Thriller Flash Mob

What a fun surprise!!  The students learned a version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance and Flash Mobbed the teachers this morning!  It was so cute to see them dancing in the classroom!  I was able to grab my phone and record them dancing!!!

This week in First grade...

October 29- November 2

Reminders:

Saturday, November 3^rd  Harvest Festival

Wednesday, November 14^th  Thanksgiving Lunch in the Cafeteria

*Parents, I will be out Monday morning with a sick child.  I will be at school in the afternoon but I will be at a Technology Training.  Mrs. Lankford will be my sub.  See you Tuesday!

This week in First grade…

Reading Workshop

During Reading Workshop this week we will explore Halloween Fiction!  We will identify procedural parts of texts as we read fun stories such as It’s Pumpkin Time, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever and Hallowiener!  We will read Time for Kids: Boo to explore non-fiction text that includes current events in and around our community!

Writing Workshop

During Writing Workshop we will continue to learn and practice writing procedural text.  Last week, we wrote “How to’s” as a class to illustrate the steps of a procedure.  This week the students goal will be to independently choose a subject and write a “how to”.  They will use the writing process to complete their own piece of procedural text.  We will also explore the world of adjectives.  We will brainstorm a list of adjectives, describing words, as we complete our writing projects.

Word Work (posted on Tuesday)

First grade High Frequency words:

Green Group:

Blue Group:

Red Group:

Math

This week in math we will be reviewing skills/concepts taught during the first nine weeks of school.  We will apply all the skills/concepts to Halloween problem solving.  Each child will be encouraged to choose a strategy, sometimes two and use their own words to explain their thinking for the problem.  Although this may seem easy, to some it is very difficult to put their thoughts on paper and explain how to solve the problem step by step!

Science

This week during Science we will be exploring and investigating heat as a force of energy.  We will utilize engaging video clips from BrainPopJr and United Streaming to learn.  We will explore energy you can feel, see and hear!  We will use graphic organizers to record our learning and thoughts in our Science Notebook.

Have a great week!!

This week in First grade...

This week is Red Ribbon Week!

We began our discussion last week when we talked about keeping our bodies healthy!  We watched a couple of BrainPopJr. Videos on exercise and Saying no to drugs!   We also completed our "feet" that are posted on our door to help us remember to "Stomp Out Drugs"!

Monday: Sock it to drugs- Wear Crazy or Mismatched Socks

Tuesday: Drugs and I Do NOT Mix Day- Wear mismatched clothes

Wednesday: Say Say NO to Drugs Day- Wear a red shirt or clothing

Thursday:  Boot Out Drugs Day- Wear boots or western wear

Friday:  Say BOO to Drugs Day- Wear Halloween Colors or T-Shirt

Reminders:

Wednesday, October 24^th  Early Release @12:45pm

Thursday, October 25^th Family Science Night

Saturday, November 3^rd  Harvest Festival

It was great to see everyone at the Give a Hoot Picnic!  Thanks to the PTA for a fun evening!  We are so grateful for all that they do for our Caraway Community!

This week in First grade…

Reading Workshop

During our reading workshop time we will continue to focus on Expository text but will transfer our focus to Procedural texts.  We will read a variety of literature that outlines “how to…” complete a task.  We will use our Reading Workshop time to focus on the study of Pumpkins.  We will read The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons and focus on the portion of the story that outlines how to grow a pumpkin.  We will discuss the elements of “how to…” writing as we examine different author’s work.

Writing Workshop

During Writing Workshop we will transfer what we’ve learned from our reading experiences to our own writing.  We practice writing the step of a “How to” as a class.  We will reflect on our experience of making pancakes during our science investigation a couple of weeks ago.  Together we will illustrate and write a How to make pancakes.  The students will choose a subject that they could explain how to do something.  These could include how to make a basket (Basketball), how to ride a bike or how to make a necklace.

Word Work

First grade High Frequency words: when, who, your, them, be

Green Group: Beginning Consonants (K, J, L, W)

Blue Group: Digraphs (th, wh)

Red Group: Word Families (al, wa )

Math

This week during math we will explore data and graphing.  The students will be expected to make graphs with real objects, picture graphs and bar type graphs.  We will explore how to collect data through our “quick surveys”.  The students will ask each other questions like, “Do you like your ice cream in a cup, or in a cone?” They will ask their classmates and record their data on a tally chart.  After the students collect their data they will make a picture graph or a bar graph to display their results.   We will answer questions such as, “are there more of our friends who like ice cream on a cone?”

