We started our unit on organisms/living things. We created a class list of living things and brainstormed what we think they need to live. We also discussed the similarities and differences between plants and animals.

We will start by learning about plants and what they need to survive and grow. Next week, we will be planting our own seeds and watching our plants grow while learning about the life cycle and parts of the plant.

Some science skills that will be developed during this unit are observation, inferring, predicting, experimenting and communicating.

Our writing lesson this week focused on opinion writing. As a group, we discussed what is an opinion versus what is a fact.

The first graders were very excited to share their opinions about the following question: Should kids have more or less recess? They learned that the most important part of opinion writing is giving some reasons as to why that is their opinion. We used a graphic organizer to help organize our reasons. (See above)

It is not hard to believe that all of the children had the same opinion... more recess!

Math: We are currently working in Chapter 9 - Measurement. Our focus in this chapter is comparing lengths of objects and measuring using nonstandard units, such as color tiles and paper clips. In addition to measuring length, we learn about measuring time using a clock. In first grade, we learn how to tell time to the hour and half hour. For example, 9:00 and 9:30.

Fundations (our phonics program): Your child's unit 9 assessment was sent home in their folder today. Please make sure to look it over. Moving forward into unit 10, we will be learning about adding the suffix -ed and -ing onto words as well as practicing the vowel team sounds for : oa, oe, ow, ou, oo, ue, ew, au, aw.

For more information on our Fundations program, please visit our classroom website and find the "Literacy Links" tab under "Important Links".