We had a great Monday! In the morning, our question of the day was: How do you feel when you see an insect? We learned that 6 of our friends feel scared, 31 of our friends feel excited, and 1 friend felt sad. We showed this by writing the following mathematical sentences: 1 < 6, and 6 < 31.
We read our poems for the week: some of our friends read the poem, "Rain", which was about things that you can do in the rain, while other friends read "El viento", and practiced words like "hojitas y semillitas". During the daily 5, our friends learned their new word study words for the week, and practiced saying the words and putting them into their groups.
In the afternoon, we did a read aloud called New Plants, and learned about how seeds travel. We learned that seeds can travel in many different ways--on our clothes and sneakers, on our pets' fur, by the wind, and by animals. We learned that this is how weeds grow. We then observed our plants, recording our observations, and labeling the parts of the plant on our diagrams--leaves, stems, buds, and flowers.
In math today, the green gators practiced solving word problems with addition, and showing our work using the white boards. We then completed an assessment about which group has more, and how many more.
We finished our day reading our Weekly Reader in Spanish, learning about Insects and what makes an insect--we learned that insects have three major parts to their body, they have 6 legs, and they have 2 antenna. We then did an activity with the Weekly Reader, drawing an insect of our own, and completing drawings of other insects that were missing legs. We had to figure out how many were missing, and how many we needed to draw to have a total of 6 legs. They did a great job with this activity!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Today was a busy day! In the morning, we wrote in our dialogue journals. We are working on adding more and more information to them, and making sure we include the proper letter format, including the date, the greeting (dear_______), and closing (love, _____________). After that, our friends glued in their word study sorts, and took our word study test.
We finished the research component of our All-About Books, and most of our friends began writing their reports, including a table of contents, page numbers, and interesting titles for our chapters in our books. We are also working on including diagrams that are labeled with important information.
We also read aloud the story Chysanthemum in Spanish, and the students helped out with certain words, like Crisantemo, perfecto, and others. We then wrote in our Writing about Reading notebooks, and chose a characterstic of Chrysanthemum that we thought best described her. In our notebooks, we started our response with...I think Chrysanthemum was _____________ because ___________. Our friends did a great job writing their responses!
We also concluded our experiment with corn, bean, pea, and carrot seeds, by placing them in a bag with a wet paper towel. We are excited to see what will grow (if anything will grow) over the weekend!
We continued our observations of our brassica plants, and have observed buds, leaves, stems, and even flowers! We will talk about pollination and actually pollinate our flowers next week!
We finished the research component of our All-About Books, and most of our friends began writing their reports, including a table of contents, page numbers, and interesting titles for our chapters in our books. We are also working on including diagrams that are labeled with important information.
We also read aloud the story Chysanthemum in Spanish, and the students helped out with certain words, like Crisantemo, perfecto, and others. We then wrote in our Writing about Reading notebooks, and chose a characterstic of Chrysanthemum that we thought best described her. In our notebooks, we started our response with...I think Chrysanthemum was _____________ because ___________. Our friends did a great job writing their responses!
We also concluded our experiment with corn, bean, pea, and carrot seeds, by placing them in a bag with a wet paper towel. We are excited to see what will grow (if anything will grow) over the weekend!
We continued our observations of our brassica plants, and have observed buds, leaves, stems, and even flowers! We will talk about pollination and actually pollinate our flowers next week!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Friday, March 20th
Today was another busy Friday! In the morning, we did our morning message in English. Our question of the day was: Have you ever slept in a tent? We learned that 25 of our friends have slept in a tent, while 14 have not. We showed this using the mathematical expression: 25 > 14, and 14 < 25. Also in the morning, we continued gathering information about our All-About books and the animals we chose. We will be finishing up the research next week and begin writing our All-About books.
In word study, we glued in our sorts, and wrote out how we sorted our words. We also took our word study test. We are really working on practicing these words, to help us in reading and spelling the words correctly in our writing as well.
