Turkey Time

Our Grand Finale Song for our Grandparents Day Program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fmRT53hhNU&NR=1 

We sure had a lot of fun teaching the 'Turkey Time' dance to the Grandparents!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Writing in the First Grade Classroom

Writing Workshop is a daily activity in our classroom.  We are currently working on a unit in our writing curriculum called: Writing for Readers.  Our focus in writing is to write short personal narratives that other students can easily read.  The student's work needs to be neat, legible, have word wall words spelled correctly and write as many of the sounds in a 'tricky' word written down as the child can hear. Within the format of writing easy to read pieces students record their idea, go back and reread their writing to add content and to make their writing clear and understandable. It is exciting to see how all students consider themselves as writers as they record Small Moment stories.  For another perspective on writing in the First Grade link to:  http://www.education.com/magazine/article/first_grade_writing/

Grandparents/Special Friends Day and some Websites

Grandparents/Special Friends Day
Tuesday November 22
1:45 PM in the First Grade Classroom
We will share the ABCs of the First Thanksgiving and sing some songs.
Students and their guests can shop at the Corral Drive Book Fair after the program.
See you there!

Some websites to check into:  Especially helpful IF we all get snowed in this weekend!
http://www.raz-kids.com/
Teacher Name;  gaadland
Click on the icon for your students name
Student Password:  your students middle name

http://www.sumdog.com/
To log on check out the Username and Password that is taped in the front of your child's Friday Folder.

Veteran's Day/ Another Math Problem

Today we discussed Veteran's Day and the concept of the meaning of the colors of the American Flag.
A fun and informative site we explored is:  http://www.va.gov/kids/k-5/games_activities.asp

Students are bringing home our first grade Thanksgiving Family Project in their Friday Folders.  Please help your child disguise the paper turkey and return on Monday November 14.  We will display the disguised turkeys on a bulletin board for Grandparents day on Tuesday November 22.

And now....another Mathematics Problem:

Kim bought ___ (9 or 19 or 29) pencils at the store.  She gave 7 of the pencils to Sam.  How many pencils does Kim have now?

Please choose the beginning number according to the level of challenge you child would like to solve or solve the problem 3 times using the different starting number each time.  Use the comment box below and have your child explain their thinking about how to solve the problem.  Students who post to the comment box will pick from the treasure box at school on Monday.

Have a great 3 day weekend with your child!

Triangles...triangles...TRIANGLES!!!

Today's mathematics lesson was to assess that the student's understand the attributes of triangles.  Attributes include:  3 vertices (or points), 3 sides, equal sides, unequal sides, straight sides, diagonal or slanty sides. We combined an art lesson and had the students create a repeating triangle design using the color and background to show as many triangles as possible.   Have your child identify their work in progress in these pics of triangles!

Our class triangle quilt

 We learned about how triangles can be connected to each other to leave the green space as a triangle also!  It was a challenging project that really made us think about the attributes of triangles.

 

A fun video to view is:
Triangle Juggler

and for more math/art go to
Math Cats Gallery

Community

Today we discussed the concept of 'Community'.  We defined community as a place where people live, work and play.

We are bringing home a project about our neighborhoods around Corral Drive.  Please help your son or daughter label their picture with the house number and street address and return the picture tomorrow.

  Tomorrow, we will be creating a large map showing where we live in relationship to Corral Drive.  Thanks!