The Week of October 22

Upcoming Events

Last call for October book orders... 

 Just visit  https://clubs.scholastic.com and enter in LDRGD.  All orders will be due by Oct. 30^th. 

No School- Nov. 9/Teacher In-Service

International Festival Field Trip 

Nov. 30

More information about parent chaperones and times to come soon. Ms. Whitten, Ms. Thomas and I will be sending home a letter in kids' home-folders.

Morning Meeting Activity

This week we worked on comparing two items.  Each morning, I hid two things under a blanket in class. I gave descriptions of each item and the students had to figure out what they were. Then we used a Venn Diagram to record descriptive features of each item, how they were different and how they were the same! We compared pumpkins to apples, cat Peeps to ghost Peeps and fiction to nonfiction books. 

Readers' Workshop

This week in reading we finished up our first unit of study! We reflected on the skills and strategies we do well, and those that need continued work. We revisited elements of a fiction book by reading I Want That Nut  by Madeline Valentine. Students identified the setting of the story (time and place). Then we made our own posters showing our favorite scenes in the book. Students added character, problem and solution if they could. Later in the week, we began a new unit on nonfiction texts.

Writers' Workshop

The first and second graders continue to work on their small moments stories. This week, we worked on adding author's craft moves to make our stories more interesting. We added dialogue to our stories by adding thought bubbles. Students tried adding text to their writing and  used quotation marks. We used a funny picture prompt to think of things the characters would be saying... this was really fun! Students loved it.

Science

This week was a very productive week! On Friday, we finished our models by trying to make our box classroom totally dark. Students worked in small groups to complete this task. When building time was complete, we used my smartphone to stream a live movie of what it looked like inside a model classroom. We discovered that without light, we actually cannot see anything! We added to our summary table and talked about what we figured out. At this stage of development, students are still unsure about what "proof" or "evidence" means. Some students still say they can see in the dark, even though we have evidence that we all watched together... this is okay! We will continue to work together to prove we need light to see. Up next, we will notice how we use light to communicate with others. 

Math 

In math we have been working little by little on our Comprehensive Growth Assessment. This is a LNMUSD math assessment that is given at the beginning of the school year and at the end. This week we worked on a few pages a day and then did some fun math stations and Halloween flip books created by students! We also used some fun part/part/whole machines to help us notice and talk about how numbers can be broken into parts and then put back together to make a whole. 

The Week of Oct. 8

Upcoming Events 

WIN WORKSHOP  Oct. 17

October 18-19 No School/Teacher In-service

Parent/Teacher Conferences
October 22-24

LNMUSD Early Release Day @ 11:30/ Lunch will be served

October 25

October Book Orders Due Oct. 30

Morning Choice Time: White Board Art

Morning Meeting Game: Who's hiding in the leaf pile?

Fidget Day

Writers' Workshop

Students practiced telling their stories like story tellers this week. We worked on adding sensory details to our writing to help make our stories more exciting! We also worked on sketching our stories out to get visual ideas in our heads... like a movie! 

Readers' Workshop

In reading, students began working with their new reading partners. We did some reteaching about the role of partner reading. Students are working on reminding each other of good habits, growing their ideas about books together, and giving good book introductions. Ms. Russin and I are working with small groups of children to give explicit teaching on the skills students need improvement in.  This week, we read ISH again and practiced retelling the book in order. We also read A Letter to Amy  by Ezra Jack Keats. 

Math

In math we have been working on adding strategies by playing some fun domino games. We are also using the greater than and less than sign to compare values. Students loved writing their own equations to equal 30... lots of great math thinking going on!!

Science

This week in science we continued with our investigation on light and how it helps us see and communicate with others. Students aren't sure at this point whether they can or cannot see in darkness, but we know that light makes things easier to see. On Thursday, we planned out an investigation that one of the students thought might work. We are trying to make our room completely dark... we worked with different materials and made predictions about which material would block the most light or the least light. We realized that we could never make our room completely dark because we don't have enough materials, so students came up with the ideas to build a small classroom out of cardboard boxes.

Happy Forest Celebration

Happy Forest Celebration

10-11-18

Yay! The first and second graders have earned a classroom celebration. Wise Bear has made it all the way back to the Happy Forest.  Our class has been working on following meeting rules, quieting down and listening to directions, and lining up quietly! Tomorrow will be fidget day. Students can bring rubik's cubes, fidget spinners, silly putty, fidget cubes or other fun fidgets to school!! 

