During week 4 we will tread lightly on the subject of pets. We will read/listen to various selections about pets including a nonfiction selection about White House Pets. Our oral vocabulary words are adorable, dear, needs, sensible, and train. We will continue the comprehension strategy of analyzing story structure using the skill of recognizing parts of the plot. Our sight words will be come, down, good, pull. In spelling we will focus on words having an initial consonant blend with the letter 'l' (fl-, pl-, cl-). We will continue working our way through seminar. Those students who are ready may start working on publishing their pieces.
In Social Science we will discuss traditions in a variety of contexts, for example, the classroom, community, and family. (HSS 1.5.1) We will also begin comparing the past with the present (tested) reading a nonfiction selection titled Learn About the Past.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
Thirty-First Day of School
Today we examined a collection of liquids and generated a list of properties for liquids in general. The new vocabulary discussed was, viscous/viscosity, opaque, transparent, and translucent.
The statistics were a little disheartening for the Topic 2 Math Test. Upon reflection there seems to be a number of issues coming to surface with the new standards system. The adjusted passing score for the test was 14 which left us with only 14 students able to achieve a passing score. Sixteen was the modal average and 15 the mean average. Two students earned a perfect score.
There is math homework for this weekend.
Reading logs are due Monday.
The statistics were a little disheartening for the Topic 2 Math Test. Upon reflection there seems to be a number of issues coming to surface with the new standards system. The adjusted passing score for the test was 14 which left us with only 14 students able to achieve a passing score. Sixteen was the modal average and 15 the mean average. Two students earned a perfect score.
There is math homework for this weekend.
Reading logs are due Monday.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Twenty-Ninth Day of School
Yesterday we took a quick reading comprehension test. Fifty percent of the students passed. Two students got 100%.
Today we took our speed math test. Nine students received stars on the star chart.
As it stands currently, there is a 3-way tie for the most number of stars at 8.
Tomorrow is the Topic 2 Math Test.
Fifteen students have now completed their personal narratives. One student has completed and typed 2. Four students have completed typing of their essay.
Today we took our speed math test. Nine students received stars on the star chart.
As it stands currently, there is a 3-way tie for the most number of stars at 8.
Tomorrow is the Topic 2 Math Test.
Fifteen students have now completed their personal narratives. One student has completed and typed 2. Four students have completed typing of their essay.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Twenty-Seventh Day of School
Nine students have now completed their personal narratives. Two students have used a word processor to digitize. Thank you to the parents who have already provided a flash drive for their students; this makes the process much easier.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Unit 1 Week 3 Preview
In this week's instruction we focus on how we will change and how we have changed as we grow. If your child would like to bring in a photo showing themselves as a baby, we could display these and guess who they grew into. We will also explore how animals change as they grow. We will draw conclusions about animals that change greatly and those that may only change in size as they mature. We will analyze text for character, setting, and plot. We will focus on spelling patterns: ,-in, -it, -iss. Our oral vocabulary words will be change, adult, learn, imitate, and practice. Our reading sight words will be be, ride, and run. In grammar we will distinguish between statements and questions. We will continue writing our All About Me books and continue to work on our narrative piece to wrap up this unit's writing task.
In Social Science, we will discuss the difference between rights and responsibilities and what they mean for United States citizenship (HSS 1.1).
In Math we will finish with topic 2 and take our topic test.
In Health we discuss how our relationship with our friends can affect our health.
In Social Science, we will discuss the difference between rights and responsibilities and what they mean for United States citizenship (HSS 1.1).
In Math we will finish with topic 2 and take our topic test.
In Health we discuss how our relationship with our friends can affect our health.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Twenty-Sixth Day of School
A total of 5 students were able to complete their personal narratives and bring them to seminar. Those students completed will likely have time to begin digitizing their work to put on their flash drive.
We completed an important Science task today after classifying solid properties. Some students were able to complete a diagram of their finished work.
