Someone Special

Last week the students wrote about someone special to them using their Write From the Beginning strategies. They first created a Circle Map followed by a Tree Map. They used the Tree Map to help them write sentences. In small group, we went over their sentences and the students wrote their final draft. The students wrote some really sweet things about their family members!

Landforms and Bodies of Water

In Social Studies and Science we have been learning about bodies of water and landforms. To help distinguish the attributes of different types of landforms and water, the students created a six part foldable to illustrate the features of a mountain, a hill, a plain, an ocean, a lake, and a river. With the landforms, the students practiced motions to help them remember that a mountain is pointed, a hill is round, and a plain is flat.

How to Be a 3D Shape

Last week the students used what they learned about 3 dimensional shapes to write a "how to" paper. The students used our class created grid to identify how many faces/surfaces, edges/rims, and vertices/points each shape had. They then formated them into notes on a graphic organizer which they then used to form complete sentences. Thank you to my teammate, Mrs. Linnabary, for finding this great lesson idea on LessonPlanSos.

Comparing Larger Numbers

We have been finding new ways to practice comparing numbers. Today we went to the computer lab and built larger numbers using Base Ten Blocks in the program Kidspiration. The students built four numbers with the blocks and then used text boxes to label them. After their numbers were built, they used text boxes to type the numbers in order.

You can have your child practice this at home by having them draw the tens as lines or sticks and the ones as dots. Another fun way to practice is to use pretzel sticks and marshmallows. You can also have them build ten rods with Legos.

Fluency Podcasting

As guided reading today, the students practiced recording their favorite poems using Audacity software. They recorded again and again until they were happy with their recording. The poems that we typically use are from Dr. Timothy Rasinski's book Poems for Word Study. You can hear all of their recordings at my podcasting site on Podbean. You can download the podcasts to your computer, IPhone, IPod, or IPad. Below is an example of today's recordings:

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Scribble

As I was lesson planning, I came across an interesting site, Scribble, that reminds me of our classroom activity of Making Words by Patricia Cunningham. On this website, you are given a random generation of letters and the goal is to write down as many words as you can think of using only those letters. They can be short words or long words. It is a great way to challenge your students, especially those who enjoy puzzles. This could be a fun game to incorporate into a family game night - see which family member comes up with the most words.  Another great site that we use in class as a part of Making Words is Words in Words. Words in Words allows you to type in a word and it will generate a list of words that can be made from the same letters. Below is an example of just a few of the words found within the word "student."

Storyline Online

The Screen Actors Guild Foundation has a great website, Storyline Online, where actors read their favorite children's books. The site is a great way for your child to hear engaging and fluent reading as well as practice their comprehension skills. As additional practice at home, have your child listen to one of the stories online and then have them tell you the events of the story in order. You can extend the learning by having them write the beginning, middle, and end of the story in a Flow Map.

3D Shape Sort

In computer lab today, the students created their own six-part chart in Pixie 2 to sort clipart into 3D shape categories. Enjoy a quick movie below of their work:

Water Is Useful

This week we have been studying about different landforms and bodies of water. As a part of our study, the students wrote and illustrated at least one way that they use water. Students who find lessons relevant to their own lives are more likely to remember what they were taught. The students also created a foldable of the earth to learn how much of the earth is covered in water. The students took a circle and folded it into fourths, which was a good review of fractions, and colored in three out of four parts blue to show that the earth is made of mostly water. They colored the last part green to show that one out of four parts are land.

 

3D Shapes

This week we have been learning about 3 dimensional shapes and their attributes. The students are expected to know how many faces or surfaces each shape has, the number of vertices or points, the nubmer of edges, and real life examples. To practice this, the students practiced making the shapes out of playdough. They then counted the number of faces, vertices, and edges each shape had. The students also worked in cooperative groups to sort real life objects on a large thinking map.

Year in Review

Happy New Year! We've had an exciting first half of the school year and I look forward to all of the milestones the students will acheive over the next several months. As a look back at all we've done, I created a Wordle from the key words of our year. Wordle is a fun and creative way to help your children with their spelling.

The Snowman

The last day before break we read The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. This is one of my favorite winter books because it is wordless and the illustrations are beautiful. As a part of the lesson, we connected the story back to our reading strategy of "Look at the Pictures." The students took turns telling the events of the story based on the details in the pictures. After reading, the students created their own snowman.

Double It Up!

A few weeks ago in computer lab we reviewed doubles addition and subtraction problems by recreating our Doubles Tree Map on the computer. We used the program Pixie 2 to match dominoes and real-world objects to their addition and subtraction double. Below is a video of the students' work:

Money, Money, Money!

Over the last couple of weeks we have been learning about coins and their value. Students are expected to be able to identify both the front and back of each coin, their value, and how many equivalent pennies equal the value. To help the students learn this, we created a grid to compare the coins.

