Tomorrow is the night! Our 1st graders, along with 2nd and 3rd grade, have been working extremely hard to prepare for the QE musical. It will take place tomorrow, March 16th at the Quakertown High School. Students should arrive by 6:15PM and meet me in the front row to sit with our class. All guests can find a place in the auditorium to watch the show, beginning at 6:30PM. Please remember to have your child wear their emoji t-shirt and jeans. Here's in a sneak peek from our dress rehearsal:
I'm very excited to announce that we will be using a new app in the classroom called Seesaw. Seesaw is a digital portfolio where you will be able to see the activities and learning that your child is engaging in in the classroom. This app will be almost entirely controlled by the 1st graders. They will be taking videos, uploading pictures, recording voice threads, etc. These artifacts will then be uploaded via Seesaw, and you as the parent will be able to view them on the Seesaw app or online via their website. View the video below to see how it works!
Another neat feature of the app is that you may interact with your child by 'liking' their work or commenting. I will also use the app for communication to share announcements, student work, and pictures.
Today your child will be coming home with a paper listing directions on how to login to the parent portion of your child's account. (You will use the QR code to gain access to your child's specific portfolio.) You may download the Seesaw Parent Access app in the app store to utilize the resource on any phone or tablet. If you prefer to use a computer you may also view the Seesaw website.
The children are EXTREMELY excited for you to see their first post from Friday!
Our 1st graders engaged in a variety of science experiments this past week to culminate our unit on solids and liquids. At the start of the week we made sensory bottles. The children combined salt, glitter, glue, and water to make their shakeable concoctions.
At the end of the week we made our much anticipated SLIME! The children dissolved borax in water and combined the mixture with glue, water and food coloring.
Up next, we will shift our focus to the study of maps in social studies.
Looking for some inspiration for the 100th Day on Wednesday? Girls: glasses, canes, pearls, skirts, dresses, heels, wigs or gray hairspray, makeup for wrinkles Boys: glasses, canes, suits, suspenders, mustaches, wigs or gray hairspray, makeup for wrinkles
Here's a quick glimpse into our 100th Day last year for some additional costume ideas!
We're looking forward to seeing the creative 100-year old outfits on Wednesday!
You may have noticed that your 1st grader recently came home with a letter from a new friend! This year we will again be partnering with a 1st grade class in Allentown to be pen pals. We have received our first letter from our Allentown friends and have successfully written back to them. We discussed the 5 parts of a friendly letter. (See if your child can sing our song and name all 5 parts.) We also learned that in friendly letters we SHARE and CARE. We share by answering our friend's questions and telling them about ourselves, and we care by asking questions that we'd like to find out more about. The excitement on the children's faces when they received their letters was priceless. Consider having your child write a friendly letter to a relative or friend! We will be having a picnic to meet our pen pals in person later this spring!
This month in math we're studying measurement. Our children are learning how to measure with standard (centimeters) and non-standard (paper clips) units. Through our investigations we have uncovered 4 tips for measuring:
Line up objects by their endpoints
Connect the length units
No overlapping
No gaps
The length units must be the same length
Consider allowing your child to use non-standard units to measure items around your house using the above guidelines. Children could measure using toothpicks, paper clips, pennies, etc. Or, if you have a standard measuring tape or ruler around the use the children could measure using centimeters. 1st graders can also practice ordering groups of objects from shortest to longest and longest to shortest.
Our next investigation in math will involve organizing and analyzing data using charts and graphs. You can prepare your child for our upcoming topic by reviewing how to draw and read tally marks to match numbers up to 30.
Upon our return from Thanksgiving break we began module 2 in math which focuses on an introduction to place value through addition and subtraction within 20. At this point in the year, after finishing module 1, we hope to have 1st graders that are able to add fluently within 10. Knowing those basic addition facts with sums to 10 is a building block that should be in place as we move forward to more complex addition strategies. The quicker your child is able to recall those facts the better! Especially important are the sums/partners of 10 i.e. 1 and 9, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, etc. If your child could use extra practice with these facts consider playing the following game at home with a standard deck of cards!
As you can see from the homework this week, students are now using these skills to make a group of 10 to add since 10 is a "friendly" number. When adding with three addends we're looking to circle the two addends that make 10 and then add. For example, 6+4+5 would become 10+5. Moving forward students are then training their thinking to make a group of 10 when adding with 9 or 8. To get more of an understanding of this concept you can watch the following YouTube videos:
Our children are really getting the hang of this skill! Ask your child to explain this concept to you and I bet they'll be able to teach you just as they were able to teach their partners today!
As always, Reflex is also a great way for your child to practice their math facts as well. You can download the app or go to REFLEX to login.
