FIRST GRADE FLASH
GARDEN OF LEARNING...January 29th
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY
2nd Groundhog’s Day
1st-5th School Counselor’s Week
4th Blizzard of Blend Day
5th The Three Little Pigs 9:30
5th PTO Bingo Night
9th 100th Day Of School-dress like 100
8th Report Cards on HAC
11th Valentine's Day Party
12th Lincoln’s Birthday
14th -20th Random Acts of Kindness
14th Valentine’s Day
12th and 15th No School President’s Holiday
February 17th Mrs. Arnold Science Curriculum
19th Mustang Meeting Dance Team will perform
22nd Washington’s Birthday
March 1st Pledge sheet due
DIGGING INTO ACADEMICS...
We had a week interrupted by snow...and we read about SNOW and penguins.
We read Tacky and The Emperor Penguin.
We learned about compound words.
We took a math unit test and started earning our belts in Kicking It.
DIGGING DEEPER
We will read Snow Surprise and Shadow in the Snow.
We will learn about tens and ones.
We will learn words with blends.
We will learn about Compound words.
We will read the Snowflake Man and Learn about Snowflake Bently.
We will perform Three Little Pigs.
We will do snow experiments.
PASTA DINNER POSTPONED UNTIL MARCH 4th
Sign up for PTO BINGO February 5th
COMPOUND WORD DAY
We had an awesome compound word day...we saw necklaces, earphones, handbags, necktie, headbands, handcuffs, sunflower, lipstick, football, baseball, armpits, backbones, and so much more!!
BLIZZARD OF BLEND DAY
Acts of Kindness
We had the most miniutes read in first grade over 7800 minutesw of reading! Great job!!!
The Three Little Pigs
Please look for scripts in their folders and have them read over their highlighted part at least 2 times when it comes home. They do not need to memorize the text...just read it fluently.
Three Little Pigs Reader's Theater
Please join us on Friday, February 5th at 9:30 for Mrs. Arnold's First Grade Production of the Three Little Pigs performed by the students in room 12. Please RSVP and let me know how many will be attending.
Friday, Feb 5, 2016, 09:30 AM
Shoemaker Elementary School, North Fairview Street, Macungie, PA, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Spelling List Tested on 2/8 BLENDS
swim
slip
sled
fly
flipper
blubber
glide
snowman
snowflake
snowball
ow and oa words...will be tested on 2/1
low
row
tow
slow
grow
snow
road
soap
boat
coat
We started practicing Kicking It Math Facts! Keep Practicing!!
STUDY math facts with +1 +2 +3
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.