Day of Play

What's happening in 1-3:

Working with Base 10 Blocks to learn about place value.

Reading:  We are finishing up our Non-fiction unit.  We have learned a lot about clues the author uses to help us learn new vocabulary or help us understand the text.  Clues like CAPTIONS, LABELS, DIAGRAMS, GLOSSARIES, INDEXES, HEADINGS, BOLD WORDS, etc.  We will continue have mini lessons with non-fiction texts for the next couple of weeks.

JAPAN!!  IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME!  This is my FAVORITE unit of first grade!  We will be "flying" to Japan on Friday, Feb. 24 and will study that culture until Spring Break.  Much of our reading is centered around Japan.  This has repeatedly been mentioned as the kids' favorite time for first grade!  More information will be coming soon about this unit!

Writing:  We are heavy into letter writing.  We made mail trucks to collect letters we are writing here at school.  Later this week we will begin the letter to the family/friend the kids have chosen.  We also will learn about thank you letters and email.  We are also doing A LOT of editing now, both self-editing and buddy editing.  The kids share their weekend news with the class and are learning from each other what kinds of detail and elaboration make our writing more interesting.

Math:  We are working a lot of place value right now.  We use base 10 blocks to "make exchanges" to group things into tens.  We also have begun "coaching" each other on math facts for our timed tests.  The timed tests are 1:15 long and are 24 problems.  The kids progress at their own pace.  We take timed tests 2-3 times each week... every other day.  Ask your child what "coaching" looks like!

Science:  We have wrapped up learning about SOUND and are moving onto LIGHT.  This science unit will take us up to our Japan Social Studies unit, which will officially begin Monday, Feb. 27.

Day of Play:  Last week we enjoyed our Global Day of Play!  The kids were very thoughtful and reflective about how beneficial and fun turning off electronics can be.  They have some new ideas for birthday lists!  Here are some pics from our day: