Monday, January 26, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Updated Weekly Schedule
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
8:30 - 9:15
| Arrival Routines & Morning Meeting | Arrival Routines & Morning Meeting | Arrival Routines & Morning Meeting | Arrival Routines & Morning Meeting | Arrival Routines & Morning Meeting |
| Word Study | Word Study | Word Study | Word Study | 4Rs | |
| 9:15 - 10:00 | Art | Reading Workshop | Reading Workshop | Reading Workshop | Reading Workshop |
| 10:00 - 10:45 | Library | Math Workshop | Art | Math Workshop | Dance |
| 10:50 - 11:40 | L | U | N | C | H |
11:45 - 12:30
| Quiet Time | Quiet Time | Quiet Time | Quiet Time | Quiet Time |
Math Workshop
| Writing Workshop |
Academic Choice Time
|
Writing Workshop
|
Writing Workshop
| |
12:30 - 1:15
|
Music
| ||||
| Choice Time |
Writing Workshop
|
Social Studies
|
Math Workshop
| ||
1:15 - 2:00
|
Music
|
Social Studies
| |||
Science
|
Choice Time
| ||||
| Read Aloud & Pack Up (1:45-2:05) | |||||
2:00 - 2:50
| Read Aloud | Read Aloud | Read Aloud | Dance | Read Aloud |
| Closing Circle | Closing Circle | Closing Circle | Dismissal | Closing Circle |
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Parts of a Letter
In writing workshop we learned about the parts of a letter. If your child writes a letter at home, make sure to point out these important parts!
Friday, January 9, 2015
Word Study
We are studying bonus letters in word study.
The bonus letters in our language are f, l, s, and z. Bonus letters are letters that double up at the end of a word when the word contains a short vowel sound.
Here are some sentences you can dictate at home to encourage correct spelling and punctuation.
Did Chet get the red shell?
Beth sat in the den with Bill.
Tim will fill up the dish with fish.
We had to mop up the mess.
The bug fell in the web.
Jack had to sell his pig.
The hall is a mess.
Mom did not miss the mud at all.
I fell on the path.
Toss the ball to Kim.
Can you call the pup?
The bonus letters in our language are f, l, s, and z. Bonus letters are letters that double up at the end of a word when the word contains a short vowel sound.
Here are some sentences you can dictate at home to encourage correct spelling and punctuation.
Did Chet get the red shell?
Beth sat in the den with Bill.
Tim will fill up the dish with fish.
We had to mop up the mess.
The bug fell in the web.
Jack had to sell his pig.
The hall is a mess.
Mom did not miss the mud at all.
I fell on the path.
Toss the ball to Kim.
Can you call the pup?
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Today we met Mail-gals Mollie and Millie!
We launched our post office study through drama today. Our students met Mail-gal Millie (Stefanie) and Mail-gal Mollie (Kristin) - they used to work at a post office until it was closed due to budget cuts! After listening to Mollie and Millie, our students decided to help them by opening up a post office here in our school! After reading an article about post office closings and reading "The Post Office Book" by Gail Gibbons, we came up with a list of things we will need to build and make to sustain a working post office. The first graders are so excited for this work!
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Letter Writing & Post Office Study
This month, the first graders will study letter writing during writing workshop (in alignment with our post office study). The first graders will learn lots of things about letter writing. They will explore the different reasons people write letters (friendly letters, persuasive letters, etc), learn to write a letter with a particular reader in mind (using voice and asking specific questions), learn to use writing conventions associated with letter writing (and addressing an envelope), and will learn about the overall process for sending a letter.
Students will also design their own stationery, post cards, stamps and envelopes during project work. In social studies, we will use drama to learn about different post office jobs and machines. In the block area, students will create sorting bins & mailboxes. The first graders will also design flyers and posters advertising the opening of the post office to classes in our school. Come the middle of February, we will have established a fully working post office for EVCS. Our first graders will deliver mail to classrooms in EVCS for the remainder of the year!
Stay tuned for updates about this work!
 |
| a chart from today's letter writing lesson |
Students will also design their own stationery, post cards, stamps and envelopes during project work. In social studies, we will use drama to learn about different post office jobs and machines. In the block area, students will create sorting bins & mailboxes. The first graders will also design flyers and posters advertising the opening of the post office to classes in our school. Come the middle of February, we will have established a fully working post office for EVCS. Our first graders will deliver mail to classrooms in EVCS for the remainder of the year!
 |
| today's brainstorming work during social studies |
Stay tuned for updates about this work!
Our New Math Unit
Today we began a new unit in math from the Contexts for Learning curriculum - a curriculum that uses carefully crafted math situations to foster a deep conceptual understanding of essential mathematical ideas, strategies, and models. Our unit is entitled "The Double Decker Bus."
This unit begins with the story of a double-decker bus—a bus that has two decks with ten seats on each. Five seats on each deck are red and five seats are white. The bus goes by quickly and the little girl in the story, sitting at her bedroom window and watching, works out ways to use the colors of the seats to calculate quickly how many people are on the bus. Her father drives a double-decker bus and she helps him figure out a way to know how many empty seats there are on the top deck even though he can't see them.
