March
March 24-28
It is hard to believe the last week of March has come to a close! But 1H is excited for spring to finally be here and to be able to leave boots and hats at home. :o)
This week we:
-finished our China unit by taking notes on Chinese-Americans and making our final sentences for our China books. Students also completed a writing prompt about what interesting facts they learned throughout the unit. We will finish our Little Bird Tales this week and hope to share some at K-2 Morning Meeting this Thursday.
*If your child has not completed his/her family tradition page for homework please encourage them to do so. We will be compiling a class book of family traditions.
-finished our geometry math unit. We will be continuing to practice geometry skills in math centers this week. Next we learned what it means to have half of something and learned a doubles chant.
-wrote about how we know it is spring outside in the writing center. Students learned that consonant blends that make a new sound (sh, th, wh, ch) are called digraphs in the ABC center. They practiced hearing these sounds in the game center and searched for them in our poems. In the math center they answered questions using information found on a graph.
-added our last sentences to our Little Bird Tales in the computer lab. Students were excited to learn how to record their voices as they read their books aloud. Next week we will put the finishing touches on these books.
I hope you stayed dry this weekend!
Ms. Haese
It is hard to believe the last week of March has come to a close! But 1H is excited for spring to finally be here and to be able to leave boots and hats at home. :o)
This week we:
-finished our China unit by taking notes on Chinese-Americans and making our final sentences for our China books. Students also completed a writing prompt about what interesting facts they learned throughout the unit. We will finish our Little Bird Tales this week and hope to share some at K-2 Morning Meeting this Thursday.
*If your child has not completed his/her family tradition page for homework please encourage them to do so. We will be compiling a class book of family traditions.
-finished our geometry math unit. We will be continuing to practice geometry skills in math centers this week. Next we learned what it means to have half of something and learned a doubles chant.
-wrote about how we know it is spring outside in the writing center. Students learned that consonant blends that make a new sound (sh, th, wh, ch) are called digraphs in the ABC center. They practiced hearing these sounds in the game center and searched for them in our poems. In the math center they answered questions using information found on a graph.
-added our last sentences to our Little Bird Tales in the computer lab. Students were excited to learn how to record their voices as they read their books aloud. Next week we will put the finishing touches on these books.
I hope you stayed dry this weekend!
Ms. Haese
March 17-21
We finished off another busy week in 1H. We had two special presentations in addition to our unit studies.
Jacqueline Davis, author of The House That Went on Vacation and The Night is Singing visited with the whole first grade. We learned about her life growing up and about when she became a writer. She shared the first book she ever wrote and reminded us that she began writing before there were computers, ipads, or the internet. This was a long time ago as one student said, "Oh! That was in the olden days!".
We also were able to learn about ribbon dancing. Our presenter shared the story of where the tradition of ribbon dancing came from and the traditional dress of a dancer. Then we were able to learn some of the movements and practice ourselves. One student shared, "I feel like I'm in my imagination!" as she created her own dance.
We are very grateful for these opportunities that help enrich our learning experiences and our imaginations!
As for the rest of our week we continued recognizing attributes of 2-D and 3-D shapes. The big idea of the week was that figures can have more than one attribute. In addition we are still practicing our skills with adding/subtracting 10 to a number and place value.
In reading workshop we focused on contractions and long a/short a sounds. We continued brainstorming word family words for -og and -it in the writing center. In the math center we used tally marks to organize and understand data. The game center we played BINGO with sight words. We also began guided reading groups again since groups have shifted slightly since the Benchmark Reading Assessment.
We are finishing up our unit on China and our e-books are coming along nicely! We will be finishing them up next week. On Thursday we were able to create our own dragon masks and look forward to sharing them with you soon!
We are hoping to create a class book of family traditions. This is an option on the homework choice board and we can't wait to hear about your own family traditions!
I hope you all enjoyed the weekend!
Ms. Haese
We finished off another busy week in 1H. We had two special presentations in addition to our unit studies.
Jacqueline Davis, author of The House That Went on Vacation and The Night is Singing visited with the whole first grade. We learned about her life growing up and about when she became a writer. She shared the first book she ever wrote and reminded us that she began writing before there were computers, ipads, or the internet. This was a long time ago as one student said, "Oh! That was in the olden days!".
We also were able to learn about ribbon dancing. Our presenter shared the story of where the tradition of ribbon dancing came from and the traditional dress of a dancer. Then we were able to learn some of the movements and practice ourselves. One student shared, "I feel like I'm in my imagination!" as she created her own dance.
We are very grateful for these opportunities that help enrich our learning experiences and our imaginations!
As for the rest of our week we continued recognizing attributes of 2-D and 3-D shapes. The big idea of the week was that figures can have more than one attribute. In addition we are still practicing our skills with adding/subtracting 10 to a number and place value.
