Wonderland in 1st Grade

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Parts and Wholes

In Math the students played a game called Cover-Up. To play Cover-Up, one player puts some cubes or counters on a table and counts them. Their counts need to be accurate, so I encouraged the students to check their counts. One player then takes away some of the counters and hides them under a piece of paper. Together the students use the remaining counters to figure out how many are hidden. Solutions are verified by counting the hidden counters.

We played a few rounds as a group hiding a different amount of counters in each round,
then the students played girls against boys. It was a great way to work on Math problems with the missing part. Ask you child about the game Cover-Up.

In Science we finished our unit on the Weather.
In the coming weeks our class will start a new unit centered on The Processes of Life & How Living Things interact with the Environment.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Happy Birthday Chets Creek!

To prepare for a great week of fun filled activities in honor of our school's 10th birthday,
we graphed our very own birthdays in Math. It was great teaching the students about the different ways to graph. We are learning to collect , record, and represent data. The students are encouraged to examine the differences and similarities in a group of related data, which was our birthdays. It was a fun activity.
We are also continuing to work on solving story problems, tell time and count money.
Please let you child practice counting your loose change.

We are reading the Weekly Reader in Social Studies.
Last we we discussed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We watched a video about his life. How awesome! Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for equality for all people.

In Science we will finish with the Weather unit this week. We have been graphing the temperature in Jacksonville this month. Another super activity to help the students understand graphs.

We are going to the Zoo!

Yes! we are going to the Jacksonville Zoo on Friday February 15, 2008. Please send in your child's permission slips and payment ASAP!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Working With 100

Our first full week went very well.
The students were introduced to more Choice Time games.
Choice 1: Get to 100, students take turns rolling number cubes (with only multiples of five on them) and moving that amount on the 100 chart. After each roll, players record their moves (but not the total), adding the numbers obtained in subsequent rolls to this equation.
Play continues until each player reaches 100. Students check their moves by adding up the equation, which should total 100. Players can begin another equation when they reach 100.

Choice 2: Pinching Paper Clips, students take a pinch of paper clips (each box has 100 clips in it), count how many they pinched, and then figure out how many are left in the box. The students were allowed to pinch paper clips in a variety of ways.
It was challenging at first but once they got the hang of it, the game was fun.

Did you know that Friday was our 87th day of school. Wow! how time flies when you are having fun!
Our 100th day of school will be February 1st!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back!
Our three day week was a nice and slow start for the New Year.
We reviewed story problems, observed and discussed the 100's chart, and worked on telling time. Please encourage your child to tell you what time it is at different times of the day. :)

You will be receiving a Release of Digital picture form. Please sign and return as soon as possible. This form will allow me to post some pictures of the activities we have worked on in class.

Thank you for all your support!