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!