First Grade Week 26

Language Arts

This week we began doing calendar time differently than we have done in the past. Previously the kiddos verbally expressed the date and added and subtracted the number of the day but now they were given the opportunity to incorporate all the calendar skills in written form. This included: the date, the word of the day/palabra del día, the number of the day/número del día and math. In the math portion we added and subtracted 5 and 10 to the number of the day and expressed the number of the day in expanded form /forma desarollada, word form/forma de palabras and in tallies/cuentas. Finally, we expressed the number in the form of dollars and cents. Number bonds with addition and subtraction of the related number families were also part of the activity. You should have seen a couple of these activity sheets in your child’s take home folder.

In writing this week we continued to work on our friendly letters. The kids edited their rough drafts and continued to add interesting details. We emphasized the editing process discussing how at times we must write and rewrite a letter or story several times before it is ready for publishing.

Math

In math this week we continued working on subtraction with regrouping. We discussed and practiced how a number is transformed when we regroup, though the value doesn’t change. For example 1 ten is the same as 10 ones. We practiced regrouping using our base 10 rods and our unit cubes along with our place value tables which helped the children to better visualize the regrouping process.

Social Studies & Science

This week we have begun our new unit in the birth of our nation curriculum. We started the week off by reading and reviewing how Europeans first came to the New World. It was a great opportunity for students to review what they learned last year about the pilgrims and Columbus. We began a class time line so that we have a visual reminder of what we are learning and we learned the 13 colonies chant. We had some wonderful discussions about indentured servants and slaves in the New World . The class was very passionate about how they felt on the subject of slavery. On Thursday we read about the Boston Tea Party and had our own reenactment in class. Some student’s played the role of Sons of Liberty, others were store merchants, and then we also had our British soldiers. After we had the tea dumping and the closing down of the Boston Harbor we then discussed who wanted to be Patriots and who were Loyalists. We held a Continental Congress meeting with representatives from the colonies and we drafted an imaginary letter to the King of England. Benjamin Franklin pretended to write this letter out (Ben played this role).

The class loved doing this exercise and learned a lot.

Science

We’ve been reading big books about space this week. We started a class book about what we have learned so far in our solar system unit and will be finishing that up next week. We had fun playing a stargazers vs astronomer game as review. On Thursday the class began a lesson on history of space exploration. We learned a little about the Space race between the Soviet Union and the United States, and they read about Sputnik. The class was amazed to learn that this first satelite was the size of a beach ball. We will continue this lesson next week.

English Spelling

We worked on finishing up our sort activities and studying for spelling test this week. Students have been working with a partner to practice their words. The class had their spelling test on Thursday and did great! For grammar we reviewed punctuation, focusing on when and why we use periods. In journal writing, the class wrote a short story about their Inca masks. The students had a choice on Tuesday to either write about what it would be like to be a Native American already living in North America when the pilgrims arrived or a sailor traveling with Columbus on one of his ships when he landed in the Bahamas. On Thursday they wrote an entry about St. Patrick’s day.

Art

The first graders learned about Henri Matisse this week. We read a book called “Drawing with Scissors” and we looked at several examples of Matisse’s paintings and collages. The students started a collage of a still life with a window in the background. They’re practicing cutting out shapes without drawing first!

Music

Sr Kit brought his Peruvian harp today. He played a number of traditional pieces from Ireland and Latin America, with the class accompanying on the rhythm instruments.