100th Day / Valentine's Day Celebration

 

Happy 100th Day of School 

We visited the 100 year old Selfie Booth on Seesaw! 

We also made Lego Creations using 100 blocks!

My Heart is Like a Zoo

The first and second graders loved reading My Heart is like a Zoo by Michael Hall, and created a Valentine's envelope displaying their favorite animal! 

We certainly enjoyed passing out our valentines and enjoyed ice cream sandwiches! Students have their envelopes in their backpacks! 

The Week of February 9

Upcoming Events

February Book Order Due

Feb. 19

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

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

Class Code LDRGD

100th Day of School/ Valentine's Day Celebration

Feb. 15

February Break/No School

Feb. 22- March. 2

Remote Learning Day Reminder

Thank you to all of the the families who are working hard to stay engaged on remote learning days! I love seeing the kiddos on Wednesday mornings. Please remember that it is expected that students engage in their learning while at home. 

Ways to Engage in Learning From Home 

-join class meeting

-login to Seesaw, Dreambox, Epic or Raz Kids for daily assignments and practice

-email me to share what you have done for the day.

-return worksheets when in person learning resumes. 

***If your child is unable to engage in their remote learning because they are ill or have an appointment, please email me to let me know. Students will be marked absent if I cannot make contact with you or your child***

Family Expectations

Can you spot the turtle? 

Beautiful day on the playground!

Writers' Workshop

This week in writing, we began fixing up our favorite " How to Books". We worked on revising and editing our books in class. Students have choices when creating their published copies- they can type their book in google docs, or write out a published copy. Students are learning to use google docs and insert pictures from google images too! 

Students began a short free choice writing unit of study while they publish their How to Book. This is one of my FAVORITE units to do with kids. It is amazing to see what kinds of writing they choose to write, and all of the skills and strategies they apply! 

Readers Workshop

In reading, the first and second graders finished up our Reading Detectives Unit of Study! We have learned some very important reading strategies that help us to read longer and more challenging words. I have been busy conducting winter benchmark assessments with students, which include the Fountas and Pinnell reading assessment and sight word reading. 

Kindness For All 

Kindness for all is an introduction to Black History for first and second graders. A celebration of diversity. This week, we shared some fantastic books together, and worked together on some creative response activities.  Together we read The Day you Begin by Jacqueline Woodson. We each had an egg to examine and make our own. Students noticed similarities and differences, and made their eggs unique. Students noticed that the eggs were different and special on the outside, but the same on the inside.  We also read the Big Umbrella by Amy Jean Bates a story about acceptance and diversity. 

On Friday, learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and read one of my favorite books Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport. Students noticed he was a peace maker and used his BIG words to solve problems. 

Students made peace doves and wrote their favorite BIG words! 

PEACE

LOVE

TOGETHER

FREEDOM

 First Grade Math 

In math, we have been working on part/part whole and flexibly showing different ways to make a target sum. This week, we play a new game called Tower Race! We continue to learn about congruent and non congruent shapes and have had fun making various shapes on our digital rubber band boards.  I have been working with student 1:1 to assess their addition and subtraction fluency. It is really interesting to see the different strategies students use. 

Spelling/Fundations

In spelling we are finishing up our study of Bonus Letters (ff, ll, ss and zz). Student are working on reading and writing words with this pattern, while reviewing old concepts as well. Students are becoming skilled at sorting out their words into groups and explaining their thinking! 

The Week of Feb. 1

 

Upcoming Dates

**Please bring any valentines to school by Friday, February 12th**

Students are welcome to make valentines for their classmates and bring individually/pre wrapped treats to share. Items will be quarantined until Feb. 15th.

February Book Order Due

Feb. 19

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

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

Class Code LDRGD

100th Day of School Celebration

Feb. 15

February Break/No School

Feb. 22- March. 2

**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.**

Readers' Workshop

We are close to finishing up our Word Detectives unit of study! It is amazing to see all of the strategies that the first and second graders are using to solve longer and harder words! Some of the strategies we have worked on recently are:

Trying multiple vowel sounds i.e. long and short sounds

Looking closely at beginning and ending blends

Reading vowel teams ee, ea, oa, ou, oo

Looking for snap words inside longer words

Breaking long words into chunks

Students continue to work in small reading groups and on shared reading activities. Our focus for shared reading has been on nonfiction texts and their features. 

Writers' Workshop

In writing, we are working on revising and editing our favorite How To piece of writing. Students will make a "Fancy Copy". We will have our first writing celebration here at school and students will post their work to their Seesaw accounts, so we can share with our families at home! 

            

              

Math 

In math, the first graders have been learning about 2D shapes and how to recognize and create congruent and noncongruent shapes. We are also moving into solving doubles +1 facts and playing some fun Teacher vs. Kids games! 

PBIS Celebration

On Thursday, we celebrated our with a school wide movie and popcorn day! Our class also had a special first and second grade celebration just for us. We have been working hard to follow classroom safety expectations. Here are some pictures from our day!

ZONES OF REGULATION

The first and second graders have been learning to recognize and name the different emotions and feelings we have throughout our day. We are working with our Guidance Counselor, Ms. Rebecca to identify feelings, and the signals our brain gives us to recognize these feelings. Naming these feelings is key to learning how to regulate our body, and learning strategies to help is our goal.