Polar Plunge Game

The students played 'Polar Plunge' where they had to add 10 more and 10 less to numbers and find them on their game boards! 

Ms. Mazzella's Diversity Lesson

Ms. Mazzella showed us that even though we look different on the outside, we are all the same on the inside.  She used different colored eggs and cracked them to show they all look the same on the inside! 

For the week of 4/1/19

What We’re Learning This Week:

Reading: Reading: The students will be “Spring Is Here”, a non-fiction/informational story about spring. We will talk about what we KNOW, WANT to learn, and LEARNED about spring through our text. We will also focus on non-fiction text features, as well as, vocabulary. As always, we will be reading poetry for fluency and expression practice.

*Please continue to read your child’s book-in-a-bag nightly with them.

Writing:  The first graders will be starting their new writing unit for fourth quarter, realistic fiction.  We will introduce this unit by discussing story elements in realistic fiction.  The students will listen to mentor texts, and they will begin planning their first realistic fiction story.  Each story will include a character, place (setting), and plot (trouble) that their character gets into. By the end of this unit the children will be expected to write a story that has two or more events, with details, transition words, and a wrap-up sentence. We will also be continuing to work on capitalization, end marks and writing detailed sentences through mini-lessons.  During this unit, each child will write a made up story with characters doing realistic things and revisit his or her writing to self-assess and revise.

Word Study/Spelling:  

Fry Words:  who   oil   sit    now       find

Feature/Pattern of the week: Beginning consonant digraphs with short vowels  a,e,i   Ex: them, whip, chin

Phonics-r controlled ar

Math: Our math lessons each day will include computational fluency, fact fluency, and core math instruction focused on the first grade common core math standards. Computational fluency will help the students to use the most effective and efficient strategies.  Fact Fluency is working with both addition and subtraction facts within 10.  Our end-of-the-year goal is to have students complete 15 addition facts in one minute and 15 subtraction facts in one minute. Our core lessons will include hands-on math activities and games that support the common core.  This week we will continue to focus on finding 10 more or 10 less than a 2-digit number without having to count.  We will also be reviewing if two number sentences are equal or not equal. 

4th grading period Science and Social Studies: Science: Plants
Social Studies:  Historical Thinking and Skills & Heritage

·    Extras: 

     March 22nd- report cards came home

·    March 25^th- April 1^st : Spring break

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Week of March 18

What We’re Learning This Week:

Reading:  We will be reading “Henry and Mudge and Mrs. Hopper’s House”.  Students will be working on asking and answering questions about key details in a story. We will also work on comparing and contrasting character’s experiences by comparing Henry and Mudge.  As always, we’ll be reading poetry weekly for fluency and expression practice.

Writing:  The first graders will be starting their new writing unit for fourth quarter, realistic fiction.  We will introduce this unit by discussing story elements in realistic fiction.  The students will listen to mentor texts, and they will begin planning their first realistic fiction story.  Each story will include a character, place (setting), and plot (trouble) that their character gets into. By the end of this unit the children will be expected to write a story that has two or more events, with details, transition words, and a wrap-up sentence. We will also be continuing to work on capitalization, end marks and writing detailed sentences through mini-lessons.  During this unit, each child will write a made up story with characters doing realistic things and revisit his or her writing to self-assess and revise.

Word Study/Spelling: 

Fry Words: than, first, water, been, called

Feature/Pattern of the week: short vowels: e, i, o, u

Ex: shed, chip, flop, shut

Phonics: -ly and –ful endings (ex: slowly, thankful)

Grammar:  Review frequently occurring conjunctions (and, but, so, or, because)

Math: Our math lessons each day will include computational fluency, fact fluency, and core math instruction focused on the first grade common core math standards. Computational fluency will help the students to use the most effective and efficient strategies.  Fact Fluency is working with both addition and subtraction facts within 10.  Our end-of-the-year goal is to have students complete 15 addition facts in one minute and 15 subtraction facts in one minute. Our core lessons will include hands-on math activities and games that support the common core.  This week we will focus on finding 10 more and 10 less without having to count.  We will also review when two number sentences are equal or not equal. 

3rd grading period Science and Social Studies:
Science: Plants
Social Studies:  Historical Thinking and Heritage

Extras:

·    The children have been participating in book talks- they are encouraged to sign up to share and talk about a book that they have read.  It is great to see the kids excited about wanting to read the different books.

·    Week of March 18^th : Conferences – I sent home conference slips.  If I checked that a conference is not needed, and you would still like a conference, please let me know.  I am happy to meet or talk any time.

