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.

One-Hundred Third Day

Our reading batteries are complete. We have one more day to complete the writing test. Unfortunately, students who missed any portion of the writing process due to absences are unable to make up that time. The good news is many of the students have not needed the entire amount of time allotted for taking the test, but some have. We will take our science test on the states of matter this Friday.