This week in First grade...

November 12th - 16th

Reminders:

Monday, November 12^th  Veteran's Day (observed). School is in session.

Wednesday, November 14^th Thanksgiving Meal in the cafeteria

Thursday, November 15^th 6:30 Skate Night

Wed-Fri, November 21-23 Holiday

Reading Workshop:

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we will be researching The First Thanksgiving. We will learn about topics related to Thanksgiving, such as Native Americans, Pilgrims, Mayflower, and the first Feast. We will use many resources for research on these topics. We will be asking, “Where do I go to find out this information?”

Writing Workshop:

This week in writing, we will be writing a nonfiction book based upon our research information that we gathered during our reading lessons. Each student will write a mini book about Thanksgiving.  We will focus on writing topics and incorporating details into our factual writing.

Math:

This is our second week of the unit: Developing Count On Addition Strategies for Basic Facts.  

It is essential that all students are able to successfully calculate both mentally and with paper and pencil their basic facts.  Research shows that the most effective way for students to learn the basic facts is to arrange the facts into clusters.  Each cluster is based on a thinking strategy that students can use to help them learn all of facts in that cluster.  We will be doing the "Count On" cluster for the next two weeks.  Counting is a vital life skill and forms the basis of the Count On strategy, a strategy that is useful for more than half the number of basic facts that need to be mastered.  This unit includes Count On 1 (+1 facts), Count on 2 (+2 facts) and Count on 0 (+0 facts).  This unit also develops the concept of "turnarounds," the application of the commutative property of addition.  This property allows any number of addends to be combined in any order and the sum will always be the same.  The vocabulary your child will be introduced to in this unit include: Count on, one more, add one, addition, number sentence, turnaround fact, equation, Count on 2, two more, add two, equals, equal sign means "the same as" (NOT "the answer is"), zero. 

Social Studies:

Maps and globes are the focus this week in Social Studies. As a class we will compare the two and discuss how each is important. We will also be learning about where we are located in the big scheme of the world, starting with Austin, Texas and moving outwardly to the entire world. This is always a fun week for the students!

Have a great week!

Mrs. C

This week in First Grade

November 5^th- 9^th

Reminders:

Wednesday, November 14^th Thanksgiving Meal in the cafeteria

Wed-Fri, November 21-23 Holiday

Library books are due on Thursday.

Reading Workshop:

This week in Reading Workshop we are reading fiction and discussing it’s elements.  We will identify the characters in a story, the setting, the problem and the solution.  All of these elements make up the plot of a story.  We will read stories from many different genres and compare the elements of fiction. 

Writing Workshop:

This week in Writing Workshop we will begin our unit on Small Moments.  We will use children’s literature to model how authors pick a short moment in time to write a lot about.  We will focus on details and description.  We will continue to develop our craft by using the writing process.

Word Work:

First grade words for the week are: {posted Tuesday}

Groups:

Green Group: Beginning Consonants 

Blue Group: Digraphs review

Red Group: Vowel Pairs

**I will begin sending home a copy of your child's sort this week in the Tuesday folder.**

Routines for sorting:  

Monday: Cut and Sort for sounds

Tuesday: Picture sort: Sort and attempt spelling of words 

               Word Sort: Record words in sort order in Word Work Notebook

Wednesday: Word Wall Wednesday

Thursday: Sort and Speed Sort

                Brainstorm other words with your spelling pattern

Friday: Sort and Glue

            *Assessments* (if applicable)     

Math:

We are starting a new unit this week called: Developing Count On Addition Strategies for Basic Facts.  This unit will last for two weeks.  It is essential that all students are able to successfully calculate both mentally and with paper and pencil their basic facts.  Research shows that the most effective way for students to learn the basic facts is to arrange the facts into clusters.  Each cluster is based on a thinking strategy that students can use to help them learn all of facts in that cluster.  We will be doing the "Count On" cluster for the next two weeks.  Counting is a vital life skill and forms the basis of the Count On strategy, a strategy that is useful for more than half the number of basic facts that need to be mastered.  This unit includes Count On 1 (+1 facts), Count on 2 (+2 facts) and Count on 0 (+0 facts).  This unit also develops the concept of "turnarounds," the application of the commutative property of addition.  This property allows any number of addends to be combined in any order and the sum will always be the same.  The vocabulary your child will be introduced to in this unit include: Count on, one more, add one, addition, number sentence, turnaround fact, equation, Count on 2, two more, add two, equals, equal sign means "the same as" (NOT "the answer is"), zero. 

Science:

This week we are exploring forms of energy.  We will review what we have learned during our unit on Force, Motion and Energy.  We will move into our next unit in Social Studies later in the week.  We will learn about maps and globes.  As a class we will compare the two and discuss how each is important.  We will learn about relative location and how using direction words helps us when we are making and using maps.

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!!!