Pine Classroom Newsletter
January 30
The kids had never before stacked the blocks that densely along one side.
Where's the homework?
Reading
We found many bold words in our nonfiction texts. Writers use bold to tell the most important words in a text. Readers should stop when they find bold words and think about why that word is important. You can ask your child, "Why is that word bold?"
We also learned how to figure out what new words mean by thinking about the parts. Look at this example, in the book Tiger, the word enclosures refers to where tigers live when they are in zoos. You can ask kids to look at this word and see if there is any part they know. Model how breaking down the word into chunks can help. Cover the letters closure and reveal only en, then slowly reveal clo and then sures saying, “ Now let’s put those parts together...enclosures.” You could help them determine the definition by saying, “That chunk clos gives us a hint about what the word means. Its part of the word close which means that the tiger is closed in an area of the zoo.
Friday, we talked about what to do with new words. We like to feel smart when we learn a new word so we tell them to friends, we figure out how to spell them, we write them down for a whole week. These are all ideas the kids came up with about what to do when you find a new word you've never heard before. Ask your kids to try out these plans at home when they hear a new word.
Writing
We are studying how to writing. This week we practiced making our writing better by acting something out. For example, we thought about the direction, "Kick the ball," and we acted out all the things that could go wrong. The ball could go backwards, sideways, too slow, etc. We acted out kicking a ball to pass to a teammate and we improved the direction to read like this: “Put the inside of your foot next to the ball. Swing your leg backward and forward. Hit the ball with the inside of your foot.” This is not just helpful for how to writing. Writers of all genres can act things out to improve the visual detail in their writing. Try it at home.
We also practiced including warnings and suggestions in our how to writing. Again, acting out was helpful. When we acted out making a sandwich, we put the whole jar of sunbutter on the bread AND we stuck the pieces together backwards all because the directions weren't clear enough. We added warnings like, "Be careful, put the sides that you spread jelly on together." Then kids tried out warnings in their own writing. They loved this part, they get to sound like an adult: be careful.., watch out..., don't..., never..., be sure...
Math
Do this at home!
Have your child write out the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...all the way to 100.
Then have them cut it into groups of ten to make a 100s chart.
You could also make your own strip that starts from a random number like 51, and ask your child to continue counting from there.
Another thing you can do is give your child a 100s chart with some blank spaces and ask her to guess what numbers are missing. Then ask her to explain how she guessed.
Here are some 100s charts you can start with.
http://www.smartfirstgraders.com/support-files/myhundredschart.pdf
http://www.theteachersguide.com/100thday/100thdaynumbersto100-001-001.jpg
We also started measuring. Talk to your child about inches and centimeters and feet and pounds and minutes and hours, and days. These are all ways to measure. Measure some things at home.
This week we used the rekenrek tool to think about efficient ways to add. We did strings of problems like 9 + 4, 9 + 2 and 9 +5, to think about making 10 and then counting on. We did the same thing with 8 + 3, 8 + 4, 8 + 5. Ten is a very important number. Making ten is an efficient strategy. Try it at home.
Project Time
We sorted things that worms can and cannot eat.
We asked questions about words and compost.
We got to hold worms.
We talked about how compost is a system, like a terrarium is a system.