Hello, Room 4 Families. Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate. I know we had some very excited first graders on Friday! :) Below are some reminders, an announcement about Pajama Day (yay!), and classroom updates.
Pajama Day:
We will have Pajama Day on Friday, December 23. Wearing Pajamas is optional. Please do not send in stuffed animals, pillows, or blankets. Thank you! This is also DEC Day. Please be sure to send in recyclables and tape. (painters tape, masking tape, duct tape) We do not have tape for this project at school. Also, this is an early release day. Dismissal is at 11:30.
Reminders:
•Feel free to keep boots and snow pants at school. We will send them home for washing when they get dirty.
•Please send in boots for outside and shoes for the classroom. Your children sit on our classroom floor periodically throughout the day. It is no fun to sit on a wet floor or in mud! Thank you!
•Please remember to check our Sharing Schedule and mark your calendar with the days your child has sharing. This is optional.
Classroom Updates:
Phonics
•We learned the glued sounds an and am.
What are the keywords, sounds, and spellings for these sounds? How do you mark them in a word?
We have added the following words to our Trick Word Wall:
do, does, from, have
Math
In this unit of study we are focusing on the following skills:
Relate counting forward and counting back to addition and subtraction situations
Begin exploring the combinations of 10 or 10’s partners
Mastering doubles facts and introducing the doubles + or - 1 strategy
Solving word problems with 3 addends (using storyboards to begin)
This past week we used number lines to help us solve addition and subtraction equations. These equations were adding or subtracting the numbers 1, 2, or 3. This week we will work with doubles and then doubles plus or minus 1.
Which direction do you go on a number line when you subtract? What about when you add?
Reading
Last week we began reading different versions of the Gingerbread Man. We are looking for some key story elements, the refrain, and how the story ended. Your children are very observant and insightful! Here is a picture of the slides we have completed so far:
We have several more stories to read this week.
Do you have a favorite story from last week? Why is it your favorite?
Science
Our exploration of the wind has continued. We learned that an anemometer is used to measure wind speed. We learned about wind speeds through the Wind Scale.
On the day we made pinwheels there was no wind!
How is a pinwheel similar to an anemometer?
Writing
Your first graders have been very hard at work, writing their Opinion Pieces. We started with a graphic organizer. This helped us to choose a topic for our opinion piece. We then filled in 3 reasons to support our opinion. Finally, we restated our opinion. This week we will use this graphic organizer to write our opinion piece. Some of us are trying to convince Mr. Jones that we need more recess time. Others want to convince Mr. Jones to have lines painted on our soccer fields on the playground. Some first graders are hoping to convince their families to let them go to bed later. We shall see how convincing their reasons are! While our goal is to finish these before the end of the week, we may not finish until the first week in January.
What are you writing your opinion piece on? What are your reasons?
Social Studies/ Open Circle
Ms. Mortley came in for an Open Circle. She taught us another breathing technique to help us calm down.
Can you show me the breathing technique Ms. Mortley taught you? (breath in the flowers and blow out the candles)
We learned how to deal with annoying behaviors at school and at home.
1. Ask the person to please stop the specific behavior they are doing that is annoying.
2. Tell them why this behavior is bothering you.
3. Tell them what you want them to do instead.
For example:
"Kathy, please stop tapping your pencil on the table. It is distracting me from my work. Please work quietly instead."
