February Fun!

Hi Everyone!

February is such an exciting month in first grade. We are really cruising along preparing our minds for next year, and having a ton of fun along the way. I can tell you, the rest of the year simply flies by once we hit March, so we are really working to make every instructional minute count. Here's a little update on what's been going on and what's coming up. 

How-To Unit Complete! 

If you remember, we've been working on reading and writing How To Books since just before winter break. All our hard work finally paid off as we have finished publishing our very own How To posters! Publishing a written work represents the culmination of many skills- researching how the experts do something, practicing and practicing it on our own, spending time revising our work to make it even better, editing with peers and practicing giving constructive criticism, and finally putting all of that onto a final copy and illustrating. Whew. We can see why professional writers spend so much time on a single book, and why they need a lot of stamina and determination. And, we can see the amazing results at the end! Everyone should feel very proud of the work they've done. 

    

All Abouts: 

Since we've wrapped up our How To's, we have started a new literacy unit. We are keeping our focus on non-fiction, but moving to reading books all about one particular subject. We have just begun exploring these books together, and already I have seen so much excitement for what's ahead. Over the next month or so, we will work on expanding our knowledge of features of non-fiction, using the labels, captions, headlines, glossary, and index in books we read to increase our comprehension of a subject, and then integrating those features into our own writing. In this unit, we will also learn much more about researching a particular subject to expand what we already know. We will investigate where people go when they want to learn more about something, and talk about what good sources of information look like, and how to differentiate these from lower quality sources. Finally, we will work on getting our writing style even more organized, grouping information into chapters to help the reader. These are incredibly important 21st century skills, and our kids are going to be well prepared.

Math News: 

In math, we are working on investigating patterns in numbers. This is a vitally important skill in math, and our kids have been great with it so far. Patterns allow us to check our work, and have multiple methods for proving our answer. Right now, we are especially focused on noticing patterns within easy math facts, and using these patterns to help build fluency. A goal for the end of first grade is to have automaticity with sums to ten, especially doubles and sums of ten. Basically, that means we think of math facts like 4+3=7 and 8+2=10 as the mathematical version of sight words- kids should be able to say the answer in 3 seconds or less instead of counting on fingers or a number line. Want an easy and fun way to practice this at home? Play our Fact Power game! All you need is standing room and a good superhero pose. You call out a math fact, ("Four plus four equals....?!?") and your child says the answer as fast as possible while striking their favorite superhero pose. You can also switch roles, having them shout out the math fact while you answer. Try having them call out only doubles or sums to ten. This method is great fun, and studies show that integrating whole body movement increases memory retention. 

Water Cycle: 
We have been having a lot of fun studying the water cycle as part of our meteorology unit. We spent several days observing each part of the water cycle individually, and then combined into the full cycle. We've been using all the background knowledge we gained from studying matter, and are working on applying that to water as it travels in a cycle. 
There are so many times we can observe the water cycle happening in everyday life. Any time clothes dry after a spill, steam forms on a bathroom mirror, it rains or snows and puddles form it's great to point it out and encourage your child to use their new academic vocabulary to describe what's happening. We've even learned a song to help us remember all the parts of the water cycle and what each of them means. 

Pajama Day! 
Finally, thanks for all your donations for PJ day! We were able to raise almost $500.00 dollars school wide to donate to Denver Road Home. What a fun way to practice compassion and awareness. 

Coming Up:

Next week, we will celebrate our 100th day of school and Valentine's Day! I hope everyone is having fun filling their gallon plastic bag with 100 of one object, and making Valentine's! I can't wait!