Indoor Recess

 

Indoor Recess.... burrrr it's cold outside 

We won't let indoor recess get us down! We had lots of fun trying out some new inside recess activities! 

The Week of January 19

 

**Please send extra masks to school with your child each day. After returning from recess our masks are wet and students often want to change their mask throughout the day.**

Upcoming Events

Classroom Book Order Due- Jan. 26

Order online or send a CHECK made out to Scholastic Book Clubs

Please visit https://clubs.scholastic.com/home

Class Code LDRGD

No School- Friday, Feb. 5

Teacher In-Service 

No School- February Break

Feb. 22- Mar. 2

New Year's Resolutions

New Hopes and Dreams

Readers' Workshop

This week in reading, we worked on breaking words into parts while reading and writing, and scooping up several words at a time! Students were broken up into different reading groups, and enjoyed reading to their stuffed animal partners! 

FAMILIES- PLEASE BE SURE TO SEND YOUR STUDENT'S BOOK BAG TO SCHOOL EACH DAY! 

Writers' Workshop

Students read a fun mentor text this week to learn more about How To Books! We read the book Bee to Honey and noticed different author moves and features. We graduated from our "old" How to Check-List to a new list! The kiddos had fun listening to Pomp and Circumstance as they added their new chart to their writing folders! 

Safety Drill Practice

On Thursday we practiced a lock-down drill in our classroom. We began by reading the book I'm not Scared... I'm prepared! by Julia Cook. It was a gentle and light way to talk about a topic that often scares students. We learned to play Sheep, Shepard and Wolf, a game which teaches to kids to listen and follow directions during important times. We will have a school wide drill in the coming months. Please don't hesitate to call me here at school if you have any questions or concerns. 

Science

This week in science, we learned about stars in the sky! Students made a cool star maker, and used our flashlights to make the BIg Dipper. We investigated why the we can't see the stars during the day. On Friday, we read a story together and learned how to use a special star (North Star) to find our way in the dark. Student learned about the cardinal directions and played a fun game to practice using them! 

Math

In math we finished up Unit 2 and took an end of unit assessment. Students also began playing a fun new game called Drop the Beans to practice adding up to 7, 8 , 9 and 10! 

The Week oF January 11

 

**Please send extra masks to school with your child each day. After returning from recess our masks are wet and students often want to change their mask throughout the day.**

Upcoming Events

Classroom Book Order Due- Jan. 26

Order online or send a CHECK made out to Scholastic Book Clubs

Please visit https://clubs.scholastic.com/home

Class Code LDRGD

Review of PAWS Rules and Classroom Expectations

As a class we reviewed our PAWS rules and set some classroom behavior goals together.  We also picked a fun reward celebration as a class! We will have GUM chewing day! Each child will get a small pack of Trident Gum try and keep! 

We are working on:

Follow Set Classroom Expectations 

Safety at All Times 

Readers' Workshop 

Shared Reading

The first and second graders began a new component of our reading instruction after winter break. We began a fun shared reading time together. Each day, we begin by reading a poem together, then read and read a specific text together throughout the week. At the end of the week, we read the text for fluency in a fun way! This week, our focus was on reading snap words quickly, identifying features of a nonfiction text, and rereading for fluency. We pretended to be news reporters! 

We continue to work on snap words each day, and reading our just right books! We will continue small reading groups as well. 

Number Corner and Math 

In math, we have been busy learning about missing number equations and working with the equal sign. We have been learning and practicing strategies for solving subtraction and addition equations.  Students also created their own Number Story in Seesaw using their knowledge of fact families. We played a fun new game of called Spin and Add where students practiced writing stacked addition equations. 

Writers' Workshop

We took a break from our How To Books to do a creative, fun New Year's Resolution project. Students reflected on their Hopes and Dreams from the fall, and set new goals for the year to come! We also painted some AMAZING self portraits to go with our new goals. Next week, we will return to our How To Writing! 

New Science Unit 

In science, we began a fun unit of study on Patterns in the Sky! This unit will help students develop the idea that the Sun, Moon, and stars change position in the sky in ways that are fun to watch and predict. Students LOVED working with Willy the Gnome, making shadows move, and making a sun finder!  Students have loved creating models to explain their thinking. We have lots of good discussions as we work on answering our guiding questions.

Fundations/Spelling

This week we added the digraph wh and th to our word sorts. Students practiced building words on their magnet boards, and reading new snap words. 

Guidance class with Ms. Rebecca

 

Guidance Class 

Today, Ms. Rebecca made slime with the first and second graders! We had lots of fun and the slime came out great! Be sure to check your student's backpack for their special creation. 

PBIS School Wide Celebration

 

Pie in the Face Celebration!

WES celebrated following our PAWS rules by having a Pie in the Face celebration right before winter break! All student names were placed in our PAWS jar, and 6 students were selected to throw a pie in a teacher/staff member's face! It was great fun! 

Meeting our New Reading Partners!

 

Partner Reading 

The first and second graders met their new reading partners on Monday! Each child, has a special stuffed animal to read to during Readers' Workshop. We keep them in our desks and/or cubbies to make sure our partners are kept safe. Students are working on building reading stamina and fluency. 

Normally during Readers' Workshop, partner reading would be a back and forth relationship where students talk about books, connections, practice strategies and more. The first and second graders are making the most of partner reading and have really enjoyed this new part of our workshop!