Twenty-Seventh Day of School

In Social Science today, we learned 6 survival needs in order of immediate need (tested). We took notes for study at home.

In Writing, we attempted to restart the writing process from the beginning. Many of Room 11's writers need practice with voicing the setting of their own personal memorable moments.

Math Test Results

Of the 18 students taking the test, 15 passed with an adjusted score of 11 or better. The high score was 18.

Twenty-Sixth Day of School

In Writing, we learned how to use a checklist in order to check our narratives for all of the required elements.

Twenty-Fifth Day of School

In Writing, we began the revision process. Once all of the necessary elements are in place, we switch to blue ink and begin to revise. Our process is:

1. Reread
2. Ask: Is this clear? Is it complete? Is it interesting?
3. If 'no', then add clarifying information and/or interesting details.

Feel free to share your at home writing at your parent conference.

In Math, we took our second Math test.

Twenty-Fourth Day of School

In Writing today, we wrote sentences to mark closure for our narratives. At Back-to-School Night you may recall that 2 simple ways to show closure are to:

1. End with an emotion. Everyone left the party with a smile. 
2. Close with a superlative. This was the best party ever!

Tomorrow will begin the revision process. For the revision process we change from black to blue ink. We will review and add to/improve our writing by:

1. Adding clarifying or missing information (Day 1)
2. Adding interesting details. (Day 2)

The revision process is really where a passing work can be brought to an exemplary work.

Reminder: Reading Logs are due Friday.

Twenty-Third Day of School

Today in Writing, we learned how to add transitions. This week, our first narratives will be reviewed for a second writing grade. If a writer is moving towards having all of the necessary standard elements for a narrative (CCSSELA.W.1.3) that will earn writers a score of 3 as discussed at Back-to-School Night. Grades will be posted to Schoology by week's end. Please at least be aware of your child's topic of choice before coming to your parent conference in the coming weeks.

Our second Math test will likely occur on Wednesday with grades also posted by the end of the week.

In Health, we discussed what it means to have good character.

Twenty-Second Day of School

In Writing today, we drafted one sentence for each of the 3 pages for our story. Our lesson for Monday will be on adding transitions.

In Science/Engineering, we tried our hand at creating as tall a tower as we could from a collection of solids. We discussed which properties of solids were helpful in construction and which were not. Then we created a diagram of our towers.

Reminder: identification photos will be taken on Monday for those interested.

Twenty-First Day of School

In Writing, we quick-sketched our story happenings, or the what happened and what happened next. These occupy the second and third page of the story. Tomorrow we will begin drafting 3 sentences, one for each page.

In Oral Language, we had a discussion of Roberto Clemente's life. Some students had very good speaking skills with good memory.

In Math, we completed our modeling projects. Grades are posted.

Twentieth Day of School

In Writing today, we made a labeled quick-sketch of our setting.

In Oral Language we listened and responded to a nonfiction selection about Roberto Clemente. We learned why he was famous and how he became a true American hero. We then generated a list of oral practice questions (CCSS ELA-Literacy.RI.1.1) which will become the foundation for our first Oral Language project:

1. Who was Roberto Clemente?
2. Where was he born?
3. What was he known for?
4. What kind of person was he?
5. What did he want to do?
6. How did he die?
7. How was he honored?

In Math, we will be finishing up an important modeling project which has taken us longer than usual which is why we have not had homework in math recently. Grades for this project will be posted on Schoology upon completion.

Nineteenth Day of School

In Writing, taking it really slow, students used either their self-generated lists or their parent generated list to decide on the setting and people (characters) for their first story. Then they touch-talked their first page. Hopefully, we will 'quick-sketch' the setting and characters tomorrow. Fingers crossed, we will draft the setting on Thursday. This is much slower than the process described at Back-toSchool night.

Note: parents should be aware of their child's story choice.

No Math homework tonight.

Eighteenth Day of School

In Writing today, we brainstormed a list of people who would possibly be in our narratives. We will likely take it extra slow tomorrow and rather than talk the entire story, only voice the setting (answering who, where, and when).

In Social Science, we learned the meaning of tradition (tested) and discussed the examples of traditions.

Sixteenth Day of School

Today we began our narrative writing by brainstorming a list of settings for possible personal narratives. The settings for our list could very well have been gleaned from our list of memorable moments. It follows that a possible discussion at home would be to say a couple sentences regarding the settings for your child's list of memorable moments. They could mirror an adult making comments about their own settings from their list. Comments might include the answers to where, when, and who questions.

In Science, we each examined a collection of solids and generated a list of properties as a group.

Fifteenth Day of School

We were visited by the Desk Faerie last night.. The Desk Faerie leaves small treats in neatly organized desks.

For Drama we used TPR (Total Physical Response), Oral Language, and pantomime to retell the story of The Great Tug of War.

In Health, we discussed strategies and made a report for keeping healthy mind and bodies.

In PE, we have been accomplishing goals using teamwork/cooperation.

Reminder: Socks must be worn every day.

Math Test Results

Of the 20 students taking the Math test, 11 passed with an adjusted score of 9 or more. One student achieved a perfect score.

Twelfth Day of School

We began our first Science unit with a discussion on the elements of matter. We learned that everything we can see, touch, and taste is made of matter. The 3 states of matter which we will explore are solid, liquid, and gas. We discussed how briefly discussed how matter can change from one state to another be adding or removing heat.

In Math, we took our first Math test.

In Reading we reviewed the essential elements of a narrative: character, setting, plot. As you read at home, consider the following discussion questions when reading narratives:

• Where does the story take place? (setting) For story which have multiple settings, we can consider the setting to be where/when the main plot point occurs (the problem).
• Who is the main character? (Generally, this is the character impacted most by the events of the plot.)
• What is the genre of this selection? Common genres for 1st grade reading include:
• realistic fiction (Events in the story are possible and happen to realistic characters.)
• fairy tale (Stories include elements of magic.)
• fable (a subset of folktales with a moral or lesson, often with talking animal characters)
• mystery
• concept (counting, rhyming, repetitive, or cummulative type stories)
• nonfiction (biographies, autobiographies, and factual selections)
• some selections may be of or include elements of more than one genre.

Eleventh Day of School

There is no homework today. The Math test was also postponed.

In Social Science, we discussed the concepts of Rights and Responsibilities (tested) and the Golden Rule (tested).

In Reading we analyzed a narrative text for its essential elements. These ideas will be constantly referred to over the course of the year and she be brought up in your reading discussions at home.

• Chatacter: establishes 'who'
• Setting: establishes 'where' and 'when' 
• Plot: tells the 'what' or 'what happend' also the middle and end (where the setting is the beginning) or problem/conflict and resolution/solution of a Western narrative. 

Ninth Day of School

Please find monthly reading log given today and due September 27th. Please note, that parents need only record 10 titles/chapters pre month. This is barely 50% of what is actually recommended if your child is currently performing at grade level standard. Children should be reading and being read to. After beginning of the year assessments administered so far, it has been found that a large percentage of the class is performing far below expectations.

There will be a Math test this week. Make sure to review the math vocabulary card given the first week of school. A suggested activity would be to read a definition for an item and then have your child pick the card to match the definition. Students should be able to identify what an addition number sentence is, for example.

Reminder: Back-to-School Night tomorrow night.