In reading workshop we focused on contractions and long a/short a sounds. We continued brainstorming word family words for -og and -it in the writing center. In the math center we used tally marks to organize and understand data. The game center we played BINGO with sight words. We also began guided reading groups again since groups have shifted slightly since the Benchmark Reading Assessment.
We are finishing up our unit on China and our e-books are coming along nicely! We will be finishing them up next week. On Thursday we were able to create our own dragon masks and look forward to sharing them with you soon!
We are hoping to create a class book of family traditions. This is an option on the homework choice board and we can't wait to hear about your own family traditions!
I hope you all enjoyed the weekend!
Ms. Haese
March 10-14
Hello Families,
We thought spring was coming this week but not quite yet ;o)
This week in math we began new math centers with new math partners! It was very exciting for 1H. It was also great to see partners working hard together. We reviewed 2-D figures and began looking at 3-D figures. More to come this week!
We are excitedly learning about a few of the celebrations celebrated by the Chinese culture. We learned about the Lantern Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. We will be putting this new information in our China books in the following couple of weeks.
In writing workshop we are working hard to take notes. This week the goal was to finish a cover and most finished creating the first page. The first graders have been quick learners with the new program and the business of logging in which can be tricky!
In reading workshop we are focusing on word families. We worked specifically with -et, -at, and -op. Friends sorted word families and shared some of the words they brainstormed in the writing center.
We began our storytelling center which was a huge hit! Friends truly enjoyed telling stories to a friend. Videos to come (still working on how to post them)
***an email for conference sign-ups will be coming this week :o)
Ms. Haese
Hello Families,
We thought spring was coming this week but not quite yet ;o)
This week in math we began new math centers with new math partners! It was very exciting for 1H. It was also great to see partners working hard together. We reviewed 2-D figures and began looking at 3-D figures. More to come this week!
We are excitedly learning about a few of the celebrations celebrated by the Chinese culture. We learned about the Lantern Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. We will be putting this new information in our China books in the following couple of weeks.
In writing workshop we are working hard to take notes. This week the goal was to finish a cover and most finished creating the first page. The first graders have been quick learners with the new program and the business of logging in which can be tricky!
In reading workshop we are focusing on word families. We worked specifically with -et, -at, and -op. Friends sorted word families and shared some of the words they brainstormed in the writing center.
We began our storytelling center which was a huge hit! Friends truly enjoyed telling stories to a friend. Videos to come (still working on how to post them)
***an email for conference sign-ups will be coming this week :o)
Ms. Haese
March 3-7
Welcome to March everyone! I sure hope that spring is right around the corner. :o)
This Week In 1H:
We continued learning about China. This week we focused on traditions in the Chinese culture such as language, food, storytelling, and writing. Students practiced speaking to each other in Mandarin, writing characters, and listened to a traditional folktale. We researched our topics and took notes as we learned more facts. We also had our first days in the computer lab this week. The first day we reviewed the basics of the computer lab and how to log in to the computers. On Thursday we begin to create our individual books on China. Students enjoyed creating their covers and some even began their first page.
In math we began learning about figures. We discussed similarities and differences between figures and what makes each figure a certain shape. We also classified figures by attributes. In the process we learned how to play a new game (Attribute Link Dominoes)!
Next week we will be beginning new math centers with new math partners.
In reading workshop we focused on noticing and sorting "sh-" and "-sh" in words. We also completed a writing prompt where students were able to write about a pet they would like to have. Students practiced sight words in the game center and graphing in the math center.
**New next week- storytelling with a buddy :o)
Enjoy the sunshine!
Ms. Haese
Welcome to March everyone! I sure hope that spring is right around the corner. :o)
This Week In 1H:
We continued learning about China. This week we focused on traditions in the Chinese culture such as language, food, storytelling, and writing. Students practiced speaking to each other in Mandarin, writing characters, and listened to a traditional folktale. We researched our topics and took notes as we learned more facts. We also had our first days in the computer lab this week. The first day we reviewed the basics of the computer lab and how to log in to the computers. On Thursday we begin to create our individual books on China. Students enjoyed creating their covers and some even began their first page.
In math we began learning about figures. We discussed similarities and differences between figures and what makes each figure a certain shape. We also classified figures by attributes. In the process we learned how to play a new game (Attribute Link Dominoes)!
Next week we will be beginning new math centers with new math partners.
In reading workshop we focused on noticing and sorting "sh-" and "-sh" in words. We also completed a writing prompt where students were able to write about a pet they would like to have. Students practiced sight words in the game center and graphing in the math center.
**New next week- storytelling with a buddy :o)
Enjoy the sunshine!
Ms. Haese