·    March 22nd- report cards come home

·    March 25^th- April 1^st : Spring break

Playing Treasure Hunt

The students played a math game where they had to use adding and subtracting skills, as well as 10 more and 10 less!

Week of March 11

What We’re Learning This Week:

Reading:  We will be reading “Henry and Mudge : The First Book”.  Students will be working on asking and answering questions about key details in a story. They will also identify the characters and describe how their feelings change in the story.  We will also review major events in the story.  As always, we’ll be reading poetry weekly for fluency and expression practice.

*No Guided Reading this week- I will be completing one on one assessments since this week is the end of the grading period. 

Writing:  The first graders will be finishing the information writing unit.  During this unit, each child wrote information books about lots of different topics and they revisited his or her writing to self-assess and revise (they named a topic, gave facts, and provided a sense of closure).  The children chose one of their best pieces to revise, edit, and publish.  Also, the children have taken, or will be taking, a writing assessment to demonstrate everything they learned about writing an information book.  This is an opportunity for the children to write on their own without support from the teacher. 

Word Study/Spelling: 

Fry Words: Fry Read and Write Words: Review all Fry Words from 3^rd quarter

Feature/Pattern of the week: Review short vowel i and short vowel u

Ex: ship, flick, shut, truck

Phonics: compound words 

Grammar:  Introduce frequently occurring conjunctions (and, but, so, or, because)

Math: Our math lessons each day will include computational fluency, fact fluency, and core math instruction focused on the first grade common core math standards. Computational fluency will help the students to use the most effective and efficient strategies.  Fact Fluency is working with both addition and subtraction facts within 10.  Our end-of-the-year goal is to have students complete 15 addition facts in one minute and 15 subtraction facts in one minute. Our core lessons will include hands-on math activities and games that support the common core.  This week we will continue to focus on adding and subtracting multiples of ten from multiples of ten.  We will also build numbers focusing on tens and ones – then adding the numbers together after building them.  For example, after building 23 and 42, add them together and be able to tell how many total tens and total ones.  Finally, we will do some work with time to the half hour.

3rd grading period Science and Social Studies: Science: Properties of Water
Social Studies:  Geography/Places and Regions

Extras:

·    The children are continuing to fill our bucket with acts of kindness- they are encouraged to write these kind acts of kindness on a piece of paper and drop it in the bucket 😊

·    The week of March 11th- no guided reading this week.  I will be doing one on one checks because this week is the last week of 3rd grading period.

·    March 15th- end of 3rd grading period

·    Week of March 18^th : Conferences – I sent home conference slips.  If I checked that a conference is not needed, and you would still like a conference, please let me know.  I am happy to meet or talk any time 😊

·    March 22nd- report cards come home

·    March 25^th- April 1^st : Spring break

For the week of March 4th

What We’re Learning This Week:

Reading: The students will be reading two passages this week, “Jake and Anna” and “Tess the Turtle.”  We will focus on asking and answering questions about key details in a story, as well as naming the characters, setting, and major events in the stories.  The children will also be taking a cold read summative assessment this week. As always, we will be reading poetry for fluency and expression practice.

*Please continue to read your child’s book-in-a-bag nightly with them.

Writing:  The first graders will be finishing their informational writing unit and celebrate all the writing they have done this quarter!  This week the students will complete an on-demand performance assessment independently; they will need to name a topic (introduction), give facts, and provide a sense of closure (conclusion).  During this unit, each child wrote informational books about lots of different topics and revisited his or her writing to self-assess and revise.

Word Study/Spelling: 

Fry Words: review of third quarter words (teacher choice)

Feature/Pattern of the week: REVIEW short vowels a and o (ex: sat, rag, pot, jog)

Grammar: common, proper, and possessive nouns; using singular and plural nouns with matching verbs (review)

Math: Our math lessons each day will include computational fluency, fact fluency, and core math instruction focused on the first grade common core math standards. Computational fluency will help the students to use the most effective and efficient strategies.  Fact Fluency is working with both addition and subtraction facts within 10.  Our end-of-the-year goal is to have students complete 15 addition facts in one minute and 15 subtraction facts in one minute. Our core lessons will include hands-on math activities and games that support the common core. 

3rd grading period Science and Social Studies:
Science: Properties of Water 
Social Studies: Geography/Places and Regions (Landforms)

Extras:

·         First Grade Conference Night- March 20^th

·         March 15^th- End of grading period

·         Report cards sent home – March 22^nd

·         March 25^th-April 1^st- Spring Break (back on April 2^nd)

Dr. Seuss Pajama Day and Lorax Day