1A Classroom Update 4
October 27, 2017
Dear 1A Families,
Time flies when you are in first grade! It is hard to believe we are finishing up our second month of school, and preparing for our Curriculum Share in just a few weeks. We hope parents and family members will be able to attend, because you are all important members of our classroom community and school. Students have notably grown these past couple of months through invigorating classroom discussions, academic challenges, partner work, and many humorous moments. We are looking forward to gathering as a school community next week for the Halloween parade. We are sure creativity, goofiness, and good cheer will be rampant.
Important Dates:
- Tuesday, October 31 | BPCS Halloween Parade - 2-2:45pm
- Friday, November 17 | Curriculum Share
- Monday, November 20 - 24 | Thanksgiving Break | NO SCHOOL
Important Reminders:
- To facilitate our discussion in Inquiry regarding different family cultures and support our Curriculum Share project, if there is a family recipe that represents you and your family, please send it to us at dtes1a@brooklynprospect.org We encourage you to cook or bake this with your child and also send a photo to document the process!
Academics
Writing
In these past weeks, we began our Narrative unit where our friends began to come up with small moment stories that happened to themselves. These small moments focused on a small part of their life. To support our writers in identifying the difference between a small moment and a big topic, we introduced the idea of thinking about a big watermelon as the "big topic" and the seeds in a watermelon as our "small moments." We read mentor texts like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and Roller Coaster where authors "zoomed in" on a specific small moment and details are stretched out to create a visual for readers. Moving forward, friends will be encouraged to pick 1 small moment story and elaborate on who they were with, where they went, and what happened in their story by adding action and a more thorough setting. Please encourage your child to tell you about their small moment stories and how they can make them come to life on paper!
Reading
Readers Workshop has had some crazy twists! Friends have met Ms. Ip's friend, Madame Fortune Teller, who needs help predicting what is going to happen in the future. She brings her crystal ball that only lights up when friends are making predictions from books they are reading as well as connections. Our friends have been learning how to apply pre-reading strategies to make predictions using their prior knowledge as well as how to make predictions within the text using the picture walk strategy. Students made predictions by using the words and pictures on the cover. Then they go through a picture walk and make predictions based on the visuals they come across. Our 1A friends will start learning how to make text –self-connections where they use their prior knowledge to make connections about their lives to stories we read in class. Furthermore, students will start taking steps to recognize similarities among books to make text-to-text connections.
Math
In Math, we are continuing to explore 2D shapes as we practiced composing and decomposing (break apart) them by paying attention to its attributes. Students explain how they know a shape is a [square, rhombus, hexagon, etc.] by using what they know about each shape's attributes. To help us visualize how to compose and decompose a shape, we used pattern blocks to play a Pattern Block Fill In game. For example, we learned that we can decompose the familiar shape of a regular hexagon into 2 trapezoids or 1 trapezoid and 3 triangles. Moving forward, we will begin exploring 3D shapes and its attributes, while also comparing it to 2D shapes.Inquiry
In Inquiry, our friends have begun to conduct their own Family Interviews. We started this project by explaining how our Principal Mr. Saunders had to interview us in order for him to get to know us better. We had a discussion about how news reporters have to do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions of their interviewee. Students filled out the questionnaire for themselves and then had an opportunity to interview other friends in order to learn about how many members were in their immediate family, how many pets they have, what special foods they eat, and what holidays they celebrate with their families. One question that many of our students struggled with is what countries their family came from. We encourage you to have a conversation with your child about what country you came from so that we can discuss similarities and differences in the class!
HELP STUDENTS IN PUERTO RICO!!
You and your student can support BPCS' partner Escuela Luis M Santiago (K-8th grade) in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico!
Step 1: Supplies/Funding
PARENTS: Make an online donation here or log on to Amazon Smile to order any of the supplies on the wish list.
Spread the word and send the links to your friends and family. Be sure to check if your company has a matching program! Please donate by November 5th, 2017!
Step 2: Pack the backpacks
On November 10, each student will have the opportunity to fill a backpack and include a personal, handwritten note/drawing.
Step 3: Ship the backpacks
Backpacks will be shipped to Toa Baja in Puerto Rico after November 13, 2017.
Muchisimas Gracias!!
Family ART/Recipe Book Project
In conjunction with Grade One’s IB Inquiry International Families, we are working on a class ART/Recipe Book. To be sure all students and families are fully represented, we are asking each family to submit the following by Nov 6th:
A family recipe (It could have family significance of some kind. Please attach electronic file saved as Student’s first name, Class, Recipe (ie. Divianny 1B Recipe) to an email a relevant subject line. See example below.
A photo of family making or eating the recipe together. Please attach electronic file saved as Student’s first name, Class, Recipe (ie. Divianny 1B Photo of family making Cookies)
Please send all files to class email address: dtes1a@brooklynprospect.org
Students will create a family portrait in ART class.
If you are interested in helping with this project, please contact dtes1a@brooklynprospect.org.
Additionally, if you have experience doing layout design, please contact awalsh@brooklynprospect.org.
The Nov 6th deadline is firm. Please understand that material received after that day will not make it in the book due to time constraints.
MANY THANKS!
Specials Update
Dance
First graders are shaping up in dance by creating dances based on shapes! Angular, straight or curvy, dancers are learning to recognize and embody line and form through explorative play. Some of their favorite explorations include "Musical Shapes" and 7 jumps. Play the linked song at home, if you'd like your child to teach you the 7 Jumps dance.
DOT + LINE + SHAPE = ANYTHING
Grade One artists have been working hard in ART! Check out our Frank Stella line sculptures hanging on the eighth floor. In the studio, we’ve moved on from line to shapes! You can draw anything using shapes! Artists are using trapezoids, rhombuses, triangles, hexagons, etc. to draw animals (and complex things). They even tried building the animals with pattern blocks borrowed from math!! When we start our family collages inspired by Romare Bearden, we will apply this drawing concept.
Please be sure to submit a recipe and photo of you and your student preparing or enjoying your recipe (to dtes1a@brooklynprospect.org)! Remember the absolute final deadline for a recipe is Nov. 6th. : )
MANY THANKS!
Ms. Walsh and Ms. Drew