Ub, Ud, Um

Can you guess what our three new word families are this week?  You got it!  Ub, ud, and um.  We were so surprised we already knew so many words in these families.  It's hard to have ud and ub together because b's and d's are so tricky already!  There was a little more erasing today than usual... our red word of the week is want.  We were happy that it was back to four letters.  (Could is still confusing some of us!)

Unit 6 in math is all about fact power- that is when we just know our math facts.  We learned a new game today, Top-It Addition , to help us with our math facts.  We loved playing this game and were so excited when we got a card in the teens because it usually meant that we were going to win! 

In literacy/social studies we embarked on a journey to China!  We will be learning about the country of China for the next 5 weeks and can't believe how much we've learned already!  We read a book, Postcards from China , and chose the most important piece of information that was on each page and recorded it on our All About China paper.  Sometimes we had to choose two because it was *so* informative!

We opened a new literacy station today- Listen to Reading.  We can choose between two books to listen to about China this week.  We really enjoyed listening to a digital book today.  We also worked on writing, did work work, and logged onto RAZ-Kids.  If anyone has any headphones laying around that you're no longer using- we'd love to use them in our classroom!  The kind that cover ears are best (not ear-buds), with so many computers/listening stations it's hard to keep up!  Feel free to send them in with your first grader.  

It is so cold outside that we didn't make it out for recess- we did create some amazing things inside though!

This afternoon we had DARE with Officer Fontaine.  We are learning a lot from him.  

Please remember that Thursday night is Project Inside Out Spaghetti Dinner!  We only have three nights this week so please practice poems A LOT too!  Thank you!   

Mr. Popper's Penguins- the movie!

There are 4 extremely important notices in your child's folder tonight!  Please make sure to check them before Monday.  

We started Unit 6 in math today.  We worked on turn-around facts and recording dice-roll sums.  

 Colin and Hannah work hard to fill in their addition/subtraction facts table

 These first graders work together to fill our their charts

Ryan and Summer have fun while rolling the dice

We celebrated finishing Mr. Popper's Penguins by watching the movie today.  We couldn't believe how many differences there were between the book and the movie!  We all had so many favorite parts of the movie- we couldn't pick just one! 

We also had a special treat courtesy of the Fetters family- check out these super-cute, edible penguins!

 You can even see the fish at the penguins feet!

We had our second Poetry Cafe today as well.  It went fabulously! 

Stay warm this weekend with your families and remember that there is no school on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. day.   

+0, +1, Make 10

We are getting so good at using "vanished" correctly in a sentence!  Some examples today were, "I quickly vanished when my mom said she was serving broccoli for dinner," "The magician made the coin vanish," and "I always vanish when my mom says it's time to take a bath."  We only had to write four words in SWR today which we thought was way too easy!

In math we took a different kind of a math test.  It was about adding and subtracting 0's and 1's.  We all did a fabulous job and then moved through our math centers.  It was an excellent day at centers today- we stayed on task and worked hard to accomplish our goals. 

During reading something very exciting happened... we finished Mr. Popper's Penguins!  We absolutely *love* this book!  In fact, the first graders were so impressed, the class erupted into applause when it was over.  (SO endearing).
*******************************************
SPOILER ALERT!  SKIP THIS NEXT PART IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK YET! 

We couldn't believe that Mr. Popper was going to leave his family for one or two years to go on the expedition with Admiral Drake.  We did think it would be pretty cool though, if the Popper Penguins were able to start a penguin colony in the Arctic.  This is going to be a tough book to follow... I'm hoping they like the next book choice as much. 

In writing today we worked more on our realistic fiction stories.  Now that we are aware of the elements of stories, we are finding problems and solutions everywhere!  It has been fun recording them on our realistic fiction chart. 

Snowy Wednesday

There are few things more enjoyable than watching a playgroud full of first graders enjoy huge, fluffy snowflakes at recess- we had a great afternoon today! 

This morning in SWR we worked more with our three (3!) short "u" families.  This is very challenging because now we have to listen for the ending of the word as well as the beginning and middle.  We had a 28 point sentence, too.  We did a pretty good job, but we are still forgetting our ending marks occasionally  Our red word, could, is still challenging for us- we always forget the u!

We took our Unit 5 assessment today in math.  We do this in small groups so math took a little longer than usual today.  We all did a great job working quietly at our centers while our  friends worked hard on the assessment.  

Copies of your child's assessment are in their homework folder today.  There are two scores on the back- something/22 and something/7.  The part out of 22 is what we have already learned.  The section out of 7 is what we will be learning soon.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

In reading we took 5 minutes to read our poems to a partner.  We decided that doing a Wednesday poem "check-in" was a great idea and an excellent way to practice our poems at school.  I was so impressed with how much the first graders have (obviously) been practicing!

We met in our reading groups to discuss our books and practice our sight words.  We have been practicing reading with expression and paying attention to commas and periods because they tell us how long to pause before reading on.  

n science today we examined how liquid moves in a bottle when it goes from standing upright to laying on its side.  We colored in our own bottles to match the liquid bottle at different points during its fall and recorded how the liquid looked.  We are really starting to know the properties of liquids and solids! 

