Language Arts
This week in language arts we worked on our new writing project. The assignment was to write a story about something that happened to you or something that you learned to do. This gave the kids a chance to practice using the past tense verbs. They did a great job with this. To prepare for our writing we practiced different ways of saying verbs in the past and in the present. We also discussed that many verbs in the past tense end with an accent, for example: él baila(present tense) él bailó(past tense).
Phonics/fonética:
We reviewed diphthongs and consonant blends. We learned about the suffixes -ito and -ita which when placed at the end of a word make the word smaller for example casa or house becomes casita or small house.
Math
In math we finished our unit on money, the kiddos played a game that helped them practice converting 25 cents into different coin variations. We also started our unit on multiplication and division. We discussed that 3 groups of 2 is the same as 2+2+2=6 or 3, 2’s. The students had a chance to form their own groups with connecting blocks and string. Ask your child to show you.
History & Geography
This week we did quite a bit of map work. We made a map of the territory that was the United States before and after the Louisiana Purchase and we compare this to the first map that we made of the 13 colonies. For our read alouds we read about Thomas Jefferson’s plans to have James Monroe purchase New Orleans from Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France at that time. We learned a little bit about what was going on in Europe and we read about the outcome of Monroe’s endeavors. We also reviewed and added to our time line.
Science
The class is so excited to begin their lapbook on the Earth and rocks. We spent most of our science time working on them Monday and Tuesday. In the read aloud this week, we read about different types of mining. We learned about coal , ore , and other materials that are found in mines and quarries. We also learned the role that geologists play in finding these substances. On Friday we took a pausing point and reviewed what we have learned so far. The class answered some riddles and read a trade book to go along with this unit. We ended the day with a very excited group heading off to the Portland Zoo Snooze.
English Spelling
We did lots of activities practicing all of our sorts this week. The students are pros with these words now since they review all the vowel patterns that we’ve gone over in the last few sorts. We finished our final draft letters to Sean Daniels the geologist , and sent them off on Tuesday. We’re hoping to get a reply sometime next week. Two of our journal entries this week were to write about our favorite zoo animals and things that we liked about and/or did for Spirit Week.
Art
I found a small amount of air-dry clay in my storage area this week and decided it was just enough for the first graders to make clay elephants. We worked on this step-by-step, and the students did a great job creating these very cute elephants! Next week they can paint their elephants with acrylic paint.