Don't forget that 1-Bu is making gingerbread houses this Wednesday, the 20th. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you! Please remember that only one adult is allowed per child due to space constraints in the classroom.
Here's what we've been doing in the classroom :
Reading : Over the past couple of weeks, we have put a lot of focus on making predictions. We've focused on using the cover and blurb of a book, using what you know about the author/characters, and your general schema about the topic of the book to make predictions. We also talked about how your predictions can change as you start reading a book and/or talking with someone about the book. When you read with your child at home, make predictions about books before and during reading!
After working on predictions for a while, we moved on to retelling. This is the beginning of our work on reading comprehension that will carry us through for the rest of the year. While we focused a lot on reading strategies at the beginning of the year (and will continue to do so), being able to understand what you read is the true heart of reading.
Last week, we went over the differences between a summary and a retell. This week, we'll go more in depth about the important parts of a retell (making sure to include the characters, setting, main events, problem, and solution).
Writing : The students published their small moment writing pieces last week and we moved right on to our next unit, which is 'how to' writing. In this unit, the students will write nonfiction pieces that are aimed at teaching others how to do various things. So far, we've learned a little bit about the genre and started our first how to books, which are all 'how to make a gingerbread house.' You'll get to see your child's completed book during (or after) the gingerbread house making session on Wednesday.
Math : We started our measurement unit in math last week. So far, we have practiced measuring using nonstandard units of length. This week, we'll do a little bit more measuring of length and then we'll move on to collecting and representing data using bar graphs.
Social Studies : Since we finished up our science unit a couple of weeks ago, we have moved on to our next social studies unit, which is all about geography. So far, we've talked about what maps are and how they represent various places. We've also talked about the differences between globes and maps.
Technology : A couple of weeks ago was National Coding Week, so in addition to our regular weekly technology lesson, I introduced the students to coding! The students had a lot of fun learning the basics of computer science. Some of them are already far better than me!
The students are becoming more and more proficient using google docs. They're getting really good and inserting pictures and using bullets to make lists. Last week, they used tables to create lists (with matching pictures) of the materials that you need to make a gingerbread house.
Here are some pictures of 1-Bu over the past couple of weeks :