I emailed all of you who's email addresses I had a link today to sign up for parent-teacher conferences.  If for some reason you did not receive it- you can sign up by clicking the link below:

  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080D4AAFAC2FA13-spring

PIO Dinner

     There is a paper version of this in your child's homework folder tonight.  Please make sure everything is returned by the end of the week!

 

Thanks!  (We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow! Practice poems!)    

 

 

Dear Porters Point Families,

 

Thank you very much to those who have made reservations for the January 24thdinner and another thank you to those of you who donated a basket or item for the raffle.  Plans are falling into place for a delicious meal and a fun and lively raffle.

 

RAFFLE: If you are donating a basket/gift card please be sure they have been brought to school by the end of the school day tomorrow, Wednesday, January 16th.

 

IF YOU HAVE NOT PURCHASED DINNER RESERVATIONS WE ARE HOPING YOU WILL CONSIDER LETTING US PROVIDE YOUR DINNER ON THURSDAY. REMEMBER YOU CAN EAT WITH US AT SCHOOL OR DO TAKE OUT.

 

PLEASE HELP SUPPORT PROJECT INSIDE OUT!!

 

COMPLETE THE BOTTOM HALF OF THIS SHEET AND RETURN IT BY FRIDAY, JANUARY 18TH.

 

IT IS NOT TOO LATE!!!

______________________________________________________________________________

I/We would like:

 

________Adult @ $6.00 each

________Child/Children @ $3.00 each

There is a $20.00 Family Maximum

 

I/we will:

________be at the 5:00 seating

________be at the 6:00 seating

________do take out between 5:30 and 6:00

 

Name:__________________________________ Phone #:_________________

 

 

Child’s Name____________________________ Teacher:__________________

 

 

By the end of the week, pictures with a description of all the raffle items will be up on the Porters Point School web page in the Project Inside Out section.  We will be sending home a form that will allow you to purchase raffle tickets anytime up to Thursday afternoon

What's My Rule?

This week in SWR our red word is could .  This is the longest red word we've had yet and is proving to be very tricky for the first graders.  We also have THREE word families this week all with short "u"-___up, ____ug and ___un.  We generated many words that fit in these families.  Our favorite one, by far, was UNnecessary!  (The first graders *love* when I have to write long words!)  Our WOW word this week is vanished- disappearing quickly.   

In math we continued our work with the Function Machine and tried to figure out what the rule of the machine was based on the numbers on the in/out chart.  We are getting very good at this!  Tomorrow we will review for our  Unit 5 test on Wednesday. 

During reading, each group started a new book.  They include:
Cam Jansen
Bingo and the Ducks
Speedy Bee's Dance and
Flowers for Grandma

We worked on vowel combinations and stopped while we read to ask questions and record what we were thinking. 

We all chose new poems for this week's Poetry Cafe as well.  It is very important that your first grader practice their poem EVERY NIGHT at home. 

 Examples of solid, liquid and gas in our bodies!

 Summer and Hannah tap out their red words

Thank goodness Ryan remembered Grandma on the back!

We continued learning about solids and liquids in science with an exploration of liquids day.  We learned about the properties of liquids and tried to match the liquid in our bottles to the property.  The properties of liquids are: colored, translucent, bubbly, foamy, viscous, and transparent.  Try to help your first grader notice different liquids at home and think about how they would categorize them.  You can find liquids EVERYWHERE- dish soap, laundry detergent, milk, water, gatorade, cooking oil, olive oil, hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc! 

Parent/Teacher conferences are scheduled for Monday, March 4 (12-4) and Tuesday, March 5 (11am-7pm). This is the Monday and Tuesday directly following February vacation.  Please be thinking of possible times that would work for your conference.  Thanks!

Making 10

This morning every single person in our room used our WOW word, persistent, in a sentence correctly!  Way to go first graders!  We read another chapter in Mr. Popper's Penguins, chapter 16, and realized that if there are 20 chapters in the book, and we just read the 16th one... we have four chapters left!  We found the difference!  We were so proud to have figured this math problem out!

We continued to work on doubling, and making tens in math today.  Making tens can be tricky- ask your first grader to tell you about it.  We know that adding a number to ten is pretty simple, so we try to make one of the numbers we're adding 10 so we can simply add to it!  For example:

If we have 8+4=______.  We need to make the number closest to 10 (8) a 10.  In order to do that, we need to borrow 2 from the four which turns our problem to 10+2.  10+2 is easier to solve than 8+4!  We know that 10+2 is 12!  This is a challenging task for first graders- encourage your child to practice at home by asking them for different combinations of 10! 

We also rotated through math stations to practice skills for the upcoming test. 

We read another realistic fiction story today to help us ask questions while reading and with our writing stories.  We loved the story, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. We also added the story elements to our story chart.  We also met in reading groups and practiced reading phrases as mini-sentences.  Look at these first graders:

In science today we learned even more information about liquids and solids.  We are becoming experts at liquids and solids!