Fire Safety

This month we celebrated fire safety!  Our Quakertown volunteer firefighters came to QE to speak with us and give us a tour of their two fire engines.  We were able to see all of the equipment that is utilized when responding to a call and ask the firefighters questions about their uses.  

As we conclude our Social Studies unit on Communities we will be exploring a variety of community helpers and completing our final project depicting what we want to be when we grow up.  Talk with your child about their future aspirations!

Sums of 10

Last week in math we focused on finding pairs of numbers who's sum is 10.  We used a variety of  math tools to practice making 10 including ten frames with pennies, number lines, and making-10 bracelets.  We put a quantity of pennies on our ten frame and counted the blank spaces we would need to fill in order to make a total of ten.  When using our number grids we put our finger on the number and counted how many hops it would take to get to ten.  The making-10 bracelet allowed us to manipulate one quantity of beads on one side of the bracelet and see the remaining beads left that we would add together to get a total of 10.  We discovered that 1+9=10, 2+8=10, 3+7=10, and so on.  Understanding and being able to recognize these addition facts with ease will set the foundation for our work with addition throughout the year.  

 You can reinforce this skill by playing a game entitled Penny Plate at home!  Grab 10 pennies, or ten small household objects, and a paper plate.  Have your 1st grader close their eyes while you hide a number of the pennies under the plate.  Put the remaining pennies on top of the plate.  Have your child solve the mystery of determining how many pennies are hidden under the plate using one of the strategies listed above.  With practice these facts will become second nature to your 1st grader.  

We've also been loving this YouTube video that reinforces our sums of 10 facts! 

September Recap

Take a look at what we've been up to in 1st grade during the month of September!

To begin our first math unit we became number detectives and observed how numbers are all around us everyday!

We reviewed basic shapes from Kindergarten by using our pattern-block template to create straight-edge shape designs. 

One of the first games we learned to play was Penny-Dice.  This game focused on counting to twenty, and one-to-one correspondence.  The children illustrated how they were able to count coins one at a time and compare more and less. 

We explored math tools that we will be using throughout the year, specifically geoboards.  Our 1st graders loved creating shapes and designs using the rubber bands on their boards. 

In reading we have been focusing on short vowel sounds.  When learning about short vowel A we did a hunt around the room to find the short A gumballs that were hidden throughout the classroom. 

Each day we continue to build our reading stamina!  As the year progresses we continue to work on reading independently by using our reading and comprehension strategies.

Welcome

Welcome to the 2014-2015 School Year!

I will use this blog as a form of communication between home and school to share ideas, updates, and everyday fun activities that we are engaging in during the day.  Please take a moment to put your email in the box on the right-hand side of this webpage.  This will allow you to receive an email each time the blog is updated so you won't miss out on any information.

We look forward to a fantastic school year!

Opinion Writing

You may have been wondering what our 1st graders have been up to with the collections they brought to school earlier this month. Well, our opinion pieces are almost completed and are looking to be published by the end of the week!

We had collections of just about everything, from comics to fishing lures, seashells to racecars. Since the children are passionate about their collections it was easy for them to formulate an opinion as to which item in their collection they felt was the best. Nevertheless, our new opinion writers quickly discovered that to convince their readers they must give many reasons to support their choice of which item deserves the 'Blue Ribbon Award.' 

This is the longest we have worked on a piece of writing thus far, and the children are doing a fantastic job of revising and continually adding more convincing details that further support their opinion. The children have shared their collections with numerous classmates and have even begun to anticipate disagreement by quoting experts. 

We hope to have these terrific pieces displayed early next week for your viewing pleasure.  I am confident these 1st graders will indeed convince you of their opinion!  

3D Shapes

We concluded our geometry unit with a week dedicated to the study of 3D shapes. Our first graders learned and put into practice two new vocabulary words: vertices (corners) and faces (flat surfaces).  They used their new math language to characterize and group spheres, cylinders, cubes, cones, pyramids, and prisms. Our favorite 3D shapes song, which we know ALL the words to is below: 

3D Shapes I Know

Using toothpicks to represent faces and marshmallows to represent vertices we created a sphere and pyramid.  And of course we got to munch on a few vertices as well!

Support your 1st grader by recognizing 3D shapes in everyday objects i.e. basketball, soda can, cereal box!

Geometry

Our current math unit is all about geometry. Last week we focused on basic shapes: squares, circles, rectangles, triangles, trapezoids, hexagons, and rhombuses. We discussed the defining characteristics of each shape and how we could classify the shapes into different categories. We used our knowledge of these shapes to play a new game called "What's My Design?"  Our 1st graders sat across from a partner with a privacy folder separating them. One friend made a design and could then use only shape and positional words to describe their design to their partner who attempted to mimic the design.  The children soon discovered the importance of giving very precise directions. You can play this game at home with shape blocks or cutouts. Need a challenge? Take away the manipulatives and have your child draw the shapes in their design by hand. 