During math, we finished our survey questions, and created visual representations to show our questions, and the results of our surveys. We also used mathematical expressions to show which was greater and which was less than.
At the end of the day, we did a SPanish read aloud, Como crece la hierba? We reviewed the different terms for the parts of a plant, including: roots (raices), stem (tallo), leaves (hojas), and flowers (flores). Ask your child which of these words they remember!
Also--we will be sending a note home with the students on Monday, as Mrs. Helfer will be out again next week as well. Her mother has been in the hospital since last Friday, and she has been very busy taking care of her. We are hoping to see her the last week in March, but we will keep you posted. She wanted to reassure all of you that she and the baby are doing fine, and not to worry. She misses everyone, and hopes to see us all very soon! Thank you very much for your care and concern.
In word study, we glued in our sorts, and wrote out how we sorted our words. We also took our word study test. We are really working on practicing these words, to help us in reading and spelling the words correctly in our writing as well.
During math, we finished our survey questions, and created visual representations to show our questions, and the results of our surveys. We also used mathematical expressions to show which was greater and which was less than.
At the end of the day, we did a SPanish read aloud, Como crece la hierba? We reviewed the different terms for the parts of a plant, including: roots (raices), stem (tallo), leaves (hojas), and flowers (flores). Ask your child which of these words they remember!
Also--we will be sending a note home with the students on Monday, as Mrs. Helfer will be out again next week as well. Her mother has been in the hospital since last Friday, and she has been very busy taking care of her. We are hoping to see her the last week in March, but we will keep you posted. She wanted to reassure all of you that she and the baby are doing fine, and not to worry. She misses everyone, and hopes to see us all very soon! Thank you very much for your care and concern.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Today was another busy day! In the morning, our question of the day was: Como llegaste hoy a la escuela? How did you get to school today? We learned that 30 of our friends came by bus, 7 came by car, and zero friends came by boat. We showed this using the following equations: 30 > 7, and 7 > 0.
Also in the morning, we continued working on our very own All-About books. The students are great researchers as they gather information from books they have read, and show that information using a graphic organizer.
To finish out the morning, we continued with math, where the first graders continued to work with balanced equations, making each side equal to the other. Both groups are working on survey questions as well, asking their classmates a question, and recording their results. When they finish, they will create a poster to show their results to the class.
In the afternoon, Mrs. Keefer came in to work with us again on writing about characters that we read about. Today, we read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and discussed different characterstics of Alexander. In our Writing About Reading notebooks, our friends chose the best word to describe Alexander, and wrote down reasons why they thought he was frustrated, angry, mad, or disorganized.
We also did our word study activity for the day, which was look, say, cover, write, check. We are getting really good at doing this, and focusing on our work as it helps us prepare for our word study tests on Fridays!
Also in the morning, we continued working on our very own All-About books. The students are great researchers as they gather information from books they have read, and show that information using a graphic organizer.
To finish out the morning, we continued with math, where the first graders continued to work with balanced equations, making each side equal to the other. Both groups are working on survey questions as well, asking their classmates a question, and recording their results. When they finish, they will create a poster to show their results to the class.
In the afternoon, Mrs. Keefer came in to work with us again on writing about characters that we read about. Today, we read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and discussed different characterstics of Alexander. In our Writing About Reading notebooks, our friends chose the best word to describe Alexander, and wrote down reasons why they thought he was frustrated, angry, mad, or disorganized.
