Dear First Grade Families,
As of 2018 I will be using SeeSaw to update parents and share classroom information. All families should have received login information specific to your child at the start if the school year.
SeeSaw is an online portfolio that allows me to share pictures and student work in real time. Throughout the year your child will also have the opportunity to post to their own SeeSaw account. I am excited about this updated way to give you a sneak peak into our classroom!
Happy Learning!
Mrs. Elrick
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Friday, April 13, 2018
Spring Spotlight
Spring has sprung! I apologize for the lapse in blog updates. There is just so many great things happening on a daily basis that sometimes keeping track of everything to share gets lost in the shuffle. In order to better keep families updated I am going to try a new platform for sharing classroom happenings. When we get back from vacation please look for paper invites that will tell you about the new platform and how to access it! I'm excited to share MORE of our learning with you!
Writing Update!
Children have been hard at work sharing their opinions about their collections. We have worked on how to write opinion writing well through the use of a checklist. Children have learned how to share their opinion, give details, and bolster their arguments. We will continue this kind of writing when we are back from break.
Math Update!
We continue to work hard on understanding place value and working efficiently to solve various mathematical problems. Children continue to use manipulative such as place value blocks and tools such as hundreds boards to count, practice conservation of number, and solidify the concepts such as adding and subtracting by 10's. When we get back from break we will begin to work on money including names and values of coins, equivalent amounts, and counting change to a dollar.
Science Update!
We have been little scientists in our class this spring! Children have been learning about plant structure and function. We planted different types of seeds and observed their growth over time. We learned how roots soak up nutrients from soil and water and that leaves make food. We learned that without these essential structures seeds cannot grow and plants cannot thrive. When we get back from April vacation we will continue to learn about plants and animals by learning more about the variations in animals as well as the kind of living things found in and around our environment.
Working in groups to compare wheat seed growth:
Observing and recording changes in their alfalfa and rye grass:
Planting wheat seeds without soil!
Writing Update!
Children have been hard at work sharing their opinions about their collections. We have worked on how to write opinion writing well through the use of a checklist. Children have learned how to share their opinion, give details, and bolster their arguments. We will continue this kind of writing when we are back from break.
Math Update!
We continue to work hard on understanding place value and working efficiently to solve various mathematical problems. Children continue to use manipulative such as place value blocks and tools such as hundreds boards to count, practice conservation of number, and solidify the concepts such as adding and subtracting by 10's. When we get back from break we will begin to work on money including names and values of coins, equivalent amounts, and counting change to a dollar.
Science Update!
We have been little scientists in our class this spring! Children have been learning about plant structure and function. We planted different types of seeds and observed their growth over time. We learned how roots soak up nutrients from soil and water and that leaves make food. We learned that without these essential structures seeds cannot grow and plants cannot thrive. When we get back from April vacation we will continue to learn about plants and animals by learning more about the variations in animals as well as the kind of living things found in and around our environment.
Working in groups to compare wheat seed growth:
Observing and recording changes in their alfalfa and rye grass:
Planting wheat seeds without soil!
I hope everyone has a wonderful and restful spring break whether traveling or staying home! Here's a picture of our class celebrating their well deserved reward for whole group expected behavior!
Happy Spring
Friday, January 26, 2018
January Round Up
I hope that the New Year is finding everyone happy and healthy! I for one can not believe that January is almost over and that we are already looking ahead to Valentine's Day! We will be having a class Valentine party on the 14th. I'll be sending home a class list for students who would like to pass out Valentine's.
We have been super busy in math during the month. We have worked on solving math equations with missing addends. We have learned about surveys and collecting data. We have learned strategies to help us solve bigger equations (values on each side of the equal sign) and deciding if these values are true or false! We have also learned and practiced efficient ways to solve equations and story problems with 3 addends. Throughout all of this the class has had some very insightful math discussions around strategy use such as doubles, near doubles, making 10, counting on and back strategies as well as using "known" facts! Wow are they growing as mathematicians!!
This afternoon we had a round up of all of our learning with some fun partner work including a missing addend scoot game and a partner dice game. Here are some highlights of math partnerships hard at work!
Children playing a 3 addend dice game and looking for efficient ways to add all three numbers including finding or making a double, making a 10, or using a known fact.
Partners working efficiently to solve equations with missing addends during a "scoot" game. Children used number lines, turn around facts, doubles, and related facts.
I hope you enjoyed reading about our math learning and writing progress from the last few weeks! Check back soon for more highlights from Room 27!
We have been super busy in math during the month. We have worked on solving math equations with missing addends. We have learned about surveys and collecting data. We have learned strategies to help us solve bigger equations (values on each side of the equal sign) and deciding if these values are true or false! We have also learned and practiced efficient ways to solve equations and story problems with 3 addends. Throughout all of this the class has had some very insightful math discussions around strategy use such as doubles, near doubles, making 10, counting on and back strategies as well as using "known" facts! Wow are they growing as mathematicians!!