We concluded our week with an introduction to polygons. By analyzing examples and non-examples of polygons we generated a list of characteristics to define a polygon. 

1. Straight sides
2. Closed figure
3. All sides connect (No intersecting lines)

We used the analogy that if a pet were placed in the center of the polygon it should act as a fence and the pet would not be able to escape. We then created our own polygons with straws and twist-ties. (We even had a special guest with us!)

As the April showers bring May flowers, make a rainy day more exciting by taking out some straws and twist-ties and constructing polygons!

Read Across America

Last week we celebrated Read Across America in honor of Dr. Suess. Throughout the week we did a variety of activities involving Dr. Suess' many texts. On Monday we had our Read Across America festival. The children participated in a variety of activities and crafts hosted by our reading specialists and QCHS National Honor Society students. Before we went, we read The Cat in the Hat and fashioned our own hats. 

Later that day we wrote about what we would do if Thing 1 and Thing 2 came to our house. We had some very creative responses!  You can check out these projects currently hanging in our back hallway. 

And for our main event - The Suessasational Readover! This day is one of our favorites in 1st grade. Cuddling up with a book was never so fun!

I apologize for the hiatus in posting throughout February, but I am happy to report that we are back in action with more to share than ever! 

Upcoming Events

As a classroom incentive for positive behavior our 1st graders brainstorm rewards that they would like to earn, and we vote on one to spell.  At any point throughout the day when the whole class is doing an exceptional job, they will earn a letter toward their reward.  So far this year we have earned a C-L-A-S-S  P-E-T and an I-C-E  C-R-E-A-M party.  This past Friday we earned a S-T-U-F-F-E-D  A-N-I-M-A-L day where the children were able to bring in a buddy to spend the day with them!  We'll see what reward the children come up with to earn next. 

This week will be a fun week for the children as we celebrate President's Day, Valentine's Day, and our 100th Day of School!  Don't forget the following:

Wednesday: 100th Day of School - Dress up like you are 100 years old!

Friday: Valentine's Day - Bring in valentines for classmates. 

Fact Power

What is "Fact Power?"  Fact Power is the term we use to relay to our first graders the importance of beginning to know simple addition facts quickly and effortlessly without the use of a number grid or counters.  Similarly to reading a text multipe times to increase fluency, we need to practice our simple addition facts to increase our speed and accuracy.  Currently we are working on +0 and +1 facts.  In addition, we are working on sums of 10 (6+4, 3+7, etc.) and doubles facts (3+3, 5+5, etc.). 

Consider utilizing some of the following resources to engage your 1st grader in some fun addition practice!  Xtra Math is an online resource that we utilize in the classroom for addition practice, which may also be utilized at home.  A set of flashcards with the above mentioned facts was also sent home as a form of extra practice.  In addition, below are two new math games that you may play with your child at home to increase their "Fact Power." 

Shaker Addition Top-It -

All you need for this game is two dice.  One player rolls the two dice and adds up the total of both dice to find the sum.  The second player follows suit and rolls the two dice to find the sum.  Whichever player has the higher sum receives a point.  The winner is the player with the most points at the conclusion of the game.  Need a challenge?  Use three dice to practice adding three addends OR program dice to have digits larger than six.

Addition Top-It -

A deck of playing cards is the only material necessary for this game.  Before playing remove the face cards.  Deal out all numerical cards evenly amongst players.  Play is similar to the traditional game of war - Each player turns over two cards and adds the numbers to find the sum.  The player with the highest sum takes all cards.  The winner is the player with the most cards a the conclusion of the game. 

Happy Adding!

Procedural Writing

We are crazy about nonfiction writing in 1st grade!  Our friends are writing a variety of informational pieces throughout the months of January and February.  We are learning how to write with the purpose of informing our readers.  Last week we took a look at cookbooks, craft books, experiment guides, and toy assembly pamphlets.  What do all of these texts have in common?  They have steps/directions!  How could we possibly learn how to make that coveted starburst bracelet on a rainbow loom or build that dream dollhouse out of legos without the directions?  Our friends determined that a large feature of directions are transition or order words such as first, next, then, finally, etc.  We practiced this skill by generating and sequencing directions for how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, how to make your bed, how to blow a bubble, etc.  

Our recent snow days came at the perfect time as our first independent piece was how to build a snowman.  You can stop by the back hallway to see our projects currently on display.  Finally, each child created their own book of directions of their choosing.  Topics ranged from how to throw a football to how to draw a star.  Ask your child what topic they chose for their direction booklet.  These books will be saved for our end-of-year portfolio.  

Next up - Animal Research Reports!