Friday, December 20, 2013

Missing!

Our classroom gingerbread man has gone missing! The class made missing posters to post around the school. Hopefully he will return to us soon!








Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Baa Baa Black Sheep Sells Her Wool

Last week first graders practiced the play Baa Baa Black Sheep Sells Her Wool. Each student was assigned a role of either Ed the Shepherd, Wool Buyer 1, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Wool Buyer 2, Wool Buyer 3, or the Narrator. The final performance was on Thursday. Each group did an excellent job reading smoothly and with lots of expression! Ask your child about their role, some students had more than one role.




Friday, December 13, 2013

212 News

Phonics: We have been learning about different three letter blends such as spr-, scr-, spl-, squ-, and str-. These blends can get heard in the words squirrel, strawberry, splint, sprout, and screwdriver. In small reading groups practiced spelling different words with the three letter blend.

We have also been focusing on long a, which can be heard in the words cake, rake, and name. We talked about the importance of the letter E at the end of long a words.  We practiced sorting words that have the long and short a. In the following weeks we will discuss the long e and u.

Reading: The past two weeks we have been learning about sequencing events in a story. We have discussed the key words such as first, next, last and finally to help us figure out what happens next in the story. The class read a non-fiction book about the life cycle of the butterfly to practice sequencing what happens when a caterpillar changes to a butterfly. We ended the week with a reader’s theater performance called Baa Baa Black Sheep Sells her Wool. Check out our classroom blog for pictures from the performance!

Writing: We continue to practice writing in our journals. Students are remembering to put a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and period at the end. Our next writing unit is about personal narratives, which a real life story with a problem that gets solved. Students have brainstormed potential personal narrative topics and started illustrating what happens at the beginning, middle, and end.

Math: In math we have been practicing measuring with a ruler and tape measure. Students used tape measures to measure different parts of their body and used a ruler to measure line segments. We have been practicing counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s and filling in the frames and arrow routines.

Save those paper towel tubes: In math we will need paper towel tubes. We will be using the card board paper towel tubes to make a number scroll. Please send any paper towel tubes to school. If you are able please send more than one. Thanks!

Missing Gingerbread Man: This week we started reading books about the Gingerbread man. We compared and contrasted two different books about the gingerbread man and gingerbread girl. Thank you to families for enhancing our gingerbread man unit!


We couldn’t believe it, on Thursday morning the gingerbread man was gone! We looked all over the classroom, no one has seen him! Hopefully he comes back soon!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Please Save Paper Towel Tubes

As we begin the next unit in math we will need paper towel tubes. We will be using the card board paper towel tubes to make a number scroll. Please send any paper towel tubes to school. If you are able please send more than one. Thanks!


Friday, December 6, 2013

Conferences

Conferences will begin next week Monday, Thursday and Friday. I would like to invite students to attend the conference with families. This is a great opportunity for students to take ownership of the learning we have been doing in the classroom.

I look forward to seeing everyone! 

Book Order Reminder

Just a reminder that our Scholastic book orders are due this Monday, December 9th.  Please get the orders to me with a check or place your order online with our class activation code J4VKC.  Remember, if you place the order online the class gets free books! Thanks for all the orders, putting books in the hands of our children is the best way to improve their reading!