Science is Super!

Thank you for visiting at conferences!  It was great to share the growth and progress the first graders are making as well as goals for the remainder of the school year.  Don't forget to turn in Summer School forms as soon as possible if you received one at conferences.  As we near the end of March, I encourage you to work to balance reading/homework and time with your family.  Remember, students are encouraged to read only 50 books for the Reading Medalist program.  If they wish to read more, that is fine, but not necessary.  With one month remaining, work to set a goal with your child.  If you are in need of books, please let me know and I can put together an extra book bag for your child.  Just a remainder, The Reading Medalist Program will take place on Friday, May 18 at 1:15.  Mr. Underwood will also direct the students in a musical program.  Students will also have a collection of art work available to share.  It is definitely an exciting day to be remembered by all students.

On Friday we had a little bit of St. Patrick's Day fun!  First we made rainbows using Skittles after reading What Makes a Rainbow?  We also wrote about who was worth more than gold.  The samples are adorable and on display in our classroom.  Last, we went a fun scavenger hunt around the school, looking for our treasure.

We celebrated two birthdays over the last two weeks in March.  Happy Birthday Reed and Lauren!

Meet Elizabeth

We are lucky to have Elizabeth as one of our great 1st graders.  She offers a lot to our discussions and is great at helping me spell tricky words!  She impressed the students by sharing that she plays piano, xylophone, recorder and ukulele   Elizabeth would like to follow in her parents' footsteps and be a teacher when she grows up.  She strives to be a Physical Education Teacher someday!

Meet Nora

Nora was a great helper this week as our Star Student.  We welcomed a new student, and she was more than eager to help him in the classroom.  Nora has goals to become an archaeologist when she grows up, however, she may want to consider a career in meteorology as well!  She is GREAT at predicting our temperature during Calendar Math.

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: We have been busy in reading, learning about text features once again in nonfiction texts.  This week we learned how a chart can help a reader understand new information.  Students continue to work with their individual spelling sorts during the week.  On day three, they practice their words using a word work menu choice.  Below are some examples of student work.

Math: We are learning about doubles facts and doubles +1 facts in math.  The students learned a fun Doubles Rap last week that we will continue singing to solidify these facts.  I'm excited to record and share it with you soon!  Students are working hard to utilize a variety of non-counting strategies to solve addition and subtraction facts to 20.

Science: In science we are studying states of matter.  We made Oobleck and have been working to determine if it is a solid, liquid or gas.  We eventually determined that Oobleck is a non Newtonian fluid that is pressure sensitive.  In other words, it can be a solid or liquid based on the outside forces of pressure.  Science is so cool!

Upcoming Reminders

March 26-April 6: Class Carnival Basket Collection Weeks (Picnic in the Park Theme)

*Look for a letter this week in your child's GO Book!

March 29-April 2: Easter/Spring Break

April 5: Field Trip to Essentia Health

We Welcome Guests

Over the past two weeks, we have welcomed several new guests to our school and classroom.  The students are always excited to meet new people and learn new things from them.  We enjoy working with Miss Mullen from NDSU as our practicum student.  She listens to readers, practices sight words, and helps with day to day tasks in the classroom. 

Recently, three Veteran's visited our school for the Flags for 1st Graders Program.  This program teaches 1st grade students about the progression of the United States Flag as well as respect for members of our armed forces, past and present.

We also received a special visit from author, Ame Dyckman.  Ame wrote picture books such as Horrible Bear!, Boy + Bot and Wolfe the Bunny.  Ame was exciting, engaging and inspiring for these 1st grade writers!  We enjoyed meeting her during our own private author signing!

We celebrated three birthdays recently in 1st grade.  Happy 1/2 Birthday to Piper who celebrates in the summer!  Happy Birthday to Nora and Blaise who both turned 7!

Meet Gracie

If you are looking for an all-around great kiddo, Gracie is your gal!  She has a big family and this lends itself to her ability to be patient and help other students in our classroom.  I'd imagine she is a great help at home too!  Gracie is a super addition to our classroom.

Meet Daphne

Daphne is a fabulous seven year old in our classroom.  I had the pleasure of having her brother Jack in class too and I feel lucky to have been able to teach them both.  Daphne is quiet and mature and sets a great example for her peers.  Daphne is a writer extrordinare, recently allowing us to examine her dialogue in her personal narrative story!

Meet Blaise

Blaise was able to celebrate his birthday and Star Student week at the same time!  Blaise is a super Bison fan and an all around athlete.  We enjoy his humor and wit in 1st grade as he is always trying to make his classmates smile.  He has great jokes that he enjoys sharing at snack break!

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: We have been busy in reading determining the author's purpose.  We practiced by reading books that made us laugh, feel a bit sad, and taught us new information.  We are busy practicing vowel teams in phonics including ai, ay, ee, and ea.  This week we will learn about synonyms with some scrumptious cinnamon roll fun!

Writing: We continue to write personal narrative stories.  Our focus for the last week has been incorporating dialogue into our writing by using speech bubbles and quotation marks.  This week writers will work to describe the characters and setting along with practice staying on one topic.

Math: In math it is all about place value in 1st grade!  Students are working with base ten blocks, double ten frames and place value mats to explore numbers to 20.  Students practiced the add 10 strategy to add 10 to any number such as 7+10 or even 37+10.  This week we will work on number comparisons using the greater than and less than symbols.

Science: We have been having rocktastic fun in science exploring and acting as geologists.  We conducted "Rock Research" to explore rock similarities and differences.  We explored our rocks to determine if they were magnetic, soft or hard, or contained calcium chloride.  We wrapped up our study with our STEM challenge.  Students were faced with the challenge of working for a bossy jeweler.  This jeweler challenged teams to separate different sized rocks/jewels without touching them with their hands.  Through the STEM engineering process, communication, and planning, students eventually learned to sift the jewels using paper plates with different sized holes.  This was a more difficult challenge but the students did a great job working together.

Upcoming Reminders:

March 6, 8, & 12: Parent Teacher Conferences

March 9: Book Orders Due (Visit Scholastic.com)