Room 235 Newsletter
11/28/16-12/2/16
Interactive Read Aloud
Workboard
Writing: what we know about animals preparing for the winter (list
Time to Sleep
Bear Snores On
Sleepy Bears
Frederick
Three Pebbles and a Song
Animals preparing for the winter, hibernation/winter lethargy,
friendship and families working together. Using the information
from book covers, the title and our prior knowledge to get an idea
of what the story might be about. Determining the time of day,
weather and season from the illustrations. Continued discussions
about animal adaptations and how their features and behaviors
help them survive in their habitats.
format), letters to characters, book responses using evidence from
the story to support your statements or questions, comparing two
stories
Math: counting by 5s, story problems, Domino Addition, a Bubble
Sort with numbers 1-20
ABC: words with bonus letters, working with the all part
Poetry: “Every Six Months”
Also: browsing boxes, write around the room, chart reading,
independent reading and buddy reading (new)
Interactive/Shared Writing, Word Study
Shared Reading
“Every Six Months” 1st Grade is a year of wiggly teeth, so this was
an easy choice! Ask your child about this poem…who’s in it, who’s
the narrator, is there dialogue (how do you know) and how does
the author make this poem come alive (relating to our writing
workshop lessons). We looked at the word “went” and worked on
Word study: reading/finding words that are missing a bonus letter, reading with phrasing and expression while dramatizing this
using the all part to make new words.
poem. We had fun moving different ways to understand the
rhythm of this poem and then read it without rhythm, noticing
how bland it sounded.
Fundations, Unit 4: We reviewed the trick words, working with
bonus letters, the glued sound all and had dictation practice. We
had the unit test and reviewed it together. We began Unit 5 which
includes two new glued sounds am and an.
Writing Workshop
Math
Continued work with making characters come alive, using speech
and thought bubbles, using dialogue/quotation marks, making
words pop out and using an ellipsis where it makes sense. It’s not
easy but we’re working on checking our stories to see if we’re
telling the Who? What? When? Where? and How? to help the
reader understand.
Counting various combinations of dimes, nickels and pennies and
playing the Penny Nickel Dime Grab game. Collecting information
about the number of siblings we have using tallies and then
making a line plot to illustrate the data we collected. Ask your
child to explain why we might use tally marks and the purpose of a
line plot. Looking at dot patterns on dominoes and number
combinations with dominoes. We had a review of Unit 3 and ended
with the unit assessment.
Notes
Thank you to:
*Rachel Laskin, Ben’s mom, for sharing another neat math lesson
with us on Friday. We worked with a Bubble Sort where you
compare two numbers at a time and if necessary, swap them so
they’re in the correct order. This process continues until all the
cards are in the correct order. After a demonstration, friends
worked in pairs to sort number cards from 1-20. This would be a
great family activity to try at home.
*It’s that time of year for coats, boots, hats, mittens and scarves!
Please ensure that all clothing is labeled with your child’s name.
*Dismissal will be 12:30 pm on Thursday, December 8 th.
*School picture retakes are scheduled for Wednesday, December
7th.
*Everyone who contributed to the winter clothing drive.