This afternoon we had a round up of all of our learning with some fun partner work including a missing addend scoot game and a partner dice game. Here are some highlights of math partnerships hard at work!
Children playing a 3 addend dice game and looking for efficient ways to add all three numbers including finding or making a double, making a 10, or using a known fact.
Partners working efficiently to solve equations with missing addends during a "scoot" game. Children used number lines, turn around facts, doubles, and related facts.
This month has also marked the start of our new unit of writing: Informational (or teaching) books! We jumped right in, brainstorming topics that First Graders are experts on. Boy were there a lot :) We also remembered how authors think of their topic and plan across pages before even starting to write. We learned how to change our writing voice from a "story teller" to a "teacher." We looked to mentor texts to help us determine what authors of teaching books do to teach their reader. We learned about twin sentences and pictures with teaching power. I am honestly blown away by their writing thus far.
Today we worked with our writing partners to do a quick check of our "mechanics." We want to make sure our reader or our audience can make sense of our writing. After working with partners, children chose an "editing goal" to focus on over the next few weeks.
Here are some pictures of partner hard at work editing together!
I hope you enjoyed reading about our math learning and writing progress from the last few weeks! Check back soon for more highlights from Room 27!
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Happy New Year!
December has been all about Gingerbread! We've spent the last several weeks reading versions of the Gingerbread Man, comparing story elements, and writing our own Gingerbread stories. Children were so engaged in creating their own Gingerbread characters! We also teamed up with Mrs. Scier's class right next door to work on a Gingerbread STEM project. Children worked in small groups with a set of materials to plan, build, and share a Gingerbread house creation. It was so much fun to watch them engaged and problem solving with each other.
Gingerbread Literacy Fun
Gingerbread STEM projects
Planning: Children worked in mixed groups (some from our class and some from Mrs. Sciers). They had to think about the type of Gingerbread house they wanted to build. They also had to think about the materials they would need and how to use them. There was a lot of listening, speaking, turn taking, and compromising!
I hope you enjoyed learning about our Gingerbread fun this month. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, enjoyed time with friends and family, and made many merry memories!
Gingerbread Literacy Fun
Gingerbread STEM projects
Planning: Children worked in mixed groups (some from our class and some from Mrs. Sciers). They had to think about the type of Gingerbread house they wanted to build. They also had to think about the materials they would need and how to use them. There was a lot of listening, speaking, turn taking, and compromising!
Building: Children got back into their small groups and referred back to their plans. They were given 1 yard of tape, 1 tube of Elmer's glue, Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, straws, and mini pompoms. Then they went to work! The end products were THE BEST! I am so proud of how flexibly they worked together to create a Gingerbread masterpiece!
Friday, November 17, 2017
Author Celebration and November News
Gosh-it's hard to believe that we are approaching the holiday season! We keep track of the days of school and I think we were all surprised the we had hit our 50 day mark! This month we had our first Author Celebration! Children worked so hard throughout our small moments unit and grew as independent writers. We celebrated with a museum style sharing exhibit. The work that they have done throughout the unit will be coming home in a stay home folder before Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy reading their small moment narratives as much as I did! We also had a few special happenings this month. We had a great assembly about Veteran's Day lead by former Navy officer Chief Wilson and her son Cadet Wilson.
Here are a few Highlights!
Author Celebration
In order to get ready for our celebration we had to go through a few steps. We had to go through all of our pieces and pick just one that we wanted to fix and fancy up. This was hard!! Then it was time to fancy up our story with craft moves and interesting details. We made a connection to getting ready for a fancy party by putting fancy clothes on. Once our story's were "fancyed" it was time to turn to our writing partners for a little editing help. Once our stories were ready to be shared we celebrated by reading each others pieces and sharing compliments with the author!
Picking our Story:
Fixing and Fancying:
Author Celebration:
Veteran's Day:
Chief Wilson and her son Cadet Wilson came in to teach us all about the importance of Veteran's Day. We learned about the branches of military service. We learned about all the different jobs officers can have and the many ways that soldiers help people in need. We learned some important words like sacrifice and freedom. We even had a try at boot camp!
Here are a few Highlights!
Author Celebration
In order to get ready for our celebration we had to go through a few steps. We had to go through all of our pieces and pick just one that we wanted to fix and fancy up. This was hard!! Then it was time to fancy up our story with craft moves and interesting details. We made a connection to getting ready for a fancy party by putting fancy clothes on. Once our story's were "fancyed" it was time to turn to our writing partners for a little editing help. Once our stories were ready to be shared we celebrated by reading each others pieces and sharing compliments with the author!
Picking our Story:
Fixing and Fancying:
Author Celebration:
Veteran's Day:
Chief Wilson and her son Cadet Wilson came in to teach us all about the importance of Veteran's Day. We learned about the branches of military service. We learned about all the different jobs officers can have and the many ways that soldiers help people in need. We learned some important words like sacrifice and freedom. We even had a try at boot camp!
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