Thank You

This time of year we all take the time to pause and reflect upon what we're thankful for.  When I stop to pause, one thing that comes to mind are my students and their parents.  I would like to thank each and everyone of you for your help, support, and encouragement throughout this school year.  I sincerely appreciate everything you all do.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Have a wonderful time with family and friends this break.  See you on Monday!

October 17-22

The first graders are on a roll and ready to end strong before Thanksgiving break.  Here's what was happening at Barretts this week...

Reading

This week we continued our work with say something/say something back

• natural conversations
• keep the talk going-responding to a talking point
• who are the characters?  
• exploring character traits with evidence

Questions: What is one way you can keep a conversation going with a reading partner?  What is a character trait?

Writing

We continued our small moments writing unit by diving into...

• stretching words
• telling the story in itsy, bitsy parts
• exploding a moment
• making our moments real (drawing people, background and adding color)
• closing with a lesson, feeling, or reflection

Question:  Why do we explode a moment?  What is one thing you added to your writing this week that made your small moment more realistic?

Math

Our measuring masters continued their exploration by...

• measuring keepers
• reviewing length (longest part), width (how wide), height (how high)
• looking at length of fish
• measuring/comparing length with feet
• differing units of measurement

Question:  What do I have to do when a problem asks me how much long/how much short an item is (comparing)?  What is the difference between measuring length, width and height?

Social Studies

Social studies this week has focus on continuing the study of Thanksgiving and the lives of the Pilgrims and Native Americans. We learned about...

• the Pilgrams of Plymoth
• Samuel Eaton
• Sarah Moreton
• Time Lines
• Squanto and the Wampanoag Indian

Question: Who were Samuel Eaton and Sarah Moreton?

Upcoming Events

11/21-All school assembly  (Juggling Jeff)

11/26-11/28-No school

12/3-Late start

November 10-14

Good evening, families!  Check out what we've been learning this week in first grade.

Reading

We have been working on our talk unit and how to talk about books with our partner.  The students learned and practiced:

-how to use evidence from the book

-mark one talking spot in your book

-what to say to your reading partner

-how to say something back to your reading partner

Question:  Question:  What talking spot in your book can you tell your parent about (remember to support with evidence)?  What is something you could say back?

Writing

Students have continued to work on our Small Moments unit.  We've learned:

-small moments have a beginning, middle, and end

-how to plan across our hands

-sketching

Question:  What small moment are you writing about in your book?

Math

In math this week, we started learning about measurement.  The students learned and practiced:
-comparing data
-measuring accurately
-measuring with different units
-measuring different objects' lengths

Question:  How do you measure carefully?

Social Studies:
This week we've continued our unit on families and focus on Thanksgiving.  The students learned about:
-what is Thanksgiving
-how Thanksgiving was celebrated in the past
-the pilgrims' journey and they Mayflower
-pilgrim life

Question:  Compare how we celebrate Thanksgiving today versus how the pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving.  How is it similar and how is it different?


Reminders
11/26/14- No School, Thanksgiving Holiday
12/3/14- Late Start

Compliment Party

Hi Families!  Remember our Compliment Party is tomorrow!  The Cheetahs have decided on Pajama Day.

Family Museum

Hi Families!

THANK YOU all for helping out with the Family Museum project.  We had a great turn out, and I know you all worked very hard helping your child create their museum.

Below are pictures of The Cheetahs and The Tigers practicing their presentations for one another in preparation of our FGIF event:

We also practiced and shared our museums with our 4th grade buddies, The Dragons:

Finally, the main event!  A few snapshots from our FGIF event:

Library Change

Our class will have library on Friday, November 14 instead of Monday, November 10.  Please remember library books on that Friday!  This change is only for next week.

November 3-7

Take a peek at our week!  It was a shorter week but we packed it full of learning!

Reading

In reading this week we looked at talking and talking back with our partner.  The children learned to explain:

• text to self connections with evidence
• text to text connections with evidence
• wonderings/questions 
• learned how to mark a talking spot

Question:  What is a talking spot and how do you mark it?

Writing

In writing, we started a new Small Moments: Personal Narrative Unit.

• what is a small moment
• zooming into a small moment
• small moments are made from feelings
• developed a list of small moment topics

Question:  What are the small moment topics you chose to write about in this unit?

Math

We continued to work with data and surveys this week

• surveyed first grade classes, collecting age data
• compare age data
• used multiple ways to represent data
• formative assessment-data was based on types of pizza we like
• quick surveys

Questions:  What is a quick survey?  How do you use them in class?

Social Studies

Our focus this week if family traditions.

• viewed art work and talked about what the artist was trying to communicate
• what tradition was portrayed in the art work
• completed a drawing of our own family traditions
• practiced presenting our Family Museum
• shared Family Museums with buddy class and families

Questions:  What did you learn from your friends Family Museums?  Do your friends have similar family traditions?

Upcoming events:

11/11-Veterans Day Celebration

11/12-Picture Retake Day

11/26-11/28-No School, Thanksgiving Holiday

12/3-Late Start