Welcome Back!

Hi Parents, Families, and Friends! 

I finally have had some time to work on going through the photos from the last month or so after a busy winter break of traveling and a busy week back last week. I hope your kids were as excited to return to Lincoln as I was- break is nice and relaxing but I really missed this class and I was so happy to come back to our wonderful classroom community. 

Here are some things that happened before break- and a few updates on what we're progressing towards for the rest of the year. 

How To's

Just before break we started a new unit in literacy. For the next few weeks we are focused on reading and writing How To books. In order to practice reading and following directions, we are spending lots of time in Reader's Workshop making different things while following a How To. Here are some pictures from before break where our kiddos followed all the steps for How To Make Clay and How To Make Coil Pots. They did an absolutely wonderful job with this project, and I hope you saw the finished product come home before break! 

Winter Concert

Of course, before break we also had our winter music concert! The kiddos spent so much time practicing for this, and wow, did it ever pay off! This was truly one of the best concerts I've seen- and if you haven't heard- our class earned a pizza party from Dr. Brown because ALL our students attended! (This will be happening soon!) Thank you so much to all the parents, grandparents, and family members who made this wonderful after school event a priority. We loved having all our kids there to participate. Also, some stunning outfits were on display! 

Holiday Luncheon

Thanks also for the amazing participation in our holiday lunch party before break! Parents really went above and beyond in bringing in food, and we had so much fun eating food and making crafts from the different holiday traditions we studied and learned about. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time and effort on this, parents! 

Coming Up

Over the next few weeks and months, we will really be cranking up our curriculum to get prepared for second grade! This last half of the year really flies by- so it's important that your student continues to read EVERY day and that you talk with them about what they've read. Here are some helpful questions you can ask your kids after reading. 

Holiday Family Lunch

Happy Holidays from Room 107!

 

We have been studying 5 different winter holidays and traditions in Room 107. To celebrate our learning, we will be hosting a family holiday luncheon in Room 107 on Friday, December 20^th from 11:15-12:30. We will make some crafts and then eat lunch in our room together before the kids head out for recess. We’d love to share our learning and see you all there.

I know many of you will be at work, but please join us even if you are not able to volunteer or stay for the whole time.

·        I am looking for volunteers to help run craft centers, (I’ll supply materials) and make food dishes from each tradition that we study.

·        I have created a Sign Up Genius for this party. Please sign up for as many food or volunteer slots as you’d like!

To sign up for a food dish, leading a craft, or both, please use Sign Up Genius to RSVP as soon as you can!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904084AACAA23A57-holiday

Happy December!

Wow! Can you believe it's almost Winter Break? 

We have so much to get done before our two week vacation- here are some things we are working on. 

First, I'd like to show you our Objectives Board, where we post our goals for every unit or lesson. I love to have the kids refer to these frequently so they can self- monitor their progress toward our goals. 

In math, as you are aware, we are working on measurement. This is one of my very favorite units because it is so hands on and easy to apply to everyday situations. One of our goals in this unit is to measure things accurately with a ruler, so if you have one at home this is a great skill to practice, and can be a lot of fun. Measure various objects to the nearest inch and the nearest foot.

Also in math, we've recently introduced the skill of estimation. This is a critical skill to build as students get older, and it takes a lot of practice. To have consistent practice with this, we've started an estimation jar. Every week it will be filled with a new object and students will have all week to put their estimates inside. On Fridays, we will count to see how close we got to the real number. Estimation is also a great skill for you to practice at home. Anytime there is a large quantity of objects, ask your child to give an estimate. You can do this with grapes in a bag, height of objects, temperature outside, anything really. You don't even always have to count afterwards- just discuss why they chose that number. As we say in class- an estimate is NOT just a guess- it's based on information and thinking. 

In Reading and Writing, we finished up our Small Moment Unit after everyone moved through all the steps of the writing process. I like to have the kids take ownership of their own progress by moving their name down our Writing Chart pencil. This way, they become increasingly self aware of all the steps it takes to publish a piece of writing. They all did a fantastic job with Small Moments, and those published and illustrated pieces are now hanging in the hallway. Please read some the next time you are dropping your student off. 

 Our new literacy unit is on How To books. We are reading examples of books that teach how to do something, and working on writing our own. Of course, we are also practicing following How To directions in order to experience what steps are needed to communicate directions clearly. One of our projects last week was How to Make a House. Keep an eye out for more projects like this that your child will be bringing home- and ask them if they can tell you all the steps involved! 

Finally, in Social Studies we started to study maps and how they help us. We were especially focused on creating small scale maps of our classroom. We learned about symbols on a map key and the 4 cardinal directions shown on a compass rose. Then, we worked to create our own symbols of objects in the classroom and accurately place them on a map of our room. These came out great! I can't wait to get into more Geography over the next few weeks. 

Field Trip Fun

Colorado Ballet Guild Field Trip:

Bus rides are half the fun!

This past week, our first and second grade classes took a wonderful field trip to Colorado Heights University Theater to watch three different dance companies perform various pieces. This was a wonderful production of several different dance styles, and our students were a fantastic audience.

After the performance, we made thank-you notes to send to the Colorado Ballet Guild, who made this production possible free of cost. In addition to showing our gratitude, it is very important for kids to have practice with authentic writing opportunities. I was so impressed with the responses that were written after the performances; I think our students got a lot out of their first field trip of the year.  

 

Writer's Workshop:

In writing, we are getting close to publishing the Small Moments we have been working on for several weeks now. We are focused on using transition words when telling a story to show the sequence. Ask your child to tell you the transition words they are writing in their stories! 