We also did our word study activity for the day, which was look, say, cover, write, check. We are getting really good at doing this, and focusing on our work as it helps us prepare for our word study tests on Fridays!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 18th 2009
Today was another busy day! In the morning, our question of the day was: Tienes gato? (Do you have a cat?) We learned that 13 of our friends do have cats at home, with 23 friends do not have cats at home. We showed this using the following equations: 13 < 23, and 23 > 13. Also during the morning we began our very own all-about books on animals that we chose. Our researchers worked very hard to begin collecting information about their animals, reading books about butterflies, sharks, tigers, lions, and snakes, and putting that information on a graphic organizer, which will help them when writing their final reports. Also during the morning we had math, where the 1st graders continued to work on balanced equations, and using the base of 10. Our kindergartners worked on word problems in spanish, and deciding if we need to add or subtract, and efficient strategies to help us solve these problems.
In the afternoon, we had Mrs. Keefer come in to work with us on something new--we are using Writing About Reading Journals to help us record our thoughts about books that we read. Today, we read Miss Nelson is Missing/Senorita Nelson Ha Desaparecido, and learned about characteristics of different characters in the story. We created a character web about Miss Viola Swamp/La Senorita Lola Pantana, and wrote down characterstics of Miss Viola Swamp--she's mean, she's strict, she's serious, and she is grumpy. Then, in our notebooks, we wrote down WHY we thought that described her. Our friends did a great job including reasons like: she gave the students lots of homework, she told them to keep their mouths closed, they never had story time, and many more! Ask your child what characteristic they chose to describe Viola Swamp, and why they chose that word. After that, we observed our plants, and are continuing to record our observations by drawing what we see, and labeling our diagrams to include the important parts of the plant, including the stem, leaves, and soil. The students are becoming great observers as well! Ask your child what they know about plants, and what they learned about Leaves today during our Read Aloud!
In the afternoon, we had Mrs. Keefer come in to work with us on something new--we are using Writing About Reading Journals to help us record our thoughts about books that we read. Today, we read Miss Nelson is Missing/Senorita Nelson Ha Desaparecido, and learned about characteristics of different characters in the story. We created a character web about Miss Viola Swamp/La Senorita Lola Pantana, and wrote down characterstics of Miss Viola Swamp--she's mean, she's strict, she's serious, and she is grumpy. Then, in our notebooks, we wrote down WHY we thought that described her. Our friends did a great job including reasons like: she gave the students lots of homework, she told them to keep their mouths closed, they never had story time, and many more! Ask your child what characteristic they chose to describe Viola Swamp, and why they chose that word. After that, we observed our plants, and are continuing to record our observations by drawing what we see, and labeling our diagrams to include the important parts of the plant, including the stem, leaves, and soil. The students are becoming great observers as well! Ask your child what they know about plants, and what they learned about Leaves today during our Read Aloud!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday, March 13th, 2009
Today was another busy day! In the morning, our question of the day was: Did your Brassica Seed start to grow? We learned that more of our friends' plants grew than did not. We continued to practice using money, and how much each of the coins are worth. We made 13 cents today using pennies, nickels, and dimes.
We did our word study tests and glued our sorts into our noteooks during the morning as well. During Writing time, we had free writing time and had a choice of writing an all-about book, writing a how-to book, or writing a small moment.
In Math today, the green gators played a game Same/Different, where they were given two objects and they had to compare how they were the same, and how they were different. The red rhinos played Guess my rule with buttons and lids, and had to figure out what their partner's rule was--some had designs, some had writing, and for the buttons--some had two holes, some had four holes, and they also sorted by color and by size.
We also had our March Birthday celebration, and sang Happy Birthday to Miranda, Brynn, Elizabeth W., and D'Andre, who all celebrate their birthdays this month. We enjoyed some yummy treats that they brought in too!
In the afternoon, the friends that have social studies with Senorita Wesley practiced naming different items around the room, and read a map key to help us when we create our own maps of the classroom. They did a great job drawing in symbols and locating different symbols on the map key.
The rest of our friends read a book about Maps and Globes, and talked about different symbols in our community, and what those symbols represent. They also practiced a fun song, too.
We finished off our afternoon with a read-aloud, as we read the book, Yo puedo leer con mis ojos cerrados (I can read with my eyes closed), by Dr. Seuss. We enjoyed listening to the funny words and things that Dr. Seuss writes about!