The Week of October 1

Upcoming Events 

Our Library Day is Wednesday
Please help your child return their library books!

October 18-19 No School/Teacher In-service

Parent/Teacher Conferences
October 22-24

LNMUSD Early Release Day @ 11:30 

October 25


Custodian Appreciation Day
On Tuesday we thanked Mr. Towle for all of the work he does to keep our school looking in tip-top shape. He does such a wonderful job and is always willing to help! We made him a crown, and each child made a thank you card for him. He loved the cards and was amazed at how detailed each card was!



WIN Workshop: WHAT I NEED WORKSHOP

On Friday, Ms. Thomas and I introduced WIN workshop to our monthly schedule.  This workshop will take place every 2 weeks on Fridays. Students from both the 1-2 and 2-3 classroom will work on setting individualized goals. These goals can either be academic, social or behavioral which ever their teacher feels is most important to the student's success here at school. I will work with each child in our classroom to set a goal for the two week period. At the end of each day, students will work with a teacher to reflect on their progress towards their goal.  We are not aiming for perfection, but expect students to be honest and be persistent. If at the end of the two week period your child has shown persistence, taken feedback and shown overall success in meeting their goals, they get to attend a special workshop. Workshops could include STEM projects, art projects, cooking projects, tech. time, outdoor time etc. If your child was not successful in working towards their goal they will get the teaching they need to achieve their goal. This could include social skill building, behavior skill building, or general academic work time. 


Writers' Workshop
We are well under way with our small moments stories. This week, we worked on planning strategies that helped us zoom in on a part of our story, and how to make a beginning, middle and end. We worked on adding lots of details to our stories as well. On Friday, students loved writing fictional stories to go with some fun picture prompts.


Readers' Workshop
In reading we have been working on reviewing old word attack skills, as well as learning new strategies to help us tackle tricky words. The first and second graders are applying these strategies as they read independently and with a partner. I have been reading with each child independently to identify skills/strategies students need to work on. I have begun working with small groups of students during this time as well. Thank you to all the families who have helped their child be successful while reading at home! 

Math
The first graders are finishing up unit one in math. We really enjoyed measuring different objects with different tools, and made lots of great connections i.e. if the units of measure are smaller we will need more, if the units of measure are longer we will need less. We enjoyed working at our favorite math stations too. 

The Week of September 24

Upcoming Events 

WE NEED SHOE BOXES OR OTHER SMALL CARDBOARD BOXES FOR OUR NEXT SCIENCE PROJECT!!! PLEASE SEND IN WITH YOUR CHILD BY 10-3-18

Reading Homework Begins

 October 1
Reading logs and book bags will be sent home with students. Keep reading logs in your child's home-folder and return book bags every day. 




October 18-19 No School/Teacher In-service

Parent/Teacher Conferences
October 22-24

LNMUSD Early Release Day @ 11:30 
October 25


Checking out a giant toad I found outside! He was awesome!

Readers' Workshop

In reading this week we worked on practicing good reading habits and dropping bad ones! Students reviewed and practiced what to do when they come across a word they don't know. We practiced checking the pictures, looking through the word and all its letters, and making sure the word makes sense. We learned about small group instruction, and students practiced what they will do if they need help or have a problem while I am working with a small group.  We read aloud Gossie and Gertie and Mr. Tiger goes Wild during read aloud. During read aloud we practiced good habits, word solving and retelling the stories in order.
















Writers' Workshop
The first and second graders are really excited to begin writing their own small moments stories! This week we watched Salt Hands by Jan Chelsea Argon a wonderful small moment story about an event occuring in nature. Students brainstormed more ideas that they could write about, and began planning and sketching their books out!

Spelling/Fundations
Students worked more on letter sounds and began segmenting 3 and 4 sound words. We used our magnet boards to build words too! 


Math 
In math we solved number story problems using our number racks. We worked on solving missing number equations i.e ____+5=11 or 11-_____=5. We did a measuring activity which the first graders loved! We practiced estimating and then carefully used popsicle sticks to measure and record the actual length.

Science

On Thursday and Friday we began our first science unit of study on light waves. Our guiding question for this unit of study is How Does Light Help Me See Things And Communicate With Others? Students did a shape hunt in our classroom while the room was almost completely dark.  This was our initial phenomenon, which the 2nd graders already have lots of experience with and did a great job helping the first graders! We learned about our Summary Table and what we do during scientist meeting.