Palo Alto County Conservation Board

Mrs. Patton came and shared some old items that were used in the past.  Some of the items that she shared were: an old curling iron, popcorn popping basket, soap basket, washboard, and doughnut maker.

Old Time Tools

In our new social studies unit we are comparing past and present.  One aspect that we are talking about is tools.  Today a student was able to try out a beam borer.  It was used to drill hols in beams.  Students were surprised by how much hard work it was to use.

Week of Feb. 19

Upcoming Events:

JMarch 12 and 14 Conferences (4-7:30)

JMarch 15 No School

J March 18-22 Iowa Assessments

J March 28 1 hr. early out

JMarch 29 No School

Notes:

J This has been a very exciting week in our classroom.  Mr. Carter applied for a grant for our classroom to receive a Smart Board.  It was installed over the long weekend and we have been enjoying learning with it.  Check out my blog to see students using it.

J This week we played sleeping battleship for one of our word work dailies.  We also wrote our words into sentences and cut them apart and left them for other students to put together. 

Things to Work on:

J As we are nearing conferences in March we have started assessing for third quarter.  Please review time to the hour and half hour.

What we have been up to:

Reading: This week our theme was about favorite stories.  Our spelling feature for the week is long /e/ sounds that are made by the letter y.  We played a sorting game with words on the Smart Board to help us understand the sounds of y. 

Math: We have spent time working on fractions to the half and quarter.   We have spent time this week working in on our BUILD activities.  Students are really getting the hang of Scootpad and the math games. 

Science/ Social Studies: We have started our new social studies unit that compares past to present.  One lesson this week was on old time tools.  I brought in some old time tools for students to use.  We pounded in some square nails, made shingles, and used a drill press.  Check out my blog for pictures!

Spelling words week of Feb. 25

1. low
2. row
3. boat
4. coat
5. no
6. go
7. puppy
8. funny
9. mother
10. father

Challenge
1. flow
2. boat
3.roll
4. row
5. groan
6. snowman
7. mother
8. father
9. always
10. try

NEW SMART BOARD!!

Mr. Carter applied for a grant for our classroom to receive a grant.  We have used it for calendar, word sorts, graphing, and much more.  Our possibilities are endless!

Spelling Week of Feb. 19

1. bumpy
2. penny
3. puppy
4. sandy
5. funny
6. bunny
7. keep
8. seat
9. before
10. heard

Challenge
1. bumpy
2. grumpy
3. funny
4. sleepy
5. sandy
6. chilly
7. before
8. heard
9. happen
10. falls

Week of Feb. 11

Upcoming Events:

JFeb. 18 No School, President’s Day

JMarch 12 and 14 Conferences (4-7:30)

J March 18-22 Iowa Assessments

 

Notes:

J We have started new spelling homework this week.  Instead of writing our words four times each a student will now have more choices with the spelling contracts.  Please send the spelling contracts back each Friday.

J Last week we started a website called Scootpad.  Students can work on this website at home or at school.  They can complete a reading or math test.  As they complete each test the program will make the next test harder or easier.  You can check their progress with the Iowa Core Standards in the reports section.

JThis week we also started something new in math called BUILD.  B: Buddy Games, U: Using Manipulatives, I: Independent Work, L: Learning About Numbers, and D: Doing Math.  Some of the activities that we did with this is the Scootpad for math, problem solving, and domino addition.

 

Things to Work on:

J Equality—Knowing that both sides of an equation need to be the same.  Example: 8+4=7+5

 

What we have been up to:

Reading: This week we work on words with ee and ea.  We played a new game called spelling battleship.  The gameboard will be coming home with the directions.  Students really enjoyed this game.

Math: This week we worked on folding shapes into halves and fourths.  Quarters were also introduced this week.  We have worked on ordering and comparing fraction strips. 

Science/ Social Studies: We have finished our unit on mass and matter.  This week we talked about mixtures and ways we could separate them.  We also talked about ways that solids can change.

 

Spelling Week of Feb. 11

1. me
2. we
3. feed
4. keep
5. seat
6. beak
7. main
8. day
9. friends
10. knew

Challenge
1. she
2. feed
3. least
4. speed
5. keep
6. speak
7. friends
8. knew
9. kind
10. house

New Spelling Contracts

First Grade Spelling Contract

You have been given 10 words to learn this week.  Please use these 10 words in your homework each night.  Pick one different activity to complete each night.  Then initial the line of the activity you chose.  Please do not do the same activities each week.  There will be a spelling test on Friday on these 10 words.

_____Write your words 5 times each.

_____Write your words using letters cut from a newspaper or magazine.  Then

glue/tape the words into your spelling journal.

_____Put your words into 10 complete sentences.

_____Draw a scene (jungle, ocean, farm, circus, etc.).  Write each word in the

shape of something that would be found in your scene.

_____Write your words in ABC order.

_____Write your words 5 times each.  Circle consonants with a  red crayon and

the vowels with a blue crayon.

_____Cut out a picture from a magazine.  Glue into your journal.  Make up a

story using your spelling words about the picture.  Be creative!!

_____Write your words in three different colors.

_____Write your words forward then backwards.  Example: chain, naich

_____Type your words on a computer 3 times and print them.

_____Spell words on a cookie tin or refrigerator using magnetic letters.

_____Use yarn or string to spell your words.  Glue to paper.

_____Form your words out of small objects, such as buttons or dried beans.

                             Also check out SpellingCity.com

Week of Feb. 4

Upcoming Events:

J Feb. 13 No School

JFeb. 14 Valentine’s Day 

JFeb. 18 No School, President’s Day

J March 18-22 Iowa Assessments

Notes:

J Spelling words for each week are posted on my blog.  Please check the list if your child misplaces the paper copy.

Things to Work on:

J Ask your child if the book that they are reading is fiction or nonfiction and have them tell you why.

What we have been up to:

Reading: This week we worked on the sounds ai and ay.  Our theme was about weather.  We will come back to this theme later in the year in science.  Monday we read a Scholastic magazine called A Home Under the Ground about groundhogs.      

Math: We have started our new unit in math.  Our new objectives are to find doubles of numbers 1 through 100 and doubles of shapes.  We will also be spending more time learning about ½ and ¼ as well as time to the hour and half hour.

Science/ Social Studies: This week we compared solids by measuring them with rulers and string.  We also were able to talking about how you might separate a mixture of something.  

Spelling Week of Feb. 4

1. mail
2. rain
3. chain
4. way
5. play
6. day
7. cute
8. use
9. great
10. know

Challenge:
1. mail
2. chain
3. play
4. snail
5. gray
6. tray
7. know
8. great
9. warm
10. sound

Week of Jan. 28

Upcoming Events:

J Feb. 13 2 hr. early out

JFeb. 14 Valentine’s Day 

JFeb. 18 No School, President’s Day

Notes:

J Our snow day from Monday will be made up on May 22.

J This week we celebrated the 100^th day of school.  Students rotated around the first and second grade classrooms completing various 100^th day activities.

Things to Work on:

J Make a mental picture or mental image when reading.  This will help build comprehension.  

What we have been up to:

Reading: This week we worked with long /u/ words.  Students who passed the spelling test on Monday received a challenge spelling list with the same skill that we are working on.  Our theme this week was about recycling.  We will spend more time talking about this closer to Earth Day.  Students did a great job understanding what recycling means.    

Math: This week we finished Unit 6 in math.  We will take our test on Monday.  We finished the unit talking about congruent shapes, 3D shapes, and continuing patterns.

Science/ Social Studies: We have started a new science unit on matter. This week we worked on defining matter with an activity using a balloon and a block.