First Grade Happenings
Weeks October 10th -14th17th-21st
Religion
We’ve wrapped up our safety/talking about touching curriculum. We have learned that we are in charge of our own bodies. We recognize boundaries and limits as ways to keep ourselves happy and safe. We’ve talked about safe adults to talk to when we someone hurt us or makes us feel uncomfortable.
Through our “Promise” activities we learned that Jesus often taught through stories. Through The Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18: 1-8) we learned that God, just like the judge, provides for us in our time of need. We can ask god for help and he will most certainly be there for us. Through our little prayer book we come to that God is with us not only when we are scared or worried but also in times of happiness and joy and we give thanks for His faithfulness. The Parable of Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18: 9-14) opens our eyes to Jesus’ welcoming ministry. Jesus welcomes everyone wholeheartedly, even Zacchaeus who was despised by many. Jesus’ simple act of welcome inspired Zacchaeus to change his unethical ways and follow God. We learn that in God’s eyes we are all GREAT! Through our VIP (Very Important Person) activity we come to understand that we, too, are welcomed by God and invited to follow him.
Language Arts
In reading we are hard at work reading with expression. We look for commas, periods, exclamation points, and question marks as cues for when to pause and accentuate our voices. Quotation marks help us learn to read in character. Reading with expression really helps us better understand what we read; it is critical in developing our reading comprehension skills. Please encourage us to use these skills at home.
In spelling we added the letterw and the letteri (short vowel i)to our sound cache. We focus on our sight (“tricky’) words was and is. We continue to practice sounds, words, and sentences. We are also editing sentences for correct spelling and mechanics. We’refocusing on initial capital letters for sentences.
We practiced our naming skills by doing a class rehearsal naming again. Hopefully our writing about Ms. Z made it home safely. We also identified and wrote about our strengths and areas for growth as a way to prepare for upcoming parent-student-teacher conferences.
Math
Our work with number bonds continues! We use the concrete-pictorial-abstract model to solve addition problems to ten. We use our number bonds to create, write and solve equations. We use the math balance to grasp the idea of the equal sign as the pivot point on a number seesaw. Using this tool we can actively see that 4+2 is equal to 6 because they actually balance with one another. We take this idea further as we wok with related facts like 4+2 and 2+4. We see that 4+2=6 and 2+4=6 so 4+2=2+4. AMAZING! We started working with addition stories and real world addition problems, too.
Social Studies
In social studies we wrapped up are first unit. We explored the several concepts: school as a community, flag as a symbol of ideals, rules as a way to keep us safe, group as unified body of people, and country as unified body of people within a certain geographic area. n
Science
We continue to use the 3 R’s of science (“Research, Record, Report!”). Every investigation involves systematic research, scientific record keeping, and responsible reporting. We used these skills to create rock records where we describe our rocks using science words and scientific illustrations. We had a very good discussion develop a greater understanding of observable descriptions compared to opinion-based descriptions. Recently we worked in teams to create a systematic method for sorting river rocks by size using screens. Looking through magnifying glasses we discovered that sand is really just tiny rock. Our discovery continues.
Art
We enjoyed making some fun Halloween decorations in class. We used a silhouette to create a bat flying across the moon. It fun to add festive decor at school and home!