FIRST GRADE FLASH
GARDEN OF LEARNING-February 11th
Next week... A POTLUCK Dinner ...Pets, Friendship, George and Abe, Share Penguin Reports
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY
11th Valentine's Day Party
11th Farewell celebration for Chief Harry
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 4th PTO PASTA DINNER RESCHEDULED
100th Day CELEBRATION
We had a great 100th day of school! We dressed as if we were 100 years old. We wrote stories If I were 100 years old... We rotated through centers including stacking 100 cups, counting cheerios in groups of 10, predicting how deep 100 drops of water would be, sweet treats adding up to 100 cents, and writing 100 words.
Digging Into Academics
We were busy Cooking up recipes for friendship and learning how to be a good friend.
We read Enemy Pie and learned how to turn an enemy into a best friend.
We Cooked up some compound words.
We celebrated 100 days of school and rotated through 100 Day centers.
We celebrated Valentine's Day on Thursday with a FRIENDSHIP
FRUIT SALAD.
We had a Farewell celebration for Chief Harry on February 11th at 9:10
No school on Friday and Monday the 12th and 15th.
DIGGING DEEPER
We will learn about Pets.
We will finish our friendship and kindness unit.
We will share our penguin reports.
We will learn about long a words and contractions.
We will learn about Abe Lincoln and George Washington.
VALENTINE CELEBRATIONS
Thanks to all for your friendship fruit salad donations and Valentine cards and gifts!!
PLANT SEEDS OF KINDESS AND WATCH THE LOVE GROW!
February 14th to 20th is Random Acts of Kindness Week. Also, February 1st -5th is School Counselor’s Week. In honor of these two weeks we will be “Planting Seeds of Kindness’ by performing Random Acts of kindness. What can you do to plant seeds of kindness? Make a card for a family member or friend, help mom and dad at home, hold open a door, give someone a compliment. Visit this website for ideas.http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/ Please look for a new flower petal. Think of different ways to show kindness to your family and friends. Write a kind act in each petal and then color the petal and return for a special surprise when all the petals are colored. All flowers are due by February 20th Please color and cut out flowers.
PLANT SEEDS OF KINDESS AND WATCH THE LOVE GROW!
Community Service Club will be collecting Pennies for Patients for the Leukemia Society in February. Save your Pennies!
Heart to Heart Bags
I thank you in for helping Plant seeds of kindness and love! We received a large number of Heart to Heart Bags!
With Heartfelt Thanks!
Mrs. Arnold
Spelling words tested on 2/16
fur
turn
hurt
burn
bird
girl
first
shirt
skirt
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.