The unit introduces the arithmetic rack as a powerful model and tool to act out the story. The arithmetic rack is a calculating frame consisting of two rows of ten beads—two sets of five (one red and one white) in each row. (Instructions for creating or buying your own arithmetic racks are included.)
Cognitive psychologists, such as Susan Carey and Stanislas Dehaene (1999), have shown that even toddlers can recognize small amounts, such as two or three, as a unit and that this ability (known as "subitizing") is probably innate. Children can even do addition and subtraction with amounts of this size because they use this innate perceptual ability to see that three is one more than two. Using the arithmetic rack allows kindergarteners and first graders to build on their natural ability and see five as a unit. When five can be subitized as a whole, it can be used to support understanding of 6 as 5 + 1, 8 as 5 + 3, or 4 as 5 - 1. The arithmetic rack also supports the strategies of doubles and near doubles, 6 + 7 = 6 + 6 + 1, and making tens, 9 + 6 = 10 + 5.
In this unit, children move the beads on the arithmetic rack to represent passengers going from one deck on the bus to the other, and sitting in various combinations in the red and white seats. This context supports the development of the understanding that numbers can be named in many ways, for example 10 as 6 + 4, 7 + 3, or 5 + 5. The unit also includes minilessons with quick images, and strings of related addition and subtraction problems solved with the arithmetic rack to help automatize the basic facts.
Several games-Passenger Pairs, Rack Pairs, and Passenger Combos—are also included in this unit. They can be played throughout the year as a way for children to extend composing and decomposing strategies as they establish equivalence—for example, representing 7 as 5 + 2, 3 + 4, or 1 + 6.
This unit begins with the story of a double-decker bus—a bus that has two decks with ten seats on each. Five seats on each deck are red and five seats are white. The bus goes by quickly and the little girl in the story, sitting at her bedroom window and watching, works out ways to use the colors of the seats to calculate quickly how many people are on the bus. Her father drives a double-decker bus and she helps him figure out a way to know how many empty seats there are on the top deck even though he can't see them.
The unit introduces the arithmetic rack as a powerful model and tool to act out the story. The arithmetic rack is a calculating frame consisting of two rows of ten beads—two sets of five (one red and one white) in each row. (Instructions for creating or buying your own arithmetic racks are included.)
Cognitive psychologists, such as Susan Carey and Stanislas Dehaene (1999), have shown that even toddlers can recognize small amounts, such as two or three, as a unit and that this ability (known as "subitizing") is probably innate. Children can even do addition and subtraction with amounts of this size because they use this innate perceptual ability to see that three is one more than two. Using the arithmetic rack allows kindergarteners and first graders to build on their natural ability and see five as a unit. When five can be subitized as a whole, it can be used to support understanding of 6 as 5 + 1, 8 as 5 + 3, or 4 as 5 - 1. The arithmetic rack also supports the strategies of doubles and near doubles, 6 + 7 = 6 + 6 + 1, and making tens, 9 + 6 = 10 + 5.
In this unit, children move the beads on the arithmetic rack to represent passengers going from one deck on the bus to the other, and sitting in various combinations in the red and white seats. This context supports the development of the understanding that numbers can be named in many ways, for example 10 as 6 + 4, 7 + 3, or 5 + 5. The unit also includes minilessons with quick images, and strings of related addition and subtraction problems solved with the arithmetic rack to help automatize the basic facts.
Several games-Passenger Pairs, Rack Pairs, and Passenger Combos—are also included in this unit. They can be played throughout the year as a way for children to extend composing and decomposing strategies as they establish equivalence—for example, representing 7 as 5 + 2, 3 + 4, or 1 + 6.
Upcoming Field Trips
In February, we will go on two exciting field trips! Permission slips will come home soon.
Tuesday, February 3rd - Transit Museum
Tuesday, February 10th - Children's Museum of Art
Tuesday, February 3rd - Transit Museum
Tuesday, February 10th - Children's Museum of Art
Monday, January 5, 2015
Indy Kids
Looking for a great non-fiction resource that focuses on current social justice news events? Check out Indy Kids - a newspaper written by kids for kids. We use some of the articles to spark conversations and share current events - they are interesting, thought-provoking, and engaging. Have fun reading!
Spelling Practice
Word pyramids are a fun way to practice spelling at home.
Let's say your child is practicing the word "think"
Here's how the word pyramid works:
t
th
thi
thin
think
Then - write the word in a sentence!
Let's say your child is practicing the word "think"
Here's how the word pyramid works:
t
th
thi
thin
think
Then - write the word in a sentence!
Happy New Year!
It was great to be back in school today! We had a fun day complete with art, music, dreambox and choice time!
Joining us through the end of April is our Teachers College student teacher, Liz! She started in our class today and will be with us Mondays, Tuesday, half days on Wednesdays, and Thursdays. We are so excited to collaborate with Liz these next few months!
Here's to a productive and enjoyable 2015!
Joining us through the end of April is our Teachers College student teacher, Liz! She started in our class today and will be with us Mondays, Tuesday, half days on Wednesdays, and Thursdays. We are so excited to collaborate with Liz these next few months!
Here's to a productive and enjoyable 2015!
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