1B Family Update
February 3, 2017
Dear Families
It has been a busy two weeks! See below for some updates.
Reading and Writing
We are editing! We applied many of the things we have learned about nonfiction text features in reading to our own All About books. Next we went back with a purple flare pen to edit and fix any spelling, capital or punctuation mistakes we made. Whew, it was a lot of work! If we like to write at home, going through the same process may increase our stamina when working on a single piece of writing. Encourage us to write our first draft and then make any edits with a special pen.
Math
Once students were comfortable with addition and subtraction with two-digit numbers, we introduced the idea of "regrouping" with addition. While we as adults often learned about "carrying the 1," today we teach kids the regrouping through place value so that they understand why we are "carrying a 1" rather than just memorizing an algorithm. We showed students how when we add two numbers and the ones equal more than 10, we make another group of ten. For example, with 19+6, the 9 ones and 6 ones make a new ten with five ones--that's why the answer is 25! Then we explored addition with subtraction. We started with base-10 blocks. For example, if we wanted to solve: 23-17, we noticed that we did not have enough ones and needed to exchange a ten for 10 ones! The class defined regrouping as "exchanging a ten for ten ones or ten ones for a one."
Next week we will assess students on their addition and subtraction with two-digit numbers. Students will be allowed to use manipulatives and any strategy to solve the problems. They will not need to recognize when problems have regrouping in order to be proficient on our first grade standard involving addition and subtraction.
Amy Czaja and Kendra Thomas
Reflective Student of the Week: Lena
Lena has demonstrated our learner profile for January: reflective. Reflective students think about what they have learned and done. They know what they are good at and what they need to get better at. Here are examples from her classmates of how Maxine showed that she is reflective:
- This morning when she made a mistake with the calendar, she laughed and just did it over.
- During recess somebody fell down and she said are you okay
- When we weren't being our best as a class Lena was being reflective about her mistakes
- Lena always works so hard on her work. She doesn't give up until she understands it!
- If she makes a mistaken, she always thinks about how she can fix it
- When Coach M said we have to fix our mistakes, Lena fixed it and she didn't make a mistake all day
Classroom Photos
Billie's Share
Choice Time
Choice Time
Math games
Chinese New Year Decorations
January Birthday celebration
Sofie's share during morning meeting
"READ-A-THON Sponsored by PTSO Begins Today!"
1B will send home reading logs Monday!
Specials Update
Grade One Artists are excited about our March 10th trip to Kyoto — in the year 1150!
First Grade Artists kicked 2017 off with an investigation of Terunobu Fugimori, the Japanese architect and historian. (See homes below.) They looked at the emphasis Japanese people put on gardens, water, rituals — and having a view! Inspired by Fujimori, grade one artists designed tea houses for our trip.
Additionally, working with Ms. Marchena (who has been student teaching with us in the studio), artists looked at the work of Japanese printmakers, Hokusai and Hiroshige (a student of Hokusai) — and are currrently working hard to create their own prints. See below!
PS and Happy Chinese New Year!
Many Thanks to the parents who've reached out with Japanese expertise to the Anytime Anywhere Team. We’re very excited to travel back in time to Kyoto, Japan on Friday, March 10th. Please look out for our volunteer sign up form in Jumaane’s next “Notes from the Elementary School" (Feb 10th).
We appreciate your continued support on this magical and unique adventure!
A Science Update From Ms. Rosabal!
Grooving With Ms. Siby
First-grade dancers are learning to move dynamically! With the help of contrasting music, dancers are exploring and sharp and smooth dancing through rocket ship explorations, ribbon writing, and class choreography. One 1B dancer said, "moving smoothly is like floating on a cloud," while another described moving sharply as having to "make quick stops."
We are also using our knowledge of body shapes to create human letters, inspired by Pilobolus Dance. Can you guess which letters we are making?