We did not have enough time for our timed Math Test, so that will be postponed. We will have our Topic 2 Math Test this coming week.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Twenty-Fifth Day of School
Today we worked on a rough draft for a personal narrative on a topic of our choice from our Unit Project. This task will be a good portion of the first reporting period writing grade since 1st grade does not have a district periodic assessment in writing this period.
We have also been working on our drama skills in order to improve our retell ability. We are learning to use our body, voice, and imagination to make our presentations more interesting.
We have also been working on our drama skills in order to improve our retell ability. We are learning to use our body, voice, and imagination to make our presentations more interesting.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Twenty-Third Day of School
Sixth week fluency scores are available and posted in the class room. Fluency is one portion of the reading grade and used in combination with a complete battery of reading tests.
Unfortunately, parent conferences have been postponed due to the large number of students needing to transfer classrooms. If you would like to meet sooner than whenever the first conferences will be scheduled, feel free to come see me. I am almost always available after school except on Tuesdays. This will lessen the scheduling burden on the rescheduled parent conference week. I have already met with some parents. You can always send a note with your child to let me know what day you are considering in advance. We also won't be limited as much by time constraints if we meet outside of conference week.
Unfortunately, parent conferences have been postponed due to the large number of students needing to transfer classrooms. If you would like to meet sooner than whenever the first conferences will be scheduled, feel free to come see me. I am almost always available after school except on Tuesdays. This will lessen the scheduling burden on the rescheduled parent conference week. I have already met with some parents. You can always send a note with your child to let me know what day you are considering in advance. We also won't be limited as much by time constraints if we meet outside of conference week.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Monday's Performance Task Preview
Performance Task Preview:
(For Parents' Information: In the game of Battle Towers, number tiles 0-13 are placed randomly face down. Students each draw one tile from the set and build a tower to match the number on their respective tile. The towers are compared. The child with the taller tower keeps the difference and stockpiles to build their ultimate tower later. Used tiles are discarded from play. Play continues until all tiles have been drawn, usually 7 rounds. The child with the largest ultimate tower wins the "war".)
Students will read a story about 2 children playing 2 rounds of Battle Towers. They will be asked to tell which student won the two-round match and to explain why. They will need to model their explanation. One way to do this is to use the patterns and models already discussed in class (part, part, whole). They should remember that the larger tower (whole) minus the shorter tower (part known) equals the difference (unknown part). Basically, (and this can be discussed at home) if 2 children have their own collection of pennies, to find the difference in the number of pennies each child has, the smaller collection amount is subtracted from the larger collection amount to find the difference:
Large collection - Small collection = Difference
Another model children might use is a pictograph/bar graph to show the size of the towers. The difference in length of the towers for the first round compared to the difference in the length of the towers over the second round reveals who won the two-round game of Battle Towers.
Finally, students will be asked to give an example where in a 3rd round of Battle Towers the difference in the two towers would be 3. (Reminder: in any subsequent round of Battle Towers, the numbers already chosen for the length in towers of previous rounds cannot be chosen again, because they have been removed from play.
(For Parents' Information: In the game of Battle Towers, number tiles 0-13 are placed randomly face down. Students each draw one tile from the set and build a tower to match the number on their respective tile. The towers are compared. The child with the taller tower keeps the difference and stockpiles to build their ultimate tower later. Used tiles are discarded from play. Play continues until all tiles have been drawn, usually 7 rounds. The child with the largest ultimate tower wins the "war".)
Students will read a story about 2 children playing 2 rounds of Battle Towers. They will be asked to tell which student won the two-round match and to explain why. They will need to model their explanation. One way to do this is to use the patterns and models already discussed in class (part, part, whole). They should remember that the larger tower (whole) minus the shorter tower (part known) equals the difference (unknown part). Basically, (and this can be discussed at home) if 2 children have their own collection of pennies, to find the difference in the number of pennies each child has, the smaller collection amount is subtracted from the larger collection amount to find the difference:
Large collection - Small collection = Difference
Another model children might use is a pictograph/bar graph to show the size of the towers. The difference in length of the towers for the first round compared to the difference in the length of the towers over the second round reveals who won the two-round game of Battle Towers.
