Patterns, Patterns, Everywhere

Students made patterns out of solid shapes and plane shapes this week as part of our Math Chapter on Geometry.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin

We are continuing our science unit by studying the life cycle of plants. We planted Brassica seeds and Lima Beans. We look at them and chart the progress every day.
We have read several books on the life cycle of pumpkins. Many students connect to the pumpkins and talk about having Halloween pumpkins for their house.

We have read many books on pumpkins.

We have plants!!!

Who will Win?  Lima Plants or Brassica Plants (Fast Plants)

So far the Lima seeds are way ahead of the fast plants. We will measure  to see how far our plants have grown.

Brassica Plants (Fast Plants)

Lima Bean Plants

Lima Beans

Today we dissected Lima Beans. I soaked the Lima Beans overnight so the seed coat would come off easily. The students then pulled apart the two sides to find the root and seedling leaves. I explained that all seed have the same thing inside of them.

Seed Coat and the inside of the Lima

The Root and the Seedling leaves. 

Tomorrow we will plant Lima beans and Brassica Seed(Fast Plants) to help learn about plant life cycles.

Releasing Butterflies

We released the five(5) Painted Lady Butterflies in the Garden on the Playground. The children were fascinated with the process of butterflies coming out of the chrysalis.  We hope the butterflies eat lots of nectar and lay eggs!

Butterflies must hang upside down in order for their wings to properly form. 

Discovery Time with Legos

During Discovery Time the students were able to create with Legos. At the end of each session the students are able to do a gallery walk. They look at each others work and ask questions and give complements. The language the students use to share, negotiate legos and praise each other is wonderful!

September News

LITERACY:
In Reading Workshop we have finished our first unit, Readers Build Good Habits. The students learned how to decode tricky words with many different strategies. Thank you to all the parents who were able to come to our First Grade Literacy Night. We talked about ways to help your child with reading at home.
1. Look at the Picture
2. Get your mouth ready for the beginning sound
3. Look through the word- "What would make sense?"
4. Go back to the beginning of the sentences and Get a running Start....
5. Read around the word, "What would make sense?"
Students have been working on stamina (reading long and strong) with their books. Your child should be bringing home a book or two almost daily in the reading bag. Having a just right book to read at home helps build fluency and comprehension.  Be sure to ask your child to retell the story when they are finished reading. You could ask other comprehension questions after reading such as: Where is the setting?, What was your favorite part? Why? or Why did the character do that?
Understanding the story and Making Meaning is the key to reading!

SPELLING: We have finished learning about and practicing the short vowels: A, O and I. We will study short U next and then short E last. Many activities focus on the sound of the letter, how the words look in text and application in their writing. Also, students have been bringing home sight words to learn. We will continue this for the first semester.
Words so far:
and, then, was, went, with, when, will, fun, it, if, did, said, get, got
Some children have studied: of, were, because

WRITING: We finished writing true small moment stories. We learned that all stories have a beginning, middle and an ending. We learned to start our stories with: One day, Over the weekend, Last Night, Yesterday, One day, etc. We learned to end our stories with what we think, feel or dialogue. We wrote a lot of details stretching out the story bit by bit. We helped the characters come alive by writing with action and dialogue.

We practiced our literacy skills in Partner Work. Learning to value others ideas, listen to another and share thinking is important for success in school.  These partners are used for reading, writing and math. We do change partners every few weeks so students learn to work with more then just their friends.

MATH:
We finished Chapter 3 Addition up to ten and will finish Chapter 4, Subtraction up to 10 on Friday, October 7. Being able to compose (make) and decompose (take away) numbers up to ten fluently helps students as they work on harder math skills. The goal is to be able to visualize the numbers in their heads and move between addition and subtraction with ease.  Many websites are available to help with this skill.
They are:
http://gregtangmath.com/games.html

https://happynumbers.com/classes/335355/students#~pqm3vZTdNRMJjg

SCIENCE:
We watched our meal worms grow from larvas to pupas. Hopefully, many will change into beetles soon. We have also witnessed our painted lady butterfly larva change  to chrysalis to butterflies in the classroom. Learning about the life cycle of living things is fascinating to the children. Next, we are planting brassica(fast plant) and lima seeds.  These plants allow the students to see the complete life cycle in an efficient timeline. We will study about pumpkins and apples to go along with plant life cycle.

Upcoming Dates:
Thursday, October 6th- Sports day- wear favorite team/sport shirt
Thursday, October 13th- Pajama Day and Scholastic book Orders Due
Friday, October 14th No School- Teacher Prep. for Conferences
Monday, Oct. 17 through Thursday, Oct. 20- Parent Teacher Conferences
Thursday, October 20th- Hat day and Early Release
Friday, October 21- No School
Monday October 31st, Halloween Party and Parade starting at 1:30

Scholastic Book Orders will be coming home. Orders are due: Thursday, October 13th.

If you order, there are 2 ways to pay:
A) Return order sheet and a check made out to Scholastic.
B) Online order with your credit card.
1. go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
2. use my class activation code: fmr3g
3. shop and pay.