulary words for this week are: create, hobby, inspire, resourceful, structure. Among our selections this week is a fantasy by Harry Horse called A Friend for Little Bear, in which a resourceful toy bear learns the importance of friends over collecting possessions. Another selection is Karen Lynn Williams' story Galimoto about a resourceful child in Africa who has to make his own toys from found objects.

Our comprehension strategy will be making inferences in order to draw conclusions, our comprehension skill. Our sight words will be: after done, find, old, new, work.

We will continue with final silent 'e' long vowel spellings for the remaining vowels along with open syllable long vowels as well as the remaining stanzas of our vowel poem.

Everyone should have brought home a world map at this point labeled correctly from which to study for our next social studies test. We will also discuss the concepts of reusing, repurposing, and recycling.

We will also be taking a look at and finding symmetry in a variety of shapes and using the idea for a few art projects.

We have to cover some difficult math concepts in this topic. Please check to be sure your child has completed all classroom assignments as well as homework assignments in order to reinforce concepts presented in class.

Reminder: reading logs are due Jan. 31.

Eighty-First Day

The following coming instructional week's preview will be forthcoming; we have slowed to a snail's pace in order to fit in assessments.

We will hopefully take Topic 11 math test tomorrow.

At the end of the week, we will be taking home our world maps to be studied for our social studies test.

Seventy-First Day

In order to add interest to blending lines we were introduced to two new words today: smite (and hense smote, but not smitten), and vile.

We struggled with our math lesson today. We may need to go back and revisit the concept in today's math homework. Today's lesson was cut short due to time constraints.

Our social studies book mentions 5 oceans. In years past we have only taught 4 oceans while some sources claim there to be 3. The oceans we will designate for testing/standard purposes will be: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic.

Thank you to those who have already taken advantage of the DonorsChoose.org gift cards or who have already returned them. Your timeliness is appreciated as the funds will only be available for a limited time.

Unit 3 Week 2 Preview

This week we ask the question: What do family members do with one another to have fun? Our comprehension skill focus will be to make and confirm predictions using the strategy of analyzing story structure. We will take a brief look at alliteration (consonance). We will continue our exploration with long vowel spellings in particular: long vowel-i spelled i_e (like, nice) or 'i at the end of a syllable' (pilot, riding). In grammar we will examine present-tense verbs. We will be using the skill of persuasion in our writing over the next 2 weeks.

Our oral vocabulary words are: typical, possessions, connections, relief, and support. Our high-frequency words are: call, funny, how, more, so, there.

As you read with your child at home, please continue to predict and confirm as you read (What do you think will happen? Do you think Goldilocks will get caught?). When finishing a fiction selection or chapter, ask your child to confirm predictions and summarize what happened. When reading a nonfiction selection, have your child state the main idea and details.

Please continue to have your child collect family jokes, anecdotes, and riddles for the next few weeks in order for us to complete our Unit Project.

In social studies we will continue to compare the past and the present. We will also work towards understanding our location in the world while learning the continents and the oceans (tested). We will compare globes and maps.

In science we will continue our exploration of the forms of matter, in particular small particle solids. We may even get a bit messy again. No worries, everything will wash out.

Fifty-fifth Day

We had a quick lesson on Power Point today. I suggested for those kids that have flash drives to bring them in to make organization of computer work easier. If your child brings a flash drive in, it would be helpful to somehow ID the drive with your child's name either by writing on the drive or attaching it to a lanyard that can be written on.

We will be taking a brief Social Studies quiz tomorrow. We reviewed how life was different a long time ago, why home are different in other parts of the world, and what traditions we celebrate in the United States.

Unit 2 Week 2 Preview

This week we will be discussing helping and cooperation in connection with our larger theme Family and Neighbors. We will discuss how we are able to contribute to tasks which need to be accomplished. We will read and listen to several versions of The Little Red Hen for comparison. We will focus on the order of events to retell (R 1.2.7). We will use our fourth thinking map (Flow Map) to write a retelling. We will then learn to write ordered instructions for completing a task.

Our focus in phonics will be the short-vowel 'e'. We will focus on high-frequency words: eat, no, of, some, and who. We will discuss and practice plural nouns with an emphasis on those which require '-es'. Our robust vocabulary words are: appreciate, cooperate, partner, responsibility, and scrumptious.

In social studies we will observe how the environment/weather of three different climates affects lifestyle. We will also examine the division of labor in and the process of raw material to final product.

In science we will work further with solid forms of matter.

Twenty-Fourth Day

We continued with our personal narrative today by using our Bubble Map to construct descriptive sentences about ourselves. We continued work on our Unit Project. We also had a dictation test on '-in' and '-ip' patterned words. We read a nonfiction selection about growth and analyzed the text for structure and compared the text to earlier selections.

Please look for incorrect/incomplete math classwork today and return corrected/completed to class tomorrow along with the homework. We had limited time due to the shortened afternoon and some students may need some extra input. I will be gauging understanding tomorrow to decide what day will be best to give Topic 4 test.

For social studies we discussed the meaning and difference of the terms rights and responsibilities and discussed the meaning of community and citizenship.