Parents--just a reminder--please send in your child's Writing About Reading notebooks to school by this coming Monday, March 16th, as we will be using these on Tuesday! Thank you so much for your continued help and support!
We did our word study tests and glued our sorts into our noteooks during the morning as well. During Writing time, we had free writing time and had a choice of writing an all-about book, writing a how-to book, or writing a small moment.
In Math today, the green gators played a game Same/Different, where they were given two objects and they had to compare how they were the same, and how they were different. The red rhinos played Guess my rule with buttons and lids, and had to figure out what their partner's rule was--some had designs, some had writing, and for the buttons--some had two holes, some had four holes, and they also sorted by color and by size.
We also had our March Birthday celebration, and sang Happy Birthday to Miranda, Brynn, Elizabeth W., and D'Andre, who all celebrate their birthdays this month. We enjoyed some yummy treats that they brought in too!
In the afternoon, the friends that have social studies with Senorita Wesley practiced naming different items around the room, and read a map key to help us when we create our own maps of the classroom. They did a great job drawing in symbols and locating different symbols on the map key.
The rest of our friends read a book about Maps and Globes, and talked about different symbols in our community, and what those symbols represent. They also practiced a fun song, too.
We finished off our afternoon with a read-aloud, as we read the book, Yo puedo leer con mis ojos cerrados (I can read with my eyes closed), by Dr. Seuss. We enjoyed listening to the funny words and things that Dr. Seuss writes about!
Parents--just a reminder--please send in your child's Writing About Reading notebooks to school by this coming Monday, March 16th, as we will be using these on Tuesday! Thank you so much for your continued help and support!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Today was a great day! In the morning, our question of the day was: Te gusta bailar? Do you like to dance? We learned that ALL of our friends like to dance, and we showed this with two number sentences: 36 > 0, and ) < 36. We also learned a new song, Diez deditos, to help us practice counting up and down from 0-10, and 10-0.
During reading workshop, Senorita Wesley's friends practiced fact and opinion, and talked about the differences between the two--a fact is something you can prove, and opinion is what someone thinks or feels. Mrs. Helfer's friends learned a new way to remember/recall information from a non-fiction book. Mrs. Helfer modeled how to use a retelling web to take notes and then retell information from the texts. Soon Mrs. Helfer's friends will be creating retelling webs all by themselves. We ended our morning with our word study routine for the day...Look, Say, Cover, Write Check.
This afternoon we had some recess time in the multipurpose room. When we got back to our classroom Senorita Wesley read us a book called Como Crecn Los Tulipnas (How do Tulips Grow?). We learned the different parts of a plant including stem, leaves, and roots. After our read aloud we all became botanist and studies our brassica plants. Some students noticed many changes had taken place over the past few days. Ask your child to share with you what observations they have made about their brassica plants. We also read a non-fiction text about what plants need to grow and survive. We learned that plants need water, soil, nutrients, light, and space to grow.
During reading workshop, Senorita Wesley's friends practiced fact and opinion, and talked about the differences between the two--a fact is something you can prove, and opinion is what someone thinks or feels. Mrs. Helfer's friends learned a new way to remember/recall information from a non-fiction book. Mrs. Helfer modeled how to use a retelling web to take notes and then retell information from the texts. Soon Mrs. Helfer's friends will be creating retelling webs all by themselves. We ended our morning with our word study routine for the day...Look, Say, Cover, Write Check.
This afternoon we had some recess time in the multipurpose room. When we got back to our classroom Senorita Wesley read us a book called Como Crecn Los Tulipnas (How do Tulips Grow?). We learned the different parts of a plant including stem, leaves, and roots. After our read aloud we all became botanist and studies our brassica plants. Some students noticed many changes had taken place over the past few days. Ask your child to share with you what observations they have made about their brassica plants. We also read a non-fiction text about what plants need to grow and survive. We learned that plants need water, soil, nutrients, light, and space to grow.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tuesday, March 10th
This morning our morning message was in spanish. The question of the day was "What Would You Want To Grow In Your Garden." We learned that the greatest number of students in our class would grow corn and the least amount of students would grow peas. After morning message we started writing workshop, and finished up our All About Spiders books, including captions and and a Table of Contents.
