FIRST GRADE FLASH
GARDEN OF LEARNING-February 20th
Next week... Animals,Homes and Habitats, Comparing Numbers,
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY
22nd Washington’s Birthday
March 2nd Read Across America Day Bring a stuffed Animal
March 4th PTO PASTA DINNER RESCHEDULED
5th EPSD International Fair
10th PTO MEETING 6:00 p.m.
24th -28th Spring Break
Digging Into Academics
We had a potluck dinner of topics to discuss!
We learned about Pets.
We finished our friendship and kindness unit.
We shared our penguin reports.
We videotaped students reporting live from Antarctica with their paper mache penguins. Look for videos soon!
We learned about long a words and contractions.
We learned about Abe Lincoln and George Washington.
We did some spring cleaning.
We reviewed tens and ones. Test on Monday.
DIGGING DEEPER
We will take our tens and ones test on Monday. We will learn about greater and less than and comparing numbers.
We will continue to learn about long a words with the ay and ai spelling pattern.
We will learn about plurals, contractions and cause and effect
READ ACROSS AMERICA
Click here or copy URL to find out important details for this event:
https://www.smore.com/xtx5h-read-across-america
On March 2nd we will tip our hats to Dr. Seuss and celebrate his birthday and his newly discovered book, What Pet Should I Get? with creative acts of reading and learning for our Shoemaker Students. Students and staff of Shoemaker Elementary will celebrate Read Across America Day in honor of the beloved author Dr. Seuss with A SEUSSICAL GARDEN OF READING CELEBRATION.
March 2nd is our designated day to visit our Seussical Garden
On that day...
1. We are asking each child to bring in a stuffed animal that they would like as a PET.2. Wear a Dr. Seuss Hat or t-shirt in honor of Dr. Seuss( if you have one)
3. Donate your coins to help adopt the giraffes. ( if you wish to make a donation)
Pennies for Patients
We kicked off Pennies for Patients to help people fighting against Leukemia. You can help by sending coins into school in your new boxes or by making a pledge at your teacher's online classroom giving page.
To view and make a donation to your team fundraising page, use the following link: http://events.lls.org/pages/epa/ShoemakerElementarySchoolMacungie/MrsArnold
Heart to Heart Bags
I thank you in for helping Plant seeds of kindness and love! We donated 30 Heart to Heart Bags to Brookside Day care for friends we haven't met!
With Heartfelt Thanks!
Mrs. Arnold
Spelling words tested on 2/29
day
say
play
way
may
plain
rain
wait
main
bait
Spelling words tested on 2/22
game
fame
date
gate
late
cake
lake
take
make
SPELLING STARS!
Click on link below to access SPELL CITY:
Reinforce and practice spelling words by weekly lists on Spell City. Start with the bottom list of words and work up. we are on list ...3/5 ar words.
KICKING IT MATH
Xtra Math
How to Practice with your child...
Practice Sheets-When your child comes home with a practice sheet, have him/her erase any work from earlier that day. Then have him/her read each fact (not just the answer) aloud along with the answer. If you hear either the slightest hesitation or you child makes an error, give them extra practice by immediately giving your child the answer and asking him/her to repeat the problem and the answer again. Your child should then back up three problems and begin again. If there is no hesitation or mistake, be sure to praise your child. If you would like to have them practice writing the answers, wait at least an hour or try again in the morning. When working on memorizing facts, two short sessions with time in between is much more helpful than one very long session.
Flash Cards–When using flash cards with your child, use only 12 flash cards at a time (9 cards should be cards with facts that your child has already mastered. Brain research states that it is better to learn a small amount of new material mixed with a larger amount of mastered material. Cards are numbered at the bottom to let you know what order to switch new cards in. Start with the original 12. When your child is able to answer all 12 correctly in a cold read (the first time you practice), switch out #s 1-3 for #s 13-15. You will repeat this process each time switching out the oldest cards for newer ones as your child masters new facts. Do not rush to swap out cards, make sure your child has really mastered the facts. The old cards will go into a review deck which should be used every 4thtime you practice.
Spend about 2 to 3 minutes running through the cards. Your child should read each fact (not just the answer) aloud along with the answer. If you hear either the slightest hesitation or your child makes an error, give them extra practice by immediately giving your child the answer and asking him/her to repeat the problem and the answer again. Have your child repeat the fact and answer three more times. Put the card back three cards from the front so that your child has an opportunity to practice it again.
Math Fact Automaticity
What is Automaticity With Math Facts?
When students first begin learning math facts, they learn them to the level of accuracy –they are able to solve the problems correctly, if they take their time and concentrate. As they continue practicing, they develop fluency –the ability to solve problems quickly without making mistakes. The final stage is automaticity –students are able to solve problems quickly without errors and without much conscious attention. A student who has automaticity with math facts is able to perform other tasks at the same time (problem solving, multi-step problems, etc.). Students who have automaticity in decoding are able to read flashcards of the word without even thinking about it. Likewise, a student who has automaticity with math facts can’t help but to say the answer when they see the math fact.
Students who lack automaticity with math facts often complete higher leveled math problems riddled with tiny computation errors. These errors stem from not knowing their math facts to the level of automaticity. The student can either focus on the steps of the math problem, or focus on solving the math fact correctly, but they can’t do both. Helping students learn math facts to automaticity will improve their ability to learn and retain higher order math skills because they won’t be distracted with remembering their math facts.
How this program works: Rather than the usual sequence of learning math facts by factor (all the ones, fives, nines, etc.), this program introduces 2 new facts (and their reverses) per sheet so that students do not have too many to learn at a time. Students often fail to learn their facts because they are asked to learn too much at one time. When facts are introduced too quickly, students begin to confuse what they have already learned with newly introduced facts.
In addition, some of the more difficult facts are introduced midway through the sequence rather than at the end so that students have more time to work with them. Research seems to indicate that students often have more difficulty with these facts because they don’t have as much time to work with them, and they are learned late in the sequence when students have more facts they are trying to keep track of.