This first month of school has flown by! I can't believe it is almost October already! We have been so busy getting to know each other, practicing our classroom routines and structures, learning expectations, and basically building our classroom community! Here's a snap shot of what we've been working on:
Rules:
As a class we discussed what we want our room to look like, sound like, and feel like. We also talked about what rules students think we should have. We then grouped the rules into similar categories and narrowed it down to 5 rules we think are important.
1. Be Respectful- to ourselves, to each other (treat others how we want to be treated), to our materials, to our space
2. Be Responsible- we work hard to do our job and take care of ourselves and our things
3. Use Self-Control- we are in control of our bodies, voices, words, and brain so that we are safe and are able to learn
4. Work Together- we cooperate and help each other
5. Learn and Have Fun- because why else are were even here?!?
Math:
We are learning about data collection and analyzing graphs. This means your scholar should be able to think of a question they want answers to. This question has a purpose that goes deeper than just asking a question to ask a question. You're asking the question for a reason. Then your scholar can collect data on this question, organize their data using a frequency table or tally marks, represent their data with a bar graph, double bar graph, pictograph, or a line plot. Your scholar will use this information to summarize data and give information they learned from the graph and tell why it is important. We are also learning to read the temperature of an analog thermometer so that we can tell temperatures, and use that to dress appropriately for the weather.
Writing:
We are practicing writing stories about ourselves! We are currently in our Personal Narrative unit where scholars are practicing recalling true events from their lives and zooming in on all the details so that they can tell a story that captures their readers attention. Ask your scholar to tell you the difference between a watermelon story and a seed story. Encourage them to continue to capture and notice details when you're out and about doing things! They can use these ideas in class to make new stories!
Reading:
We are building our stamina towards independence. Each day your scholar gets to participate in the Daily 5. This means they will independently read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing, and do word work. All of these activities will help strengthen their abilities to decode tricky words, notice and use spelling patterns to help them when they are writing and reading, practice familiar passages to increase fluency, accuracy and using expression etc. Ask your scholar what their personal reading goal is and how they are working independently to reach that goal.
Science:
We are in our unit about Life Structures! Our first unit focused on looking at various seeds and how they are formed. We learned how seeds soak up water, we discovered how much water seeds soak up, we created a mini sprouter to see if seeds can grow without soil, and now we are testing out growing bean seeds using hydroponic methods! Ask your child what they are noticing with their plants each day and why they think it is that way! We will be learning about animal species next, stay tuned...
Thank you for checking in with what we are doing and staying up to date! We look forward to sharing more with you soon!
Rules:
As a class we discussed what we want our room to look like, sound like, and feel like. We also talked about what rules students think we should have. We then grouped the rules into similar categories and narrowed it down to 5 rules we think are important.
1. Be Respectful- to ourselves, to each other (treat others how we want to be treated), to our materials, to our space
2. Be Responsible- we work hard to do our job and take care of ourselves and our things
3. Use Self-Control- we are in control of our bodies, voices, words, and brain so that we are safe and are able to learn
4. Work Together- we cooperate and help each other
5. Learn and Have Fun- because why else are were even here?!?
Math:
We are learning about data collection and analyzing graphs. This means your scholar should be able to think of a question they want answers to. This question has a purpose that goes deeper than just asking a question to ask a question. You're asking the question for a reason. Then your scholar can collect data on this question, organize their data using a frequency table or tally marks, represent their data with a bar graph, double bar graph, pictograph, or a line plot. Your scholar will use this information to summarize data and give information they learned from the graph and tell why it is important. We are also learning to read the temperature of an analog thermometer so that we can tell temperatures, and use that to dress appropriately for the weather.
Writing:
We are practicing writing stories about ourselves! We are currently in our Personal Narrative unit where scholars are practicing recalling true events from their lives and zooming in on all the details so that they can tell a story that captures their readers attention. Ask your scholar to tell you the difference between a watermelon story and a seed story. Encourage them to continue to capture and notice details when you're out and about doing things! They can use these ideas in class to make new stories!
Reading:
We are building our stamina towards independence. Each day your scholar gets to participate in the Daily 5. This means they will independently read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing, and do word work. All of these activities will help strengthen their abilities to decode tricky words, notice and use spelling patterns to help them when they are writing and reading, practice familiar passages to increase fluency, accuracy and using expression etc. Ask your scholar what their personal reading goal is and how they are working independently to reach that goal.
Science:
We are in our unit about Life Structures! Our first unit focused on looking at various seeds and how they are formed. We learned how seeds soak up water, we discovered how much water seeds soak up, we created a mini sprouter to see if seeds can grow without soil, and now we are testing out growing bean seeds using hydroponic methods! Ask your child what they are noticing with their plants each day and why they think it is that way! We will be learning about animal species next, stay tuned...
Thank you for checking in with what we are doing and staying up to date! We look forward to sharing more with you soon!