After Writing workshop, we went to an assembly--Mrs. McPuppet was very exciting! We listened to her tell stories using puppets, shadow puppets, we sang songs, and some teachers went on stage for a dance performance.
In the afternoon, some of our friends listened to a story Places in My Community, learning about the different places in the community, and what we do in those places, like the park, stores, houses, and schools. The rest of our friends read in spanish about how to use a map legend, called a leyenda, and identified the symbols and what they stand for in the map legend. During math today, the green gators played grab and count, and practiced counting buttons, using efficient ways of counting (counting by 2's, or counting by 10's). The red rhinos today practiced writing balanced equations, and showing how each side can be balanced and equal each other. They also contiued to learn how objects can be sorted and by which attributes they can be grouped by. We played Guess My Rule with people/
After Writing workshop, we went to an assembly--Mrs. McPuppet was very exciting! We listened to her tell stories using puppets, shadow puppets, we sang songs, and some teachers went on stage for a dance performance.
In the afternoon, some of our friends listened to a story Places in My Community, learning about the different places in the community, and what we do in those places, like the park, stores, houses, and schools. The rest of our friends read in spanish about how to use a map legend, called a leyenda, and identified the symbols and what they stand for in the map legend. During math today, the green gators played grab and count, and practiced counting buttons, using efficient ways of counting (counting by 2's, or counting by 10's). The red rhinos today practiced writing balanced equations, and showing how each side can be balanced and equal each other. They also contiued to learn how objects can be sorted and by which attributes they can be grouped by. We played Guess My Rule with people/
Monday, March 9, 2009
Monday, March 9th, 2009
Today was a busy day! Our question of the day was: What is your favorite zoo animal--bear, monkey, lion, or elephant? We learned that more friends liked the bear than any other animal. We practiced counting by 2's up to 40, and we're working on counting higher as well.
During Reading Workshop, we practiced our Daily 5, and learned our Word Study sorts for the week. We continue to review making good learning choices and what a good learning partner does.
During Writing Workshop, we worked on our final copies of our Class book All About Spiders. Some of our friends did a great job including diagrams of spiders, labeling the important parts, and captions underneath their pictures to show what is going on. We even had some friends try writing some sentences in Spanish, too!
During read aloud today, we read La Gallinita Roja, or The Little Red Hen, in Spanish. Our friends did a great job showing their understanding of the story, and we made puppets to help us act out the story. Ask your child to tell you the characters in the story. Tomorrow, we will have Mrs. McPuppet read us the story The Little Red Hen, and we will talk about how they are similar and different.
During Reading Workshop, we practiced our Daily 5, and learned our Word Study sorts for the week. We continue to review making good learning choices and what a good learning partner does.
During Writing Workshop, we worked on our final copies of our Class book All About Spiders. Some of our friends did a great job including diagrams of spiders, labeling the important parts, and captions underneath their pictures to show what is going on. We even had some friends try writing some sentences in Spanish, too!
During read aloud today, we read La Gallinita Roja, or The Little Red Hen, in Spanish. Our friends did a great job showing their understanding of the story, and we made puppets to help us act out the story. Ask your child to tell you the characters in the story. Tomorrow, we will have Mrs. McPuppet read us the story The Little Red Hen, and we will talk about how they are similar and different.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, March 5th, 2009
Today was a busy day! In the morning, our question of the day was; Have you ever planted a seed before? We learned that 29 of our friends have planted seeds, while 8 of our friends have not. We wrote a mathematical sentence to show this: 29 > 8. During reading workshop, we practiced visualizing when reading non-fiction. The green gators practiced visualizing with their book about sharks, and drew a picture when they first started reading, and drew another one after they had learned more information about sharks. The red rhinos continued reading about animals that hibernate and practiced drawing what they visualized in their heads.
