Reading : Before break, we spent some time going over fluency. In 1-Bu, we say that reading with fluency is reading like a storyteller. To help us remember the important parts of fluency, we say to remember the 'three Ps' : pace, personality, and punctuation. Fluent reading is important because it helps the reader better understand the story. Practice with your child at home!
After winter break, we made a big transition in our reading. While we focused a lot on decoding at the beginning of first grade, we will shift our focus to more work on comprehension in the second part of the year. We kicked this off by talking about schema. In 1-Bu, we say that schema is what you know about a topic. Before reading, and while reading, we use our schema to help us understand books. Connecting the book that we are reading to our schema means that we will have a deeper understanding of the book. Towards the end of the week, we started talking about text-to-self connections. A text-to-self connection is when you are reading a book and it reminds you about something that has happened to you. We will continue to use these types of connections to deepen our understandings of books next week.
Writing : Before break, the students had so much fun writing their How to Make a Sugar Cube Igloo books and sharing them with you. Thank you to those of you who were able to come and make the igloos with us.
After break, the students began working on creating more how to pieces, but this time on topics of their choices.
Phonics : Our most recent phonics unit has been focusing on basewords and the s suffix. To help decode (read) and encode (write) words, it is helpful to remove any suffixes and focus on the basewords first. For example, if a student is writing the word 'socks,' it is best if the student focuses on the baseword, sock, and then adds the s. This prevents the student from sounding out /s/, /o/, /x/, and writing 'sox.'
Math : The students have been having a lot of fun focusing on measurement during this current math unit. The students have discovered tips and tricks to aid in precise measurements and the importance of using a standard unit of measure.
Science : We have started a new science unit, which is all about living things. We discussed the main parts of a plant (the roots, the stem, and the leaves) and how each of those parts helps the plant survive. In our Liberty Science lessons, we've been investigating various adaptations that animals have to help them survive in their habitats.
Social Studies : Our current social studies unit is all about geography. So far, we've talked about what maps are and how they represent various places.
I hope you have a great week!