"Peek at the Weeks" April 4 - 8 & April 11-15

This blog is LONG overdue!  I was so used to blogging on the weekends...now everyime I sit down to blog I have a little one fighting for my attention!  Thanks for your patience as I figure out how to balance the two best jobs in the world- being a teacher and a mommy :)

Here is a peek into the last two weeks!

Reader's Workshop

We began our second nonfiction reading and writing unit! Much of the worm we do as readers will carry over into our writing time.  We will be reading about different animals and learning how to take the main idea and key details to write about our learning. This is an early exposure to research!

We also are learning to discuss our research with a group.  We have formed nonfiction book clubs that meet each day to share new facts, ask questions, and disucss surprising information!

Math Workshop

We started a new unit in geometry this week! Over the next several weeks we will be learning to tell time to the nearest hour and half hour, identify and identify key attributes a of 2D and 3D shapes, and learn how to divide objects into equal parts!

Here we are looking for shapes with 4 sides and 4 square corners!  RECTANGLES!  We learned that a square is a special rectangle because it has 4 EQUAL sides!

Writer's Workshop

We also began another nonfiction writing unit this week! We started the week by studying animal pictures and writing everything we learned from the picture! As we continue reading about animas in reader's workshop, we will be writing about our learning in writer's workshop!

We learned that writers keep track of the information they read by taking notes.  We learned how to take a 'shortcut' when writing notes.  Researchers don't write entire sentences, but rather write a few key deteails to help them remember their information.  We kept our notes in our reserach folders.  Each envelope holds specific information to help keep our reserach organized!

We also used an online resource called  World Book Kids to help us learn even more!

At the end of the week we gathered together with our group that studied the same animal.  We pooled our reserach together to collaborate on a shared research project.  We will be making posters to showcase all our learning!

Science

We stared our final science unit on soil! The first week, we studied soil up close. We recorded our findings. We found worms, twigs, leaves, and even woodchips in the soil!

Next, we learned there are three types of soil:
Humas
Clay
Sand

We will continue our study on these types of soil during our field trip to the Audubon Nature Center on Tuesday!  It should be a great day!

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weekend!

Love,
Mrs. Hogue

"Peek at the Week" November 16-20

Reader's Workshop

This week first graders began an exciting nonfiction unit! We are learning how to get the most out of our nonfiction books by studying and reading each page, and thinking about new things we learned after reading!

We spent a lot of time talking about our books this week both as a class, and with our reading partner. It is so important to share our thinking with others as we learn! 

Math Workshop

We continued our focus on unknown partners this week. We practiced solving the unknown partner in equations and number stories. We are also learning that addition and subtraction are related, and both can help us solve for the unknown!

On Friday we learned a fun new game to help us practice our basic addition facts- Power Towers! First graders solve the fact on the cup, and if they solve correctly they add it to the tower!

Word Work

We added 5 new words to our word wall:

Their

Then

Them

Don't

Out

Science 

We have been busy studying clouds over the past two week.  We learned about three types of clouds: cirrus, stratus, and cumulus. Ask your first grader to tell you about these three types of clouds!

Important Reminders

Tuesday is our Fall Performance! There are two performances- 10:00AM and 2:00PM. 

Wednesday is an Early Release Day. 

Winter weather is here! Our recess is 40 minutes each day, and children do go outside most days. I strongly reccomend sending our child with thick, water proof gloves...their little hands tend to get cold very fast! Also, please label all your children's winter clothes to avoid searching through our lost and found! Most teachers will check inside lost items for names before placing them in the lost and found! 

"Peek at the Week" November 2-6

I apologize for not blogging last week!  With conferences and Halloween fun, the week just got away from me!  Here are some pictures from Halloween followed by an update from last week!

 

We had fun celebrating Halloween together!

We loved our orange and black snacks!

We also had fun painting pumpkin scarecrows!

And the best part was dressing up for our parade!

Here is a peek into our week!

Reader's Workshop

We have been busy working on retelling the stories we read.  We learned that readers retell stories by thinking about the:

Setting

Characters

Problem

Beginning

Middle

End

Solution

We had fun talking a 'walk' down the yellow brick road to help us retell!  Each brick represented an area of retelling.  We even got our own bookmarks to keep in our book bins so we can practice each day!

Math Workshop

This week we learned how to represent subtraction equations!  We learned how to draw the total number of circles and cross out the partner we subtract.   We don't erase because it is important to see both partners.  This helps us see the relationship between addition and subtraction!

We solved subtraction story problems by making a proof drawing and equation. We learned that it is important to be able to prove your thinking when solving story problems.

We then began focusing on related equations. We explored the relationship between addition and subtraction facts.

On Friday we learned a fun game to help us practice our subtraction facts - Subtraction Bowling!  Students 'bowl' into 10 cups and record the subtraction fact!  This was quickly name 'the best math game ever!' by many first graders :)

Writer's Workshop

On Monday we wrapped up our unit on Small Moments.   We published our pieces and spent the afternoon reading our friends' stories.  We also left them compliments on things they did well as writers.  The children really enjoyed reading the nice things their friends had to say...I loved seeing all the smiling faces!

We began a mini unit on  "How to Writing" this week.   I asked the children to write a step-by-step set of instructions on how to blow a bubble from a piece of bubble gum.  
The next day I took their instructions and attempted to follow them.  Needless to say it was pretty hilarious  as I tried to chew gum that hadn't been unwrapped and shooting gum out of my mouth because the direction said 'blow as hard as you can.'  This helped demonstrate the importance of including every detail so that someone can follow your set of directions.  I sent them back to rewrite their instructions.  We published them to display in the hallway! (and of course we got to enjoy some real bubble gum!)

Word Work
We added 5 new words to our word wall:
said
were
when
went
your

We practiced these words throughout the week!

I hope you had a great and relaxing weekend!
Love,
Mrs. Hogue