Mrs. Muller's Fun-Tastic Newsletter
First and Second Grade
Check out what we are learning:
Writing: This week we focused on writing complete sentences. In first grade, students wrote a variety of sentences. We first wrote the sentences very simple. For example: The dog. Students quickly picked up on it missing what the dog does. We then said, The dog jumped. I told the class that we could stretch the sentence even further. We then said, The black dog jumped. Then I mentioned to the class that I was curious where the dog jumped. We then stretched the sentence even further to, The black dog jumped at the park. We focused on the sentences starting with an uppercase letter and ending with periods. Second grade worked on writing complete sentences while responding to questions. We used questions from our reading text book and worked on writing them in complete sentences. We will continue to work on this skill each week.
Math: First grade and second grade are both working on addition skills. In first grade, we are focusing on adding two groups together to find a total. Students are practicing using the addition sign and equal sign in number sentences. We've learned a count on strategy for addition. Students will start with the larger number and count on the remaining numbers. Second grade is reviewing the concept of addition with one digit numbers and strategies to add. We reviewed the turn around fact method. Next week we will begin adding two digit numbers.
Science: This week we learned about how airplanes fly in the air. Students engineered their own airplane and we made a flight line to test them out. We discussed how sometimes our designs don't work out the way we plan and that we sometimes need to go back to our design phase and try again. We are starting a new unit about wind where students will get to design their very own windmill. Today we discussed what technology is and what engineers do. Many students were surprised to find out that technology isn't just things we plug into a wall but that they are almost anything created to solve a problem or meet a need. We explored different pieces of technology today and what problem they solve. I'm excited to introduce them to the engineering design process as we proceed with our windmill unit.
Religion: Second grade religion is now taught by Mrs. Goldade (Immaculee's mom) and the students absolutely love her class. She is working towards preparing them for their First Communion. First grade is learning about God's creation and that God's creations give Him praise. We are discussing how we should give God praise for all the wonderful things He has given us and how we can do that.
It's been so much fun teaching this class! I cannot wait to see all the wonderful progress we make!
Scholastic Book Orders
Homework Reminder
In addition to our weekly homework packet, if students don't finish something in class they may take it home. We will start taking our reading text books home every Thursday. Students have been told to take their number text book home and read their weekly story. This provides them with a good fit book to practice at home. You are more than welcome to revisit any past stories we've read. Please don't let them read ahead. Thank you!