Last week was a short, but fun, week in 1-Bu. On Wednesday, we Skyped with an author 1-Bu students love, Adam Lehrhaupt. On Thursday, we got to learn about a few different countries around the world at International Day. And, on Friday, we took our learning outside in the gorgeous weather and used magnifying glasses to look 'close up' at things, just like non fiction illustrators do sometimes.
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We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's Day last week! On Tuesday, the students put their friendship Valentine Projects together that they worked so hard on at home. It was a great moment in the classroom when the students were reading all of the kind things that their classmates wrote about them. Since this week is a short week of school, there will be no word wall homework. Here's what we were working on in the classroom last week: Reading : The students are devouring nonfiction books. It's so nice to see them so interested in seeking new information on their own. Last week, we started talking about nonfiction conventions. Nonfiction conventions are things that the authors of nonfiction texts use to organize and share factual information with readers. So far, we've gone over labels, photographs, and captions. As we learn about each convention, the students find examples in their own nonfiction texts and record them in their nonfiction convention journals. We'll keep learning about more nonfiction conventions this week as well. Writing : We took some time last week to read some silly books that included persuasive writing pieces to help motivate the students to write their own pieces. The students thoroughly enjoyed listening to The Day the Crayons Quit, I Wanna Iguana, and I Wanna New Room. Watch out, these students are learning how to be really persuasive! Math : Math was all over the place last week. First, we talked about telling time to the hour. Then, we worked on solving two-digit number stories. After that, we wrapped the week up by talking different ways to use the equal sign in equations. Here are some pictures of 1-Bu last week: I hope you all had a great snow day last week! 1-Bu must have done a great job with their Snow Day Superstitions Homework assignment on Wednesday night to make it happen! Last week, we did our first actual STEAM lesson in the STEAM lab. The students were given some supplies and the task of creating a chair that would hold each of the members of the three little bears (from Goldilocks and the Three Bears). First, the students had to make a plan for their chair designs. Then, they created their chairs and changed their plans as needed. Finally, they tested their chair designs by putting the three little bear figurines on their chairs. The students did an amazing job and worked very well together. Even though every chair looked a little different, they all found some success! Check out some pictures of their designs below. On Friday, our Adopt-a-Cop, Officer Sanches, visited to read a book to the students about police officers. Here's the rest of what was going on in the classroom last week: Reading : We started learning about nonfiction last week. The students have had a great time going through nonfiction books. So far, we've talked about the differences between fiction and nonfiction and how to determine if a book is nonfiction. Writing : We expanded our opinion writing unit last week by talking about persuasion. To start this unit off, the students were simply writing their opinions about various matters. Now, they're thinking about things that they want to change and are writing pieces to try to persuade others to agree with them. It's a lot of fun to see what sorts of things the students want to change. Ask your child what he/she has been writing about! Math : We wrapped up Unit 5 last week and will be moving on to Unit 6 this week. By now, your child should be able to successfully use a number grid and base-ten blocks to add double-digit numbers. I don't expect for your child to add double-digit numbers without these tools, however. Science : We had a lot of fun talking about force this week. We started off by creating Venn Diagrams about things that you push and pull. Then, we talked about different ways that things move (due to pushes and pulls). Here are some pictures of 1-Bu last week: We had a lot of fun celebrating Halfway Day last Tuesday! A big thank you to the class parents for coming in and helping us celebrate! Please don't forget that the students' Valentine Projects are due on Friday, February 10th. Thank you for those of you who have already handed them in! Here's what we were working on in the classroom last week: Reading : By now, the students have learned about three types of connections they may have with texts - text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. The students are doing a great job coming up with connections as they read, which proves that they're really thinking about the texts that they're reading. In the classroom, the students are using post-its to track their thinking. This week, we'll be switch gears and start our new reading unit, which is all about non-fiction. Writing : We continued working on writing conventions last week. The students are getting better at editing their work to make sure it includes capital letters and punctuation marks. Phonics : In the past couple of weeks, we have ventured into learning about long vowels and their spelling patterns. While I do not expect the students to have the long vowel patterns perfected just yet, I do expect them to be able to differentiate between a long and short vowel sound in a word. At this point, I'm just hoping that the students start to play around with long vowel spelling patterns when spelling words with long vowels. For example, if a student writes the word 'nale' instead of 'nail,' that's quite alright with me for now! Math : We continued learning about comparison symbols this week (<, >, and +). We also talked about finding how the difference between two numbers. Science : This week, we focused on the water cycle and how it plays into our weather. To go along with our weather unit, we took advantage of the snow on Tuesday and caught some snowflakes and examined them under magnifying glasses. Here are some pictures of 1-Bu last week: |
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