Week of Nov. 24

Events:

-Nov. 26 1 hr. early out

-Nov. 27 and 28 No School

-Dec. 3 1 hr. early out

-Dec. 11 7pm K-1 Holiday Concert

Notes:

- We have been doing a great job on our word journey words.  Students have been learning the spelling pattern and applying them in their writing. 

-We have finished November bellwork.  In November we worked on adding more than two numbers.  Students are getting much better at quickly completing their bellwork in the morning.

Week in Review:

-This week we finished up our science unit on animal groups.  Students have really learned a lot about characteristics of animal groups.

-We practiced some Thanksgiving poems this week.  We read the poems together and then practiced them in a silly way.  An example is sitting like a boss with our feet on our desks.

-In math we continued learning about the tens and ones place.  We learned that in the number 34 there are three groups of tens and four left over.

-We played a game called ‘Oh Turkey’ to practice our sight words.  If you drew an Oh Turkey card you had to put all your other cards back in the bag.

Week of Nov. 17

Events:

-Nov. 26 1 hr. early out

-Nov. 27 and 28 No School

-Dec. 3 1 hr. early out

-Dec. 11 7pm K-1 Holiday Concert

BUILD Groups: (continued)

(B) Buddy Games- Matching analog clocks to digital clocks.

(U) Using Manipulatives-Students can choose from a variety of games that focus on counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, as well as adding and subtracting.

(I) Independently Working- Students work independently at solving addition flashcards.

(L) Learning about Numbers- Students work in a small group working on problem solving strategies.

(D) Doing Math- Funbrain.com

Week in Review:

-We practiced retelling Make Way For Ducklings with puppets. 

-We finished unit 3 in math and have started unit 4 which focuses on place value.  We will be learning about the tens and ones place.

-We started sharing our google presentations on our animal groups.  Students did a great job presenting!

-We have been working on writing a paragraph from our animal book from the library.  We are learning that you need a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence.  We learned that our conclusion can be as easy as adding one word like clearly and restate our introduction.

Notes:

- This week a math packet came home that looked like a test with crayon marks that either corrected the question or had a smiley face.  That packet is our math warm-up.  It is our practice for Iowa Assessments.  We are learning: what to do when we get to a question we don’t know, how to fill in the bubbles, and how to make an educated guess by eliminating the answers we know are not correct.  Some of the questions on our math warm-up have not been taught yet and are difficult.  This is good practice because there will be questions on Iowa Assessments that are difficult for us.

-We have been working in class with several comprehension skills that your child could use with their Hawk book at home: retelling, summarizing, and using a story map.

Week of Oct. 10

Events:

-Nov. 19 1 hr. early out

-Nov. 26 1 hr. early out

-Nov. 27 and 28 No School

BUILD Groups:

(B) Buddy Games- Matching analog clocks to digital clocks.

(U) Using Manipulatives-Students can choose from a variety of games that focus on counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, as well as adding and subtracting.

(I) Independently Working- Students work independently at solving addition flashcards.

(L) Learning about Numbers- Students work in a small group working on problem solving strategies.

(D) Doing Math- Funbrain.com

Week in Review:

-We reread the story Make Way for Ducklings and completed a story make with a partner.  We have been focusing this week on the literary elements: characters, setting, problem, and solution.

-In math we worked a lot with solving addition story problems with a unknown addend.  Students are getting better at really listening to the whole story problem to know if they add or subtract and which numbers to add.

-In science we learned about insects.  We spent a lot of our science time this week working on our google presentations with the animal groups.

-In writing we finished the sentence starter: Save a Turkey, eat more_____.  Students then has to support their opinion with three ideas.

Notes:

- Tuesday was the first day of snow clothes and students have been doing great at quickly getting them on and off.  I have checked most of the items for names and written their initials on the ones that did not have a name.  If you purchase new pants or boots please mark them with your child’s initials. 

-At school we have talked a lot about not sharing hats.  Please remind your child of this.

-The lost and found area at school is full of lots of items.  If you think your child is missing an item send them to look for it in the lost and found or stop in and look.

-With the cold temperatures and snow students need to have all their winter gear to play on the recess equipment (snow pants, snow boots, winter coat that zips, hat, and gloves.) 

Week of Nov. 3

Events:

-Nov. 12 1 hr. early out

-Nov. 19 1 hr. early out

-Nov. 26 1 hr. early out

-Nov. 27 and 28 No School

BUILD Groups:

(B) Buddy Games- Spin, Subtract, and cover the correct answer.

(U) Using Manipulatives-Students roll a dice and collect cubes (ones).  When they have ten cubes to trade for a stick (tens).

(I) Independently Working- Students work on writing numbers on their new number scrolls. 

(L) Learning about Numbers- Students work in a small group working on problem solving strategies.

(D) Doing Math- Funbrain.com

Notes:

-I have had some troubles with Scootpad in the classroom.  So this week we used the website funbrain.com.  We worked with games in the math arcade.

-This week we played some new assessment games.  One was called kahoot.it and the other was Plickers.  Students answer questions that I post on the smartboard either through clicking on a color or holding a symbol in their hand.  Students really enjoyed the playing these games without other students knowing their answers.

-I have been working this week with students on adjusting their Hawk book levels to a true good fit range.  If your child brings home a book that is too difficult please write me a note and we will readjust the level. 

 Week in Review:

-We worked with completing subtraction problems as well as addition problems with missing addends.  Students are getting really good at grabbing the lowest number and counting on to the biggest number to find the missing addend.

-This week we started a new reading unit on Make Way for Ducklings.  While reading this book we have been working on the reading strategy of predicting.  First we made a prediction on what the book would be about and then we read a few pages to check our prediction.  Some predictions we needed to adjust as we learned things about the book. 

-We started learning about amphibians and fish.  We have had some time to work on our google presentations about the animals groups.