The Week of April 16

Classroom News

What a great first week back after a long snowy vacation! We were all glad to see the sunshine, even though it ended with a little rain. It is WONDERFUL to no longer have to put on snow pants, hats, gloves ... before recess. The kids love being able to go out with just a  sweatshirt! The playground can be a bit muddy this time of year so mud boots are welcome as they help to cut down on the mud that gets tracked into the school. Please remember we have Library class on Tuesdays, and that the first graders are now bringing home two books each week. 

Indoor Recess Fun!
Even though the week ended in rain, we didn't let it dampen our spirits! Inside recess is a BLAST!

  

Readers' and Writers' Workshop

In reading we continued to work on reading nonfiction texts. This week, we focused on acquiring new information through pictures, captions, and text. Students recorded their new learning and their reactions on sticky notes, so  you may notice interesting post-its coming home this week. Later in the week we reviewed decoding strategies and focused on checking if words look right, sound right and make sense. Students were very excited to begin our nonfiction book clubs! This week we figured out what we wanted to learn about and practiced book club rules. Students are grouped by interest and will focus on gaining information through pictures and text. Students will learn how to take notes, and could use their research to write a nonfiction book in writers' workshop. 

In writing we worked to make our books even better! Students worked on drawing diagrams, using important vocabulary, write definitions and set challenging goals for themselves! We love writers' workshop! 

Surgeons in Action
This week we took a break from our spelling groups and added onto our punctuation inquiry study. We looked at apostrophes and how authors use them. We studied one of our favorite authors, Mo Willems. We read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and read many more of Mo's books. Students then worked with apostrophes as they are used in  common contractions. The first and second graders pretended to be surgeons and operated on words to change them into contractions!
        
Math 

In math, we finished up our first penguin unit of study and learned some fun new stations that have helped us learn about 2D shapes and their attributes.  Students loved playing the barrier game where they had to guide a partner to place 2D shapes on a special game board.. without being able to see it! This game really helped us practice positions and naming shapes which helps with communicating with clarity and precision. 

Here is a fun game we played. Students had to create a shape with a certain number of sides and vertices. The other students had to name the shape and support their thinking with evidence. Can you name these shapes?? 

Earth Day Project

On the Friday before vacation, the first and second graders read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Students loved hearing the timeless classic, but many of them had only seen the movie, so I was happy to read the book! Together, we  unpacked the message of the story and talked about ways to keep our planet clean and healthy so we can live here for a long time! At the end of the book, I gave each child a seed and together we wrapped the seed carefully in paper towels and watered it. When we returned after April break, our seeds had done some changing and the children were SO excited to look closely at their seeds and notice all of the changes that took place. Here are some photos from our week!



           

Big Buddies


We met with our Big Buddies on Friday and they helped us re -purpose some containers from our recycling bin! Students made beautiful planters for their new plants which sprouted over vacation! 

Spring Concert

Waterville Elementary School Spring Concert

April 11, 2018

6:00

Students should arrive by 5:45 and come down to the classroom. See you then! 

The Week of April 2

Upcoming Events

April Vacation 

April 16-April 20

April 22, 2018 

Library Day with Mrs. Bryce is on Tuesday! Please remember to pack your child's library book!!!

Spring Art Project

This week we did a fun and beautiful art project! The kids watched a young first grader teach how to draw three types of flowers (tulips, daffodils and daisies). We practice drawing them too, then we made them colorful with water color paints! The paintings are stunning! I love seeing the special touches each child added to make the flowers their own. Make sure you check them out the next time you visit! 

Readers' and Writers' Workshop

We are moving right along in our study of nonfiction texts. This week, we worked on reading nonfiction texts with our reading partner. We asked ourselves what the author was trying to teach us, and then identified supporting details we learned in the text. Students retold their stories to a partner across their five fingers. We loved reading our national geographic magazine and book shopping for new nonfiction texts!

 In writing, we took time to talk about writing stamina. Students used sticky notes to mark a place in their own books that they wanted to write to during our writers' workshop.  This helped students write more for longer. We discussed focus and what to do if we get tired, distracted or get WRITERS' BLOCK!!!

Science

Students did more investigating this week! We made predictions about what would happen to different foods if they were frozen. We wrote and drew about the foods' observable attributes before they were frozen and after! We had lots of great discussion and added onto our summary table. We will continue to explore what happens to food when it is heated and work on writing a class report using a claim and evidence from our investigations! 

The Week of March 26

Upcoming Events

New Special Share Day Schedules are in your child's home-folder!

April Vacation 

April 16-April 20

April 22, 2018 

Classroom News

The first and second graders have been on a roll! We have been working hard on using our Habits of Mind. As a class, we have been working on staying focused, managing our impulses, thinking flexibly and striving for accuracy in everything we do. As a class we have been working on carrying these skills over into our related arts classes. This is a challenging time for the first and second graders, so it was exciting that we have improved in this area. We made it to the Happy Forest on Wednesday and celebrated by having a class GUM CHEWING DAY!! The kiddos loved chewing Trident gum, blowing bubbles and having fun! 

*** Please remember to pack your child a snack each day and be sure to include spoons and forks if needed. ***

Readers' and Writers' Workshop

In reading we had a fun time working on our nonfiction scavenger hunt! On Friday, we put our skills to work as we searched for different text features in nonfiction magazines. Students did a great job identifying table of contents, close ups and captions! They cut out and glued examples  into their special notebooks which we will continue to add to as we work through our unit of study.  In writing, we brainstormed topics we are experts on. Students loved reading more and more about matter. We read a fantastic mentor text called Saturn by Thomas K. Adamson. We noticed how he organized his book, used text features, and how he wrote lots of important information about Saturn which helped settle an argument we engaged in during our science meeting on Tuesday... is Saturn a solid , liquid or gas? Students brainstormed topics they could teach others about, picked a topic and began thinking of facts they could teach. 







States of Matter
In Science, we continued to build our explanation for what happened to my ingredients! Students sorted pictures of items into groups (solids, liquids and gases). We were not sure what group  Saturn and the Moon went into, so we researched in a nonfiction book. 

Students came up with observable characteristics on their own and came to consensus as a class- "Solids have their own shape, liquids need a container and take the shape of the container, gases need a container too, or they will escape!"-First and Second Graders, 2018 
On Friday, we watched a video about states of matter and what happens on the inside... we imagined we shrunk down and fit inside ice, water and steam. We learned what the molecules look like and what they do in each state. Students modeled with cheerios and explained why each state of matter acts as it does. 










Math

In math we spent time working on ten more, ten less, one more and one less. We practiced with tens frames, and base ten blocks. We began a new routine which will help students become more fluent with this skill. We began working with our Number of the Day, this is a daily practice we will work on until the end of the year. Students played a new game on the computers called Adding 10 Depth Charger! This game is found at http://www.ictgames.com/addition.htm where you can find tons of other great games for practice at home! The first graders did a great job with their telling time skills and made lots of improvements in telling time to the half hour on both analog and digital clocks!