February 2022

Week 25: February 22nd-25th, 2022

Math: We learned new stages in two centers that focused on adding and subtracting within 20. We had opportunities to practice methods such as finding the difference by counting on, taking away, making 10, and using addition facts. In another lesson, we used objects in their classroom to create story problems and equations. When students ask mathematical questions that arise from a situation and use mathematical features of a situation to solve a problem, they model with mathematics. We also practiced story problem writing and solving by reading, Baby Goes to Market by Antinuke and illustrated by Angela Brooksbank, then we wrote our own addition and subtraction stories. We ended with our unit 3 assessment!

Language Arts: We had a busy week! In reading workshop, we worked on recording our reading to practice our nonfiction reading. We worked on literature circles to learn how to summarize, connect, question, and discuss our books. In writing, we asked partners to act out our stories to make sure our how-to stories were effective. We also worked on publishing the how-to stories that were complete.

More Fun! In PE they played four corner soccer. In Lego Club we were given a challenge to build a spaceship after reading Moon's First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship by Susanna Leonard Hill and Elisa Paganelli. Recess was lots of fun on Friday in the snow!

Week 24: February 14th-17th, 2022

Math: New skills were introduced, and we applied our learning from the unit to flexibly use methods to subtract within 20. There is not one correct method to use, as it is based on our understanding of the concepts of subtraction and known facts. We found differences in given expressions and applied subtraction methods as we solved story problems with the unknown in all positions. We also solved story problems that highlighted the relationship between addition and subtraction. More story problems were solved with missing values in all positions. We worked in table groups and made posters, presented our representations, and then noticed the similarities and differences between each method and representation.

Language Arts: For Valentine's Day we read aloud some sweet stories about love and then talked about what Love could look like and then wrote and drew our responses. We had loads of fun acting out our nonfiction books to bring life to what we read. We also remembered how important it is to reread our books, think about keywords, and talk about our books. Another new task was to make "I wonder" statements about what we are reading, so we can be ready for book discussions in our small groups. In writing workshop, we learned about "how-to" stories. We are extending our nonfiction reading unit to include writing! It's important to start out with a list of things we know really well, then use our special "how-to" paper to plan it out, then it is time to add more details and fun and write our stories!

Integrated Unit: We are still working researching out Pharaohs and have been learning lots about Ancient Egypt. Some have been so inspired as to continue the learning at home. We will keep researching and working into next week!

Valentine's Day and Show-and-Tell

P.E.: First graders participated in more Olympic Games! They worked on curling, Biathlon, and Luge races!

Lego Club: In honor of Valentine's Day, we read the book, Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli. Our challenge was to create "love!" Some made packages (like in the story), some hearts, some made things that they love! It was lots of fun.

More Fun!

Week 23: February 7th-11th, 2022

Math: This week we were encouraged to use the unit of ten to find differences. We started with a fun math crafting project of building place value snowflakes. This supported us to think of teen numbers and above as tens and ones and laid the foundation for other math activities this week. In another activity, we played the same subtraction game played last week, this time using 10-frames to represent their starting number. By using 10-frames, students can visually make sense of how to use 10 in order to take away efficiently. In the second activity, we analyzed taking away to make a ten as a method to find the difference between two numbers. Although many students may use math tools to help them find the difference, they may choose to write equations to represent their thinking. The work of this lesson builds on our understanding of the relationship between addition and subtraction. In the first activity, we analyzed two different methods for solving the same subtraction problem, then they attempted each method with new problems. In the second activity, we found the value of the difference in subtraction equations and found the value in missing addend equations.

Language Arts: The week started with a read aloud of The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder by Jon Nelson (Ph.D.) and Mark Cassino, which highlighted the end of our weather unit and supported our work in our nonfiction. We were invited to represent our understanding of learning new facts by drawing and labeling diagrams of various snowflakes. The week continued with adding excitement and feeling into our reading. Acting out our books helps us comprehend the book, stay focused, and have fun. Our week continued with highlighting the feeling the author wants the reader to have, by marking the feeling with post-its and by reading with feeling. We practiced this by recording our reading on Seesaw and listening to ourselves to better reflect on our ability. The connection between reading and writing workshop was also highlighted and appreciated. We focused on acting out our stories to make sure the story line makes sense and that the reader can understand what was going on. Publishing our edited stories was the most fun--we used Book Creator to publish and print incredible first grade stories. Each one was read and presented with pride.

Integrated Unit: We completed our Wild Weather Unit, and discussed what we learned and what fun we had. We ended with creating a display in the hallway of what we learned about clouds, wind, water cycle, and measurement! We are now beginning our work on Ancient Egypt. Everyone is thrilled! In order to begin our first project, we must research and learn everything we can. Our first project will be to learn about funerary masks, or pharaoh death masks. Funerary masks of Egyptian Pharaohs were meant to honor and represent key features of their rule. We will be learning about the different pharaohs of the time, and choosing one to focus on, and then we will create our own mask for the pharaoh we chose. We used Lego Club to spark some interest as well and learned that many Ancient Egyptians viewed animals as sacred creatures, so we built our own sacred animals!

In P.E. the focus has been on Winter Olympics! First-graders played hockey, curling, practiced bobsledding, Mogul ski jumps, and speed skating! It was a blast!!

More Fun!

Week 22: January 31st-February 4th, 2022

Math: In previous lessons, we decomposed an addend in order to make a ten and thought about sums as equivalent (10 + n) expressions. We applied the commutative and associative properties to find the sum more easily. Students looked for and used patterns in addition expressions (such as 4 + 8 = 5 + 7). We continued adding within 20 and used any method, but we were encouraged to think about methods which may work better for certain sums. In continuation, we analyzed three different methods for finding a sum, all of which included decomposing an addend to make a known sum. Next, we found sums within 20 and shared our thinking with a partner. We also practiced our story problems with three addends! These first-graders approached this new task with excitement and ease! Way to go! We also learned two new center games this week, which practiced our fluency and number flexibility. Lots of fun! We ended the week with a checkpoint assessment, which gives us the opportunity to reflect on what we can continue to work on and what we have mastered.

Language Arts: Our big focus this week was learning about keywords. We learned what they are, where to find them, and what to do with them. We learned that to understand these words, we look at the surrounding words, look at the pictures, talk to partners, and then we start to compare the words in other books too! We thought about the book we read at the start of the unit, Hang On Monkey by Susan B. Neuman, and looked at some keywords that I noticed. We then looked in our own books and thought about keywords that could relate or that reminded us of Hang On Monkey words. It was great fun and our book discussions became so much more detailed and filled with examples and connections! In writing we learned about ways to make a better ending to our stories--we thought about wrapping up our stories with a feeling, or one last event that told the reader the story was complete. We listened to a modeled story from a former first grader and looked at our current classroom authors. It was a great week!

Integrated Unit: We studied clouds this week. To start our week off, we read Eric Carle's Little Cloud. We thought about the clouds in our sky and what they look like. Then we created a cloud in a jar! We practiced making a prediction, documenting each step, noticing changes, and using our scientific eye to view the world. Our next lesson included reading Tomie dePaola's The Cloud Book. In this book, we learned the different types of clouds and then were challenged to look outside our window and identify the cloud type that day! It was lots of fun!

We had lots of fun this week, here are some more pictures!