HI All,
It was so wonderful to see and talk with so many of you at the auction. I loved seeing everybody all dressed up and enjoying themselves while supporting our awesome school! Congrats to Rachel (Stew’s mom) on winning the live-auction raffle and to Christa (Sienna’s mom) for winning heads or tails. I want to extend a special thanks to James and Amanda for the best class art project, by far!! We got so many compliments on it!! Math- Kinders finished a comparing numbers unit last week, and will be moving on to ordinal numbers and calendar work. This should be a fast unit as we’ve been working on those skills all year. Our next chapter will be on “Counting On.” For example, I have 18 cookies and give you 5 more. Your child will need to figure out how many altogether by starting the count at 18, not recounting the whole set. First- 1st graders will be taking their addition/subtraction (1-20) assessment early this week. We spent a lot of time discovering the fastest approach to solving math facts this week. Many first graders began the unit using the “Counting Backward” strategy for subtraction. We have decided memorizing the facts is the fastest strategy, and second-best is “Counting up.” Our next unit of study will be measurement. Reading- We practiced more with character traits this week through more Mo Willem’s books. We also finished reading our first mystery chapter book, “The Fenway Foul-up.” It was a big hit!! Claire donated a copy of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to the class last month and the kids are eager to begin it this week. There was a communication mix-up in regard to the 1st grade field trip to Discovery Park. We will be going on Tues, March 31st, and not this week. I am so sorry for the confusion. Luckily most of our chaperones/drivers were able to swap the dates so we are covered, however, if Tuesday is a day you are available and you’d like to come along, we’d love to have you. Our bird feeder was installed last Wednesday. Hopefully some birds discovered it over the weekend. Thanks to Rachel Moskal for purchasing a huge bag of bird seed for us. Have a great week everybody! Shauna Upcoming Dates:
All,
Reading- I love teaching in the month of March!! Amazing things happen in reading and it is such an honor to watch your kiddos blossom into a group of passionate readers. This week we’ve been studying the author Mo Willems. He is a gifted illustrator/author whose characters speak to kids’ sense of humor. They can’t get enough of Piggie, Elephant, Pigeon and Edwina! Fun fact: “Elephant Gerald” got his name from Mo Willem’s favorite singer- say it fast. We have one more week with Mo Willems books and we will be analyzing character traits. Writing- The kids are really enjoying the opinion writing unit. I have never had a class take to opinion writing quite so easily and happily. So far they have learned how to: 1. State their opinion; 2. Provide at least three reasons; 3. Give examples; 4. Speak to those who may disagree; and lastly 5. use sparkly words to jazz things up. Next week we will discuss restating an opinion to write a conclusion. I am hoping to get some of this amazing writing up on the blog for you to enjoy this week. Math- Kinders have been comparing numbers. For example: This tower has 8 cubes and this tower has 3 cubes. How many fewer cubes does the shorter tower have? How many more cubes does the taller tower have? These questions are setting the stage for addition and subtraction problem solving. First graders are still working on addition/subtraction within 20. We ended the week with a focus on word problems which we will extend for another week. We begin measurement next week as well. Science- Beginning this week, I will have various bird-cams or African cams turned on for the kids to view in the morning. I will be opening the doors and allowing children to enter the classroom at 9:15. Because I will be with students in the classroom, I will be unable to retrieve students from the playground at 9:25. Students who choose to be on the playground until the bell rings will need to enter the building as soon as the bell rings, not line up. Habits are tough to break, so if you see children lined up, please remind them to head into the building when the bell rings. I can’t recommend the Merlin Bird ID app enough. http://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/ I purchased a bird feeder that I will be hanging outside the classroom this week. Bird seed gets expensive - if you’d like to donate a bag that would be greatly appreciated. “Song Bird” feed is what I usually purchase. I am excited for the auction on Friday! Shauna Upcoming Dates:
Families,
What a wonderful week we had! We finished our study of Arnold Lobel, and the kids fell in love with Frog and Toad. They practiced bringing their endearing dialogue to life while reading aloud. 1st graders really enjoyed leading the kindergarteners through this unit of study. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Math Kinder- Took their # 1-100 assessment Friday. Next week they begin a unit on comparing numbers. They will be comparing numbers and then finding their location on a number line (number train). In coming weeks kindergarteners will be solving addition/subtraction problems with a number line. 1st- Students worked hard on the making 10 strategy to solve addition problems. This was a tough concept for many. Next week we will practice solving addition facts by using a related doubles fact. For example: if you know 9+9=18 then you must also know that 9+8=17. The zoo was so much fun for the kindergarteners. They especially loved seeing the world’s smallest deer, and making fabric. We are really looking forward to the African Animals PBL 1st graders spent the day on Thursday designing and creating their own catapults. I was blown away by their ingenuity. They were very encouraging of others and they persevered through many failed attempts. We were reminded of one of our favorite read aloud books- The Most Magnificent Thing. I could use 1 more volunteer for the 1st grade field trip on the 27th of March. If you can attend, please let me know. The students earned another party this week and chose "Milkshakes." We will be celebrating during snack time on Friday. Please let me know if your child has issues with dairy. Have a great week! Shauna Upcoming Dates!
Hi All,
It was wonderful to have a full week of school last week. We kept busy in room 106. We began our author study of Arnold Lobel by reading Mouse Tales and Mouse Soup. We practiced Sequencing events in a story using the Book Creator on our iPads. We also discussed Author’s Purpose, and we decided Arnold Lobel was writing to entertain us. Next week we will be reading lots of Frog and Toad stories. In writing we finished up our Journal Writing unit. We begin our opinion writing unit next week. In math, first graders finished their place value unit (assessment went home Fri). We begin our 2nd addition/subtraction unit (within 20) this week. Our last addition/subtraction unit focused on using the “counting on” strategy to solve problems. This unit will focus on solving problems mentally by forming groups of 10. It is a powerful strategy that really increases number sense but it may be unfamiliar to you. Here is a video that you may find helpful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s_2Sfqax6Y Kindergarteners will be finishing their numbers 20-100 unit this week. They worked hard on Friday building a 100 chart with numbers cards. First they had to sort by twenty, thirty, forty….etc, and then they had to put each row in order from fewest to greatest. I’d like another volunteer for the kindergarten field trip to the zoo on Thursday. If you can attend, please email me ASAP. We are leaving at 9:30 and hope to return around 2ish. Please remember to pack a disposable lunch on Thursday (no lunch boxes or containers that need to be returned). Ms. Lauren will be attending the zoo with the kindergarteners, as I will be staying at school with the 1st graders. Lastly, we are out of Dixie cups again. If you could buy a box, that would be greatly appreciated!! Have a great week! Upcoming Dates:
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Mrs. Diller
K/1 Teacher at QAE. Archives
June 2015
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