Science

This week during Science we will be exploring and investigating magnets as part of our unit on Force, Motion and Energy.  We will record what we may already know about magnets on a KWL chart.  We will ask questions about the things we don’t know.  As we begin our investigation we will watch magnets in action on BrainPopJr.  We will explore what magnets attract, what they repel and if they work in water. 

Have a great week!!

This week in First Grade...

October 15^th-19^th

Reminders:

Thursday, October 18 5:30pm  Give a Hoot Picnic

Wednesday, October 24^th  Early Release

Library books are due on Thursday.

Reading Workshop:

This week in Reading Workshop we will continue our study of expository text.  As a class we made an anchor chart to learn about the features of nonfiction.  We concluded that the purpose of reading nonfiction text is to learn! 

We will discuss the differences between fiction and nonfiction.  One difference is that we read a fiction text from beginning to end.  Most of time we read the parts of nonfiction text which holds the information we want to know.  Talk to your child about their favorite feature of nonfiction.

This week we will be reading texts about Spiders to learn more about the creepy crawly friends with eight legs!

Writing Workshop:

This week in Writing Workshop we will be building our knowledge of writing facts.  We will model how to read a book, think about what you’ve learned and write a fact in your own words.  We will practice this skill by reading expository texts on our own level and writing the facts that interest us.

Word Work:

First grade words for the week are:

Groups:

Green Group: Beginning Consonants Sort #3 (c, h, f, d)

Blue Group: Diagraphs Sort #15 (h, sh and ch)

Red Group: Vowel Pairs Sort #33 (aw, au  = says ah)

Math:

This week in math we will continue learning how numbers can be broken apart and put together in a variety of ways (decomposing and composing).  The students will develop strategies for counting and combining groups of dots using ten-frames.  We will play some games about missing parts with our math focus on: Solving a problem in which the total and one part are known, finding relationships among different combinations of numbers up to 10, using numbers to record,  and using 5 + 5 to reason about other combinations of 10.  We will continue problem solving that incorporates the processes of understanding the problem, making a plan, carrying out the plan, and evaluating the solution for reasonableness.

Science:

We are moving back into science this week, and our focus will be on force, motion, and energy. We will be learning about what causes movement, how different types of movements are made, and that force, motion, energy, and time are related and are a part of our everyday lives. The students will be setting up a simple experiment, making predictions as to the outcome of the experiment, and recording observations. This is another hands-on week in science that we are excited about!

This week in First grade...

October 9th -12th

READING WORKSHOP:

Last week we used some of our Reading and Writing workshop time to learn about Bats.  We read nonfiction books about bats in every reading group and we shared facts we learned from our reading.  As a class we read Bats by Gail Gibbons, Mrs. Caballero's favorite nonfiction author, to learn even more about bats.  We made a class fact chart so we could review what we learned all week.  On Friday we put two new bat poems in our poetry folder.  We also made a bat fact book, a diagram of a bat and it's body parts and I poem book about a bat's nightly journey.  It was a great week!  This week we will extend our nonfiction reading and begin learning about spiders! This will be part of our unit on expository text.  We will model how to think aloud the main idea and details.  During reading groups the students will practice talking about the main idea, details, and retelling the information in the book.  We will introduce important features of expository text such as table of contents, index, glossary, labels, photographs and diagrams.

WRITING WORKSHOP

This week in Writing Workshop we will be moving away from story writing and begin factual writing.  As a class, we will study spiders and learn and write facts about them.  Individually, your child will make a list of their interests.  Then they will use books to learn more and write facts in their own words.

 MATH

This week we will be working with patterns, relationships, and algebraic thinking.  The students will recognize patterns in numbers and operations using a number line and hundreds chart.  Next we will learn how numbers can be broken apart and put together in a variety of ways (decomposing and composing).  We will continue problem solving that incorporates the processes of understanding the problem, making a plan, carrying out the plan, and evaluating the solution for reasonableness.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:

We have been learning about different types of communities, along with rules and laws, and being good citizens.  Now we will begin focusing on the leaders in our communities.  We will read and learn about the roles and responsibilities of leaders in various communities starting with our school principal, and then moving on to the mayor, governor, and finally the president.

 REMINDERS:

*No school on Monday, October 8^th.  Please remember to attend your parent/teacher conference.  You will get a reminder email from Signupgenius.com before your conference.

*PLEASE CHECK THE SCHOOL WEBSITE FOR SCHOOL WIDE EVENTS AND REMINDERS!