Please remember that there is no school on Monday, January 20th.
Here's what we were working on in the classroom last week:
Reading : Last week was all about schema. By now, your child should be able to tell you what schema is. (Schema is your background knowledge about something, or as we say it in 1-Bu 'what you know.') Before, and while, reading a book, it is important that you activate your schema about the topic of the book. This will lead to a much deeper understanding of the book. When you have schema about the topic of a book, you will understand the book much better than when you read a book that you don't have a lot of prior schema about.
In class, we read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Before reading the book, we activated our schema about snowy days. We talked about how the weather is cold, you can have snowball fights, sometimes you're off school, you can build snowmen, etc. Then, we read the book. Afterwards, we spoke about how much deeper of an understanding we had about the story because of all the schema we had about snow. If someone read that book who had never experienced snow, he/she would not understand it as well as the members of 1-Bu.
Word Study : We continued talking about different kinds of blends last week. We also did a quick review of all the short vowels because next week we'll be starting long vowels.
Writing : The students' how-to books are almost done! They have been having a lot of fun with this writing unit. Last week, the students worked on adding details to their how-to pieces by adding in size words, number words, and arrows. They also added warnings, which they seemed to enjoy. Ask your child what his/her warning says.
Math : Math facts were the main focus in math last week. While I don't expect the students to have their math facts memorized at this point, we started talking about developing 'fact power.' Fact power is when you know your math facts in a snap. As the students progress through first grade, the goal is that math facts become more and more automatic. Playing math games like Addition Top It will help the students become more familiar with their math facts.
Science : The students learned all about the moon's phases this week. If you haven't done so already, have your child look up at the moon every few nights and discuss the changes. After a few nights, your child should be able to tell you if the moon is waxing (i.e. the lighted side is getting bigger) or it is waning (i.e. the lighted side is getting smaller). The students should also be able to tell you if it's a new moon, half moon, crescent moon, or full moon.
Sorry, no pictures from 1-Bu this week!