We also learned this great poem:

Penny, penny, easy spent,

Copper brown and worth one cent.

Nickel, nickel, thick and fat,

You’re worth 5. I know that.

Dime, dime, little and thin,

I remember—you’re worth 10.

Quarter, quarter, big and bold,

You’re worth 25, I am told.

Half a dollar, half a dollar,

Giant size.

50 cents to buy some fries.
Dollar, dollar, green and long,
With 100 cents you can’t go wrong.

My teammate, Mrs. Linnabary, had a great math lesson to teach students the relevance of money. The students created a shelf for a toy shop out of construction paper and then sorted pictures of toys according to their cost on the shelves while matching them to the coin of the same value.

To help your child at home, use IXL Math's free trial to identify the coins and their value. You can also have your child practice coin equivalencies.

Christmas Party

The last day before our break the students were treated to a cookie decorating party. Thank you to all of the parents who donated items. The children had a blast and were very creative! Before the party the students made placemats that were modeled off of an activity I found on fellow bloggers site, First Grade Teaching. The students filled out a job application to be one of Santa's reindeer and then glued antlers and a red nose to a black and white picture of themselves. They then placed them on red construction paper for their holiday placemats. I forgot to take a picture of them but you can see parts of them on the tables. After decorating cookies, the students participated in a book exchange.

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The Polar Express

The week before the holiday break was filled with a lot of fun and exciting lessons. One of our favorites was the school-wide Polar Express Day. Each grade level visited the library to hear our principal, Mrs. Oliver, read The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. After hearing the story, the students were treated to hot chocolate. Later in the day, the children played "Place Value Train" where they raced to be the first to build a number with Base Ten Blocks. The first team to build the number correctly received a piece of their train. The first team to build their train to spell "Place Value" won. They then used Tens and Ones charts to estimate the number of bells in a jar and then built ten rods and ones out of the bells to check their estimations. At the end of the day the students each received a bell necklace. Click below to see a few pictures from our special day.

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Santa Study

Yesterday our librarian, Mrs. Jepsen, taught a lesson to all of the first graders about the role of Santa Around the World. We learned that in the United States he is Santa Claus, in France he is Pere Noel, in Germany he is Saint Nicholas, and in Russia he is Grandfather Frost. They also learned that in Mexico they have The Three Kings. The students learned how they traveled, what they brought to boys and girls, and where they lived. After completing the Santa study, the students used the chart to help them write sentences about what they learned in their Santa book.

Christmas Cheer

This week to practice our fluency the students practiced the poem and song, "Christmas Cheer." The song is to the tune of "The Bear Went Over the Mountain." Click below to hear the students practicing using Audacity software. Parents, you can download the song through my podcasting site at Podbean.

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Affirmation Tree

As a part of our writing this morning, the students wrote affirmations to one another. Writing affirmations is a part of Capturing Kids Hearts. Capturing Kids Hearts is a relationship building program we use district wide. As Flip Flippen of Capturing Kids Hearts puts it, "If you have a child's heart, you have his head." The students wrote affirmations on ornaments that we then added to our tree in the hallway.

Fact Family Wreaths

***UPDATE: You can now download a similar lesson using a Holly Wreath at my TPT store.***

Last week in math we were working on solving addition and subtraction word problems. As a part of our lessons, we had a little fun creating pattern block wreaths which we then used to solve a word problem and its corresponding fact families.

Too Many Tamales and Merry Christmas, Strega Nona

This week we read and compared two books: Too Many Tamales and Merry Christmas, Strega Nona. On Monday, we read Too Many Tamales and created a story map as a group. The next day we read Merry Christmas, Strega Nona. We also created a story map for this book. On Wednesday, we discussed how the two books are similiar and different. As a part of this discussion, we created a Venn Diagram. After our three charts were completed the students worked in small groups to create their own story maps using their own words.

Better to Give Than Receive

Today we read Auntie Claus by Elisa Primavera as a part of our study of character traits. As we read, we discussed how the main character, Sophie, was acting. We then created a Thinking Map to chart how she went from being selfish to selfless. We discussed the main idea of the story which is that it is better to give than to receive. The students then created gift shaped graphic organizers to write down four ways they can give to others.

All Soiled Up

We have been comparing and experimenting with soil this week. As a part of our study we did an experiment to see what different types of soil look like when they are dry and when they are wet. We examined sandy soil, planting soil, and clay soil. We then did an experiment to see how absorbant each type of soil was by counting how many sprays of water from a water bottle it would take to completely saturate each type of soil.

Stocking Descriptive Writing

Last week the students created a Christmas stocking as a part of their homework. Yesterday and today the students used Thinking Maps to write about their stockings. The students first created a Circle Map, followed by a Tree Map which they then used to write descriptive sentences. The Thinking Maps are a part of our daily writing program, Write From the Beginning.