Science Fun

We have been immersing ourselves in science learning over the last few weeks! We have researched, read about, and even created our own habitats. We have observed organisms and their homes. We have compared habitats, plants, and animals. We have even had some volunteers and visitors in to help us. It has been a very busy, very high interest topic!


Observing Plants
Children got to work with parent volunteers observing plants that belong in our woodland and freshwater habitats. They looked closely at leaves, stems, colors, and compared the different kinds of plants. We learned that freshwater plants can have light or dark green leaves and that leaves can grow in groups or separately. We learned moss grows in damp places and has been around for a very long time. We learned that tree seedlings have roots that tangle in the soil and that their leaves are actually called needles.

Observing Organisms
Children worked, once again, with parent volunteers to observe organisms that belong in our woodland and freshwater habitats. We learned that snails are mollusks and have lungs for breathing! We learned that guppies are hardy and can live in lots of climates. We watched our pill bugs curl up in a ball to protect themselves. We even felt the millipedes tickly legs as it crawled on some of our hands. 

A Visit from Stony Brook
We had a great visit from a Stony Brook staff member. Ms. Marla came to teach us all about the habitats we can look forward to exploring on our May field trip to Stony Brook. She even brought along a visitor!

Read Alouds
We are so looking forward to an author visit from Melissa Stuart! We are getting ready by reading some of her books. They tie in perfectly with our science unit. If you haven't had a chance, check our her web site and her books!

Melissa Stuart

Beneath The Sun

No Monkey's No Chocolate

Hope you enjoyed learning more about our latest science unit!!

Read Across America

We had a great week celebrating Dr. Seuss and Read Across America! Our fantastic librarian, Mrs.Groden, made sure there was something special each day to highlight the importance of reading and of course our love of Dr. Seuss! The children and teachers had so much fun.

Here are just a few highlights from our week! Enjoy :)

Tuesday: Kick off Assembly

The week began with a whole school assembly where we learned some very interesting facts about Dr. Seuss, sang our school's own Read Across America song lead by Mr. R, and of course took the "Reader's Oath."

Our class got to share a fact about the "Dr." in Dr. Seuss. Ask your child if  Dr. Seuss was really a doctor :)

Wednesday: Community Readers

Thank you to the community of Medfield! We had readers from all over town around our school reading aloud to the classes. Our reader was none other than Mr. Grenham, the principal from Dale Street School!

Mr. Grenham read one of my favorite and inspiring Dr. Seuss books, Oh The Places You'll Go.

Thursday: Crazy Sock Day

This was just pure fun! It was extra special for our class since we also earned our last link towards a class reward! Our stuffed animals got to spend the day learning right along side us.

Friday: Wear Red and White in honor of The Cat in the Hat

Our school was a sea of red and white AND we had a very special visitor greeting the children as they came to school. Thank you Cat in the Hat for making our morning! We had an extra special day since we had a mystery reader AND in keeping with the spirit of the week our reader read a Dr. Seuss inspired story (one that I had never even heard of!) called Clam I Am.

It really was a great week! Thank you for all who participated and helped your child get inspired by such an influential author and illustrator. And of course, thank you Dr. Seuss! 

And here's a peak at my own little thing 2 celebrating Read Across America at his school!

Mini Author Celebration and Math Centers

Hello All! I can't believe that February break has come and gone! I hope you enjoyed time with friends and family! A few reminders/requests...please be on the lookout for a Sign Up Genius for spring conferences. Also-we are running very low on whiteboard markers and would really appreciative any donations :)

 Here at school we have been busy learning about President's Day, fixing and fancying our teaching books for a celebration, exploring math concepts through math centers, and of course getting excited for Valentine's Day!

Math Centers
The last couple of weeks children have been working on extending the counting sequence. We have practiced counting by 1s and 10s. We have looked for patterns along our number charts to 120. Children have explored ways to group in order to count larger quantities. All the while we have continued to work on our math fact fluency with addition and subtraction, showing our work with story problems, and incorporating math technology into our learning.

Here are a few examples of us hard at work at math centers!