During writing center, kids can choose to write compliments to classmates when they notice someone doing something kind. I love reading these and passing them out at the end of the day. Our students feel so good when they are recognized by their peers for doing something kind, even when it's a simple as "cheering me up when I felt sad."

Computer Lab: 

Thanks to the amazing Ms. Bonnie and our technology fund, our iPad lab is set up! We had our first session on Friday, and it was really wonderful to see the kids engaged with this wonderful learning tool. If you have a tablet or iPad at home, make sure you have RAZ Kids downloaded! 

Zoo Night! 

Finally, Thursday was Zoo Night at Lincoln. Big thanks to the PTSA who brings this incredible program to our school. The porcupine was my favorite! 

Happy November!

We have been busy the past few weeks in 107! Here's some highlights of what we've been working on. 

We are finishing up are first science unit on matter, and everyone has really enjoyed all of the activities and experiments we did. Students did a great job engaging with the scientific process throughout this unit. 

Happy Halloween! 

I loved seeing many people at the Fall Festival! There were so many wonderful costumes and everyone had such a fun time. Thanks again to Andrea Benson for leading this great event. 

Writing Assembly! 

We have started our monthly writing assemblies at Lincoln! Once a month, the whole school gathers in the auditorium to listen to one student from each class read a piece of their writing. Abby did a great job being our first author to read in front of everyone. Parents are welcome to join to watch! I'll always send home a note a few days before the assembly if your student is reading. 

POPCORN PARTY! 

Finally, we earned our second reward party of the year on Friday! We filled our marble jar and spent part of our afternoon on Friday watching the rest of Ice Age and eating popcorn. This week we will vote on what our next reward will be, and continue working hard to earn marbles for the jar! 

Thanks for reading! 

Two Week Catch Up!

Welcome Back! 

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend! Just a reminder- parent teacher conferences are next week! I am very excited to share your students' work with you. 

You will be receiving a confirmation paper in Monday's homework folders. See you soon! 

Here are a few things we worked on over the past few weeks. 

We have been doing many fun and interesting experiments in science while studying the phases of matter. Over the past two weeks, we learned and observed how matter changes phases. First, we looked at ice and dry ice over the course of one day. We've also learned about chemical reactions and how to identify when one has happened. To observe this, we activated glow sticks to see how a color is made, and combined vinegar and baking soda to see how the gas emitted can blow up a balloon. 

 We've talked about all the terms for matter changing, such as freezing, condensation, sublimation, and evaporation. To learn how these terms apply to real life situations, we observed condensation on mirrors, and turned liquid Kool-Aid into frozen popsicles. Our students have really been enjoying our science unit, and doing a great job engaging with the process of predicting and experimenting. 

In math, we've been working on skip counting by various numbers such as 2s, 5s, and 10s. To help us with fluency and speed with this skill, we play a game called count around. We choose a magic number to count up to, such as 25. Then, we stand in a circle and each person says a number as we go around (5, 10, 15, 20, 25). The person who says the magic number sits down, and the next person starts again at the beginning, until one person is left standing and declared the winner. This is a great game to play at home, even with a small group. 

Next week we'll be back to normal homework folders. Thanks for all your hard work at home! 

CONFERENCES

Parent-Teacher Conferences: 

 

Hopefully everyone received communication about upcoming conferences yesterday! 

Please use the link below to access Sign Up Genius if you haven't already chosen a conference spot. Looking forward to sharing your students' work with you all! 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904084AACAA23A57-fall

Spectacular Week Six!

What another great week in 107! They seem to be flying by, and we are making such great progress in all our work. 
This week, we started out celebrating a new month by decorating the bulletin board near our room for fall. All our students wrote book reviews about their favorite books and told why they liked it. Then, we put them altogether and thanks to Ms. Krissy's crafty skills, Voila! 

We've been having some fun in our reading groups "playing" with shaving cream in order to practice things like sight words, vowel pairs, and new vocabulary. Anything sensory is a great way to help kids retain what they're learning- so feel free to try this at home as you practice spelling words! Tracing words in shaving cream, salt or sand on a cookie sheet, making the words out of play dough, drawing them with sidewalk chalk, or painting the words are all great ways to help kids practice their weekly words, as well as make spelling a little more fun! :) 

  



One big focus this week was Writer's Workshop, where we published our first pieces of writing this year! All our kids have been doing a great job brainstorming and drafting stories from their lives, and this week we talked about revising and editing as part of the writing process. Finally, after many hours of hard work in our Writer's notebooks, we chose one story and published it. Lastly, we all walked around reading each other's amazing writing. It's so important for kids to build confidence and view themselves as authors, even at this early stage. Publishing a story is a big deal- be sure to read some of them when you come up into our hallway. 


In math, we've been working on telling time and counting pennies and nickels. These are really easy skills for you to have your student practice at home! 

Lastly, I want to show you some of the reading strategies we have for figuring out tricky words and building comprehension. We use these every time we read, and the kids are really familiar with them. The animals are a helpful mnemonic device to make sure our kiddos are aware of all the tools they have at their disposal as they learn to read. As you read with your child at home, I encourage you to let them try to figure out the words they get stuck on, and ask them to tell you what reading strategy they are using to help themselves figure it out. (Next week's homework folders will also include a copy of this bookmark to keep and use during your daily reading time.) 


Thanks again for visiting our page and seeing what we're learning each week! Check back on Monday for important updates in the homework tab.