During Social Studies today, some of the friends learned the difference between maps and globes, and the word for round (redondo), and flat (plano). We looked at a map legend, and talked about teh different symbols that stand for different places on the map, including trees (el parque), and different buildings to show stores (tiendas) the school (escuela), houses (casas), and recyclying center (centro de reciclaje). We then practiced locating different places on a map, and put our labels on our maps.
In Science today, we learned about seeds, and planted our very own Brassica seeds. We learned that plants need water, sunlight and soil to grow, and we are very excited to see what will happen to our seeds over the weekend. We filled out our calendar to record our observations of our plants, and wrote in our calendars today "Planted our brassica seeds".
Ask your child what they enjoyed the most today!
During Social Studies today, some of the friends learned the difference between maps and globes, and the word for round (redondo), and flat (plano). We looked at a map legend, and talked about teh different symbols that stand for different places on the map, including trees (el parque), and different buildings to show stores (tiendas) the school (escuela), houses (casas), and recyclying center (centro de reciclaje). We then practiced locating different places on a map, and put our labels on our maps.
In Science today, we learned about seeds, and planted our very own Brassica seeds. We learned that plants need water, sunlight and soil to grow, and we are very excited to see what will happen to our seeds over the weekend. We filled out our calendar to record our observations of our plants, and wrote in our calendars today "Planted our brassica seeds".
Ask your child what they enjoyed the most today!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, March 4th
Another busy day for the students in C-7 & C-8. We started the morning with morning meeting. Our meeitng today was in Spanish. Our question of the day today was do you like to dance. We learned that there is a greater number of people in our class that like to dance, than the number of people who do not like to dance. We wrote a number sentence to show this 30 > 6, and 6 < 30. During our reading workshop minilesson we practiced vizualizing the information that we read in non-ficition books. The green gators listened to a book about sharks and tried to make a picture in their mind of what the shark looked like and what it was doing. Ask your child to descibe their vizualization. The red rhinos also practiced vizualizing. They listened to a book about Hibernation, and drew the pictures that they "saw" in their minds, and compared their drawings to the photographs in the book.
We headed to the multipurpose room for some much needed recess. We had fun racing eachother! After our recess we returned to the classroom for read aloud. Today we listened to the story "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late." We were excited to see another example of a character in a book using persuasion to get their way. We were able to identify the pigeons claim (what he wanted") and his evidnece (why he thought he should get what he wanted). Ask your child to tell you what the piegon's claim and evidence was. After our read aloud we spent some time practicing sorting our words as fast as we could in our word study routine...speed sort. Then, during math, the red rhinos worked on identifying the place value of different numbers and played the game guess my rule. The green gators counted the number of chairs in our classroom, and practiced saying numbers through 35 in Spanish. We are continuing to practice counting by 10's and by 2's as well. Please ask your child to show you how they can count efficiently!
We headed to the multipurpose room for some much needed recess. We had fun racing eachother! After our recess we returned to the classroom for read aloud. Today we listened to the story "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late." We were excited to see another example of a character in a book using persuasion to get their way. We were able to identify the pigeons claim (what he wanted") and his evidnece (why he thought he should get what he wanted). Ask your child to tell you what the piegon's claim and evidence was. After our read aloud we spent some time practicing sorting our words as fast as we could in our word study routine...speed sort. Then, during math, the red rhinos worked on identifying the place value of different numbers and played the game guess my rule. The green gators counted the number of chairs in our classroom, and practiced saying numbers through 35 in Spanish. We are continuing to practice counting by 10's and by 2's as well. Please ask your child to show you how they can count efficiently!
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