Large and Small Fractions

When we were practicing our WOW word today we thought it would be more fun to act it out instead of use it in a sentence.  I think the first graders have this word mastered...



We began to compare fractions in math today.  This is very challenging because usually the larger number means more but 1/8 is not larger than 1/2.  We created fraction strips to help us compare different fractions.  We also used the <, > and = signs to show which was larger.  We also learned the words numerator (the number on top of a fraction) and denominator (the number on the bottom of a fraction).

During literacy we learned about the Glossary in non-fiction books and showed an example of one in our non-fiction notebooks.  We are getting so close to be ready to write our own non-fiction books!  

 This afternoon we had Guidance with Mr. Moses!  We love our Guidance days and have such a great time.

Tomorrow is Poetry Cafe!  Please remember to practice your child's poem with them tonight and, as always, join us if you're able!

Twitter

Did you know that our classroom is on Twitter?  If you already have a Twitter account, make sure to follow us @MissTerrien.  If you don't- you can create one or check out our tweet feed at www.twitter.com/MissTerrien

We use twitter to connect with other classrooms and follow some of our favorite websites like NASA and National Geographic Kids.

Today we worked more with the "ck" ending after short vowels in SWR.  We also wrote a sentence that was worth 40 dots!  It was a question and had 7 red words.  We did a great job!

In math we looked at the equal parts of a circle and realized that cirlces can be broken up into smaller, equal pieces just like squares can.  After we were done our work, we played Base-10 exchange and make symmetrical patterns. 

As we were reading Little House today I read the sentence, "Mary was so scared she did not move."  I barely took a breath and the first graders yelled, "She's PETRIFIED!"  It is so exciting when we start to implement our WOW words into our own vocabulary and recognize when we hear their definition as we read.  

In writing and science we continue to work on our Non-Fiction Notebooks and are beginning to form ideas for our own non-fiction pieces of writing. 

Fractional Folding

We are learning all about the "ck" ending this week.  C and K come together and the end of words that have a short vowel like back, snack, pick, block, tuck and rock.  Our red word is how. (Not to be confused with who... learning to read and spell can be so confusing!)  Our WOW word this week is petrify.  Petrify can mean two things; to be so scared you can't move or to make rigid or turn to stone.  We have done a wonderful job using it both ways so far this week. 

We learned more about fractions in math today.  We took squares of paper and tried to fold them in fourths as many different ways as we could.  We came up with two ways pretty easily, but had to work harder for the others!  It was a lot of fun.  We also used our pattern block templates to show different fractions of shapes. 

In reading we learned that the characters in Little House are all suffering from "fever 'n ague".  We met a new character- a doctor- because everyone in the family was sick.  We also met Mr. Scott's wife.  She came to the house to take care of the family while they got better. 

In writing and science we worked on our Non-Fiction notebooks and practiced finding examples of indexes in our books. 

Adding Two-Digit Numbers

It was SO nice to come back to the classroom to a note from our substitute saying how wonderful the first graders were yesterday!  They all made it up to ROLE MODEL!  I was so proud of them and their excellent effort! 

We wrote "fancier" words in SWR today like cha-ching!  and swinging.  The first graders are always so surprised when they realize they can spell these words too, just by listening to the sounds. 

I was so pleased at snack to look over and see one first grader helping another spread their cream cheese on a bagel- we are so lucky to have such thoughtful students in our room.

 

In math we practiced adding two digit numbers using our number grids.  Some of us remembered to use our 10's trick, others of us still like to county by 1's and some of us used our base-10 blocks.  It is important to have many strategies to choose from, so we like to practice all of them. 

We read more of Little House and were SO distraught when Mr. Scott, the man helping to dig the Ingalls' well, became sick in the well and couldn't get out.  Mr. Ingalls hauled him up, and he was breathing, but he hasn't woken up yet.  We are so worried. We also learned the word seize today and discussed how it is different from seas, and sees.  (I think I see a WOW word in our future...). 

In writing and science we worked to compare and contrast two animals. 

We also had Guidance with Mr. Moses.

Testing, Testing123

We now have the ability to update our blog directly from our classroom iPad! This is our very first iPad post and we are so excited! Be on the lookout for guest bloggers and shorter, "snapshot" posts of our day! Mr. Moses shows us a game:

Adding with 10's then 1's

We were so excited to begin our day by meeting our brand new student, Lillian, this morning!  We have been anxiously awaiting her arrival since last week.  We've already learned that Lillian loves to read and write stories.  She will be a perfect fit for our class.

We continued to write ___ing words and sentences in SWR.  It has been fun to see how many ___ing words we can use in one sentence.  We did a wonderful job tapping out our red words today- probably the best to date!  We are getting so good at remembering how to spell those tricky, need-to-know words.  I'm so impressed. 

During math we learned how to add larger numbers by using the 10's and 1's tricks.  We learned how to jump up or back by tens first, and then by ones.  If we want to add 63, we would jump up 6 10's and then 3 1's.  The first graders loved playing a new number grid game using this trick. 

The family in Little House had visitors today for the first time.  They were not invited guests, so we discussed how this made the family feel.  We also discussed how, if Pa had been home, the story might have changed a bit.  We really like thinking about how the story could be different if the author made a different choice.  It has helped us with our writing too. 

We read more about amphibians in science and continued to update our Non-Fiction Writing notebooks this afternoon.  We are learning about captions and photos.  Help your first grader notice captions at home!

I will be out of the room tomorrow working with all of the first grader teachers in the district on our curriculum.  I will have access to email and checking periodically.  If you have any immediate questions or concerns, please contact the office tomorrow. 

Elation

We couldn't believe that our smartboard callibration was off when we started our day together- the first graders thougth that I was playing an April Fool's joke on them!  I assured them I wouldn't do that and we were able to solve our problem by calling IT.  (Phew!) 

Our red word this week is about .  Having two vowels together is tricky for us, but I'm confident by the end of the week everyone will be spelling about correctly.  We are learning about the ing ending this week. We are enjoying this very much because we've realized just how much we use ing in speaking and writing.  (See what I mean??!)  We also realized just how many words we can write now that we know about ing.  Our WOW word is elated- to be filled with joy.  Many of us were elated because of our plans over the weekend. 

We started Unit 9 in math today.  This unit will focus on counting up and back by 10's from ANY number.  We worked to fill in missing parts of the number grid and we played a new game called, Pin the Number on the Number Grid.  This was REALLY fun and we could ask our friends for clues if we missed.  Some of the clues we heard were, "go back 3 tens and up 6 ones,"  "go forward 2 tens and up 2 ones."  We did  a great job playing this game.

We read more of Little House today.  The family now has a roof over their head and a floor in their house.  We discussed how this family must be elated to finally have their house together.  In our reading groups we all started new books:
A Leash for Sandy
Harry's New Hat
Our Pets
Anna's New Coat

In writing and science we are working to write our own non-fiction stories about our favorite animal.

 Ryan and Ryan are missing lots of teeth these days!

Last week, Jordan, Matthew and Tucker had lunch in the classroom to celebrate their awesome behavior!

Thank you so much to all of you who joined us for Poetry Cafe on Friday.  We love this time in our classroom and even had a SURPRISE visitor- Avery- come too!  It was so much fun.