Finally, students will be asked to give an example where in a 3rd round of Battle Towers the difference in the two towers would be 3. (Reminder: in any subsequent round of Battle Towers, the numbers already chosen for the length in towers of previous rounds cannot be chosen again, because they have been removed from play.
Unit 1 Week 2 Preview
During week 2 we discuss how physical activity is an important part of our lives. We learn how activity keeps our bodies healthy and strong. Our oral vocabulary words are movement, energy, express, exhausted, and stretch. Our sight words are: it, over, too. We will analyze story structure to discover selections with patterned text. Examples of famous patterned text are Monday, Monday, I like Monday (Bill Martin Jr.), and The Important Book (Margaret Wise Brown). Ask your librarian for other examples. Patterned texts often become bedtime favorites and re-reading them is a good way to build fluency. We will not often use a patterned text for retelling purposes. We will read the West African folktale The Great Rope Tug and diagram the story together using a Flow Map to highlight the beginning, middle, and end. We will continue to encode and decode single syllable words with short vowels (a, e, i). We will listen to rhyme, movement, and rhythm in poetry.
In Social Science we will look briefly to the original people of Australia and learn that a tradition is a special way of doing something. often repeated annually that becomes part of a people's culture.
For discussion: What is a tradition? What traditions does your family share?
For Math we will continue our exploration of subtraction. It looks very likely that our Topic 2 Math Test will be during the week of the 23rd. This Monday students will work together to solve a story problem about the game Battle Towers. They will orally present their results to class. For oral presentations and group work, the students are graded on their ability to present an idea clearly (report card). In Math, they are graded on their ability to explain their thinking, their precision in calculations, the organization of their ideas, and the completeness of their work/solution. Additionally, they are graded on cooperation (report card), perseverance (Common Core Mathematical Practice # 1), and ability to model with mathematics (CCMP #4). As you can probably tell, being able to work together to solve a problem is an important process. We will likely have our first speed addition test this week as well. Those passing (perfect test) will earn a star on the Star Chart.
In Social Science we will look briefly to the original people of Australia and learn that a tradition is a special way of doing something. often repeated annually that becomes part of a people's culture.
For discussion: What is a tradition? What traditions does your family share?
For Math we will continue our exploration of subtraction. It looks very likely that our Topic 2 Math Test will be during the week of the 23rd. This Monday students will work together to solve a story problem about the game Battle Towers. They will orally present their results to class. For oral presentations and group work, the students are graded on their ability to present an idea clearly (report card). In Math, they are graded on their ability to explain their thinking, their precision in calculations, the organization of their ideas, and the completeness of their work/solution. Additionally, they are graded on cooperation (report card), perseverance (Common Core Mathematical Practice # 1), and ability to model with mathematics (CCMP #4). As you can probably tell, being able to work together to solve a problem is an important process. We will likely have our first speed addition test this week as well. Those passing (perfect test) will earn a star on the Star Chart.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Twentieth Day of School
Today we learned that different disciplines have different language used to express the ideas inherent to them (GATE concept). For example, a math sentence (usually called an equation) uses "symbols" and requires proper syntax like a grammatical sentence which uses "punctuation." So, if the homework asks for a "math sentence" 8 - 5 = 3 is a proper response and nothing needs to be spelled out. This is in contrast to a math expression (phrase) which is not an equation such as 2 x 3.
In Math we learned the important concept of "difference" which is explained in today's math classwork. In keeping with our theme this week of comparing and contrasting,tomorrow we will be playing a game where we will be find the difference in the heights of towers: Tower Battle.
In Music we learned our third element of music: rhythm. We played a game where we had to follow a movement pattern in time with a song.