Math with Someone
Children play a math game with their math partner. In this game, children are making combinations that equal 10 to gain fluency with their combinations to 10.

Math Writing
Children work to solve various story problems that reinforce adding, subtracting, and finding the "unknown" number. They solve these problems in their math journal. We often "unpack" the problem by visualizing it. Sometimes we model the problem. We talk about what info we know and what we need to find out. Often times children see 2 numbers in a problem an they assume they need to just add or subtract, However, many of the problems they are solving now include missing information that is not necessarily the sum or difference.
For example: Mike had 10 cards. He gave some away. Now he has 6. How many cards did Mark give away?
We encourage children to use an efficient strategy, (which could mean related facts, thinking addition to subtract, using a number line, or a known fact), show their work, and add a label.

Math Technology
Any time an iPad or computer is in the mix the activity becomes high interest. In order to use technology in a meaningful way, we focus on apps and online games that reinforce skills children have already practiced. Children play games to reinforce adding fluently and finding known combinations. A favorite math app is called Math Fight where children go up against an opponent to see who can find the sum of 2 numbers the fastest.

Author Celebration
I'm calling this a mini celebration :)
Children have worked really hard on the beginning skills of writing a teaching book. They have thought up many topics that they feel they are experts on. They have planned "subtopics". They have worked on their writing stamina trying to fill pages with several sentences instead of just 1. We have learned craft moves from other non-fiction authors in order to better teach their readers with details, include interesting information, and add pictures that teach. They were so proud of their work, we just had to celebrate before the end of the unit!
We set up a classroom library and children could read each other's books to learn more about topics they were interested about. When we were done rotating around to different sections of our classroom "library" we shared out some of the interesting facts we learned!
When we get back from break it's on to Teaching Chapter Books!! Stay tuned!

I hope you found this info helpful! Come back soon :)

Happy New Year!

The most wonderful time of year was in full swing! Thank you to all of you who donated to the food bank this year. It's so nice to  take a moment to give back, especially during the holidays.

A quick note about progress reports...

Although children have mastered many skills since September, there is still a lot of time and a lot of learning ahead of us. The progress report is meant to give you an idea of strengths and goals that we are continuing to work towards. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Onto the festivities.....We had a lot of holiday cheer happening all around us. Here are a few highlights from the weeks leading up to break!


Reader's Theater
We got to enjoy our very first Reader's Theater! This group worked very hard reading aloud the story of  The Elves and the Shoemaker  by Nancy Leber. Before sharing with the class we worked hard on our reading fluency. We practiced reading smoothly, with expression, intonation, and stress. Clink on the link to watch the video!

The Elves and Shoemaker


STEAM
Before vacation we took part in the Hour of Code lead by Mrs. Groden. Children learned about coding and were able to use the app Scratch Junior to create their own code. It was a highly engaging activity!! We hope to do more of this in the future to get children excited about technology and engineering!

Holiday Happenings

Thank you to our wonderful room parents (and volunteers) for another great class party!

Happy New Year! 

Introducing the Osmo

The last 2 weeks our class has been so excited to be learning how to use our new learning tool, the OSMO!! The Osmo was a generous gift from one of our very own first grade families. It is an amazing piece of technology that motivates children by combining the iPad with a more tactile experience. So far we have explored 3 Osmo games.

Words

In this game, children worked together to fill in missing letters from picture clues on the Words app. Each child had tiles that they would place in front of the screen that the Osmo would then recognize. They had a blast!

Tangrams

This was a really fun math puzzle game. Children were challenged as they had to manipulate tangram pieces to fit the puzzle on the screen. They had to use their spatial reasoning and problem solving skills in tandem.

Masterpiece 

This Osmo app was another huge hit! Children learn to draw by using an image on the iPad. They trace the lines on the image using a pen and paper. We made 3 different collaborative pictures. Children were challenged, but excited about the process. In the end they were so proud of their "masterpiece."

We are so lucky to have this amazing tool as part of our learning arsenal! I am so excited to continue exploring  how to use the Osmo to enhance instruction, encourage problem solving, and inspire creativity!!

Check back in soon to learn more about our first grade happenings!!