In social studies, the children learned about the Southwest region of Native Americans. Now, students have started their social studies projects to take a closer look at a region of their choice. Students will work with partners to do further research about the Native Americans in that region. Then, they will create either a poster, diorama, or Google Slides presentation that highlights what they have learned. Once the projects are complete, the class will present them as exhibits in a Native American Museum to first grade students. Here are some pictures of our early stages of planning and research.
Our study of character traits continues in reading. The children have been listening to stories with strong characters and working together to study the characters closely. We have been learning how to infer character traits by paying attention to what characters do and say, how characters respond to challenges, and how characters treat each other. The children also practiced their non-fiction skills by reading a Scholastic News article on the Wampanoag tribe in order to learn more about the Native Americans of the Northeast Woodlands.
In math, the students are off to a good start with subtracting larger numbers. Next week, we will cover lessons 6-9 in the Chapter 7.
Students were excited to begin learning cursive handwriting this week! In addition, they have been working hard on their informational books by finishing their subtopic sections and crafting conclusions.
After a very long journey, another Flat Stanley has returned to our classroom from Paris, France!
Check out some creative helicopter designs with STEM bin materials!
In math, we have wrapped up Chapter 6 and will begin Chapter 7 on subtracting three digit numbers next week. We will cover lessons 2-5. Students are working on dice and sorting games with math partners to review skills from earlier chapters. Some students are also creating books on ocean animals that include facts about the animals' weights. They are writing weights in standard and expanded form, as well as comparing and ordering the weights from smallest to largest.
In reading, we have started to study the characters in fiction books. Students are learning to identify both "inside" and "outside" character traits. They are using words to describe what a character looks like, and also words that describe their personality based off of their thoughts and actions in the story.
Our new writing unit is on informational writing. The students have been working through the brainstorming and planning processes to prepare to write an "all about" book on a topic they already know a lot about. The children are writing about a wide variety of topics, including turtles, Branson, basketball, and crocheting. Each child has decided upon three subtopics and has webbed out facts and details for each one.
Our study of Native American regions continued this week. The children learned about the people of the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains regions. We have been adding pictures to our classroom map that represent the way of life in each region.
Happy new year! We had a great first week back to school after break. The students had a "snow ball fight" with each other to share what they did during their time off. Students wrote three clues about fun things they did on their paper and then formed it into a "snowball". After launching their snowballs, each student picked one up, unfolded it, read the clues, and then had to guess who wrote them. It was a fun way to reconnect!
The children also wrote resolutions for the new year. They could pick goals for school or home that were important to them.
In math, we have been continuing to work on Chapter 6, which covers addition with three-digit numbers. The students have been doing a great job with reviewing their regrouping rules. We will complete the final lesson from the chapter next week, and then review for a test on Wednesday, January 15th. Look for review pages to come home on Tuesday.
In reading, we have returned our focus to fiction books. Throughout the week, students learned and practiced strategies to improve their fluency, such as attending to punctuation marks and dialogue tags. For writing, students reviewed their opinion writing skills and got back into writing workshop routines by answering the question, "Would you rather be a snowman or a snowflake?". Their writing has been displayed next to the wonderful winter artwork done in art class!
We have started a new unit in social studies focused on learning about the different regions of Native Americans in the United States. Students will be learning about the food, clothing, shelter, customs, and daily life of the Native Americans from each region. They will also see how the climate, land forms, and natural resources affected how the Native Americans lived. Student created folders and are adding foldables for each region to help organize the facts they are learning. The foldables allow them to take notes and have picture reminders of important vocabulary. This week we learned about the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.