In Math we learned the important concept of "difference" which is explained in today's math classwork. In keeping with our theme this week of comparing and contrasting,tomorrow we will be playing a game where we will be find the difference in the heights of towers: Tower Battle.
In Music we learned our third element of music: rhythm. We played a game where we had to follow a movement pattern in time with a song.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Nineteenth Day of School
This was a very busy day. We began the day with a discussion of survival needs (tested). We then read our main selection of the week and analyzed the story with respect to character. We then used our character analysis to help us retell the story to a partner. Then each table chose two people to retell the story to the class. The class then judged each retell based on 4 criteria (critical thinking skill satisfying GATE instructional requirement): was the retell accurate, clear, interesting, complete. We then read a companion piece called Mrs. Goose's Baby. We used a Double Bubble Thinking Map to compare the main characters. We then began work on our own Double Bubble Thinking Map to compare ourselves to another person in the class.
Today's homework was again bonus homework. Those with correctly completed homework received points for their table.
In Math we began to construct math expressions, and sentences for subtraction. We used the oral pattern: Whole - part = part to complete our classwork. Some students struggled with this idea.
Today's homework was again bonus homework. Those with correctly completed homework received points for their table.
In Math we began to construct math expressions, and sentences for subtraction. We used the oral pattern: Whole - part = part to complete our classwork. Some students struggled with this idea.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Eighteenth Day of School
Today we read The Princess and the Pea and discussed its structure. We were introduced to the word genre. So far, the genre's we have discussed are realistic fiction, fable, fairy tale, folktale, and fantasy. It is a good idea if every student is familiar with characteristics of each type of story. We also learned the meaning of compare and contrast and practiced expressing our ideas of similarities and differences in order to highlight our uniqueness and commonalities.
Monday, September 9, 2013
In Case You Weren't Already Aware
From a recent article criticizing a recent milk producing lobby petition to the FDA regarding milk additives:
But now the situation is getting even more insane than you could have imagined: the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition with the FDA asking the FDA to alter the definition of "milk" to secretly include chemical sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose.
...pints are (already) riddled with aspartame, which has been linked to leukemia and lymphoma in certain animal studies.
http://health.yahoo.net/articles/nutrition/photos/10-gross-food-trends-avoid#9
But now the situation is getting even more insane than you could have imagined: the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition with the FDA asking the FDA to alter the definition of "milk" to secretly include chemical sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose.
...pints are (already) riddled with aspartame, which has been linked to leukemia and lymphoma in certain animal studies.
http://health.yahoo.net/articles/nutrition/photos/10-gross-food-trends-avoid#9
Seventeenth Day of School
Today we read and analyzed That Big Cat. This story is a realistic fiction piece written in the 1st person like the Junie B. Jones series. So, it is a very good example of a personal narrative in the voice of a young child. We learned that when the reader is aware of the main character problem (conflict) then we have reached the middle of the story. When the conflict is resolved, we know we are at the end.
In Health we learned the importance of and ways to stay clean and fit.
For Discussion: What did Allie like to do? (beginning: she used her imagination to play, she also picked out her own clothes, she pretended to be a super hero) What was Allie's problem? (middle: she was afraid to go near/pet that big cat). How was her problem resolved? (end: she learned the cat was friendly, she overcame her fear). How can you stay clean and fit?
All students returning Friday's homework today completed correctly were awarded bonus points for their table.
Reminder: First graders should go to bed at 8:00. If they wake up at 7:00 this gives them the recommended 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep necessary for proper growth. An 8:00 bedtime is also appropriate for 2nd and 3rd graders.
In Health we learned the importance of and ways to stay clean and fit.
For Discussion: What did Allie like to do? (beginning: she used her imagination to play, she also picked out her own clothes, she pretended to be a super hero) What was Allie's problem? (middle: she was afraid to go near/pet that big cat). How was her problem resolved? (end: she learned the cat was friendly, she overcame her fear). How can you stay clean and fit?
All students returning Friday's homework today completed correctly were awarded bonus points for their table.
Reminder: First graders should go to bed at 8:00. If they wake up at 7:00 this gives them the recommended 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep necessary for proper growth. An 8:00 bedtime is also appropriate for 2nd and 3rd graders.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Sixteenth Day of School
Today we generated a list of properties for a collection of solids which we will use for another activity next Friday. Friday afternoons will be our time for Science.
There is homework for this afternoon in Math. Additionally you may want to review your child's math test with them. There were 2 redundant problems we skipped on the insert page. The students were instructed to create a model for the last question on the front of the fold-out sheet which counted for an additional point (3 + 5 = 8).
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Math Topic 1 Test Results
Of 24 students taking the Topic 1 Math Test, 20 students passed with an adjusted score of 14 or better. Ten students scored 18 or better. One student passed with a perfect score.
Math tests will be returned tomorrow.
Math tests will be returned tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Unit 1 Week 1 Preview
As a part of our theme: What Makes Us Special, our focus questions are: What do we like to do, and how do the things we like to do make us special? We will discover that the things we like to do help to make us who we are. Our vocabulary words for the week are cheerful, interest, unique, prefer, and genuine. We will analyze story structure for the beginning, middle, and end (comprehension strategy). We learn that this is the way that most realistic fiction stories are structured and that good readers pay attention to these parts (R 1.3.1). We will also pay special attention to the characters and setting of stories (comprehension skill). In phonics we will blend words and identify rhymes with short 'a' and short 'i'. Our reading sight words for the week are jump, not, up. In grammar we will discuss how a sentence tells a whole idea. We will continue with our Unit Project while referring to our 2 previously constructed Thinking Maps. We will analyze the structure of the fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea. We will analyze how an author develops character by what they say and do. In writing we discuss and practice how using describing words adds detail and interest. We will listen to the fable, Town Mouse and Country Mouse, and discover how preferences make characters unique. We will read an informational text and use structure to deduce main idea.
In Science we will make a connection between what we have been learning in music and what we know about Alexander Graham Bell and discuss the discipline of acoustical science and engineering. In life science we discuss basic needs of people and animals using the vocabulary: shelter, energy.
In Math we will begin Topic 2 exploring subtraction.
In P.E. we will work on balance, catch and toss to ourselves and to a partner.
In Science we will make a connection between what we have been learning in music and what we know about Alexander Graham Bell and discuss the discipline of acoustical science and engineering. In life science we discuss basic needs of people and animals using the vocabulary: shelter, energy.
In Math we will begin Topic 2 exploring subtraction.
In P.E. we will work on balance, catch and toss to ourselves and to a partner.
- How are you different than other people in your family/class? How is your family different than other families?
- What are the states of matter?
- What does an animal need in order to survive?
Twelfth and Thirteenth Day of School
We have discussed the 3 states of matter (tested) and how the forms of matter change from one to the other (tested). Later this week the students will observe various solids and generate properties for them.
Today we read a biography of Alexander Graham Bell. Tomorrow we will discuss what we remember from the selection and how a biographical piece is structured.
We are continuing our work on our in-class Unit Project.
Tomorrow we will take our Topic 1 Math Test.
For discussion: How were Alexander Graham Bell's interests as a child related to his adult accomplishments? What do you think caused Alexander Graham Bell to be interested in sound technology and also to become a teacher?
Today we read a biography of Alexander Graham Bell. Tomorrow we will discuss what we remember from the selection and how a biographical piece is structured.
We are continuing our work on our in-class Unit Project.
Tomorrow we will take our Topic 1 Math Test.
For discussion: How were Alexander Graham Bell's interests as a child related to his adult accomplishments? What do you think caused Alexander Graham Bell to be interested in sound technology and also to become a teacher?
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