This past month we have been very busy learning engaging content and working extremely hard to be successful learners!
Some exciting things to note about our class:
-The children have filled their class rock jar by working together as a TEAM! They decided to celebrate by having a toy day! Great work first graders! Keep working as a team!
-"Book it!" Many of our students read 12 or more books at home this past month! Turn in your book it calendar for a free pizza hut coupon! I will be sending out the November calendars this week.
-Thank you to all of our field trip volunteers! The children had a wonderful time learning about various habitats on our trip.
This past month we have been busy learning...
In foundational skills, we have focused our word work on vowel teams (ee, ai and ay.) We have learned the sounds these vowels make in words and practiced spelling words with these sounds. We also have been working with different word families to help decode words easier. We learned what a contraction is and the words that make up contractions (/she/ /is/ makes /she's/, etc) The children have grown so much in reading and are using their reading strategies to figure out unknown words. Thank you for reading every night with your child! Their growth is showing.
Our comprehension focus has been working with the text features in informational text and asking and answering questions within a text. We have tied a lot of social studies and science content with our reading time. For example, when learning about animal adaptations, we have asked various questions about an informational article on animals and then explored in science to find out the answers to our questions. The children are very good at asking questions and their curiosity leads to ownership of their learning! Keep asking!
In writing, we have been working on writing opinion pieces as well as informational writing pieces. For our informational writing, each child chose a habitat to research. They researched using the internet and developed a short paragraph about their habitat. We then used a computer program called "pixie" to make a diagram of our habitats which included plants and animals found in the habitat. Children had an opportunity to share their finished writing product with their classmates and were very proud of their work! We have also practiced a lot with editing our finished writing. We used a checklist to help us remember what to look for when editing.
In math, we have been working on subtraction strategies and word problems. Please check out the new "math magician" website on the right hand side of the blog. The children are becoming more fluent with their math facts with this website and love to print out a certificate when they get 95% or higher with their math facts! We have also been working with analyzing and interpreting data within bar graphs, pictographs and picture graphs. The children were able to apply real life data when they conducted their own survey with their classmates and then constructed a bar graph with their data.
In social studies we have been learning about the various US symbols and their meaning.
In science, we learned about the food chain in different ecosystems. We have also been working on identifying and reasoning with how animals stay safe. We experimented with an octopus experiment and a camouflage experiment. We learned about animal adaptations to help animals function in life, such as different beaks, feet and teeth. The children LOVE science and the hands on application to learning!
Other information:
November 11, 12- Parent Teacher Conferences. Half day for students
I sent out a confirmation with a reserved date and time. Please send back to school to either confirm or re-schedule.
November 5- PTA 5:30-6:30
November 21-Math and Science Night 630-800pm
As always, thank you for your dedication to your child's success in school! It is true teamwork between the home and school that ensures a successful learner! Have a great week!
Angelina_K_Ferri@mcpsmd.org
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Reading Night!!!
Join me in South Lake's Reading Night!
Tonight! 6:30-8:00pm will be an evening filled with reading games and snacks!
Hope to see all of my families there!
Tonight! 6:30-8:00pm will be an evening filled with reading games and snacks!
Hope to see all of my families there!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Together!
What an exciting night last evening! Over 30 South Lake families attended our PTA meeting! Thank you for your support! I enjoyed spending time with our wonderful families!
Thursday, September 26, 2013
International Night!
Friday, September 27th from 6:00-8:00pm will be South Lake's International Night!
The evening will be filled with a tour around the world. Many different countires will be represented. Children may try food from around the world, enjoy cultural music, watch a fashion show and have a blast learning about different cultures and our world!
I hope to see you all there!
A love for learning!
Our class truly shows a love to learn! They are always asking for an extra challenge and work hard to persevere through difficult problems.
My apologies for being a bit behind on our academic updates!
These past few weeks we have been very busy in class...
In foundational skills, we have continued to build our recognition and spelling of first grade sight words. Sight words are words that students may not be able to sound out (said, there, etc.) We work on both reading these words and spelling these words. We have also worked on chunking words when we may not know what the word is. We use "reading animals' to help us decode words we may not know. "Chunky