Writing Celebration, Exploring Erosion, and the Mask Parade!

 Learning highlights from the week:

• Math- First grade students continue to work on building 10 and some more using 10’s frames. The big idea is the understanding would be that, for example 10 + 4 is the same as 14.  This idea is the building block for place value.  Second graders have been working on place value.  They have been using 10’s and 1’s to solve mystery pictures.  

• Reading- Our hard work on blending and segmenting words,  heart words, book box reading and book clubs continue.  We have also been practicing our automaticity with short vowel sounds. Our W.O.W. word is gratitude. 

• Writing-We finished up our narrative writing unit with a writing share with Kindergarten. After break we will be taking some time to focus on handwriting and forming letters correctly.  This is a great time of year to do a quick handwriting check in. 

• Science-  We wrapped up our unit on geology this week. We created cornmeal canyons and learned how water causes erosion. Then we experimented with ways to prevent erosion. THANK YOU to all the families that donated supplies for these experiments! After break we will start our world explorers unit where we will travel around the world! This is a favorite of all!

 

Working Together, Science and More!

Learning highlights from the week:

• Math: First grade started a new unit on number sense and computation. We are working on automaticity of doubles facts, doubles plus one and combinations to 10. Second graders worked on place value with a focus on tens and ones, solving problems with efficient strategies and adding coins. 

• Reading: Our Word of the Week (W.O.W.) is perplex! We read and discussed this word throughout our week.  In addition, this week’s focus was the introduction of new word features.  Students also worked in their book clubs continuing to identify character traits, both physical and behavioral.

•  Writing:  We continued working on our small moments unit. Students have been elaborating their stories by increasing details including actions, thoughts and feelings. We have also been discussing how to wrap up a story. We will wrap up these stories next week!

• Science:  We are continuing our work in our geology unit! This week we learned why some areas flood frequently. We learned about different types of soil. Next week we will continue to learn more about erosion.

• Mindfulness:  For the month of November we are focusing on gratitude.  Students have been practicing reflecting on what they are thankful for.  We have begun discussing all the small things we are grateful for and during the All School Morning Meeting students thanked the bike path committee for their time and generosity in building our amazing new UCS bike path.

• Social Media: For pictures from our week, please check out our blog!

 

Spooky Science, Clay Work and Shape Building!

 Learning highlights from the week:

• Math-  1st Grade math students Students continued their work with 2D shapes. They are learning to use attributes to describe shapes and compose and decompose shapes. Second Graders continue their work with story problems.  Their focus is using an efficient strategy to accurately solve both addition and subtraction problems.  Students are using Counting on and Counting back strategies as well as number lines and some are even breaking apart 10’s and 1’s to add.  

• Literacy- Our word of the week or WOW word is colossal. Each week students will add a new tier 3 vocabulary word to our word journals! Students love to use the words and incorporate them into conversation. Students are also working on decoding new word features and applying those skills in texts. Students are bringing home books to share with their families. Please practice the books at home and then return them. If the books are paper printed, they can stay at home. 

• Writing- Students are working to add more details and use all the sounds they hear to spell a word. Our stories are about things we do and adventures we are a part of. 

• Science- This week we took a break from our geology unit and learned a little bit about our skeleton. We learned that our skeleton holds up our body! We made our own x-ray hands!

• Mindfulness- Our current focus is on self regulation and volume control. We are working using a level 1 volume (whisper) during work times.  We will be adding time with Miss Gigi, our district specialist, to help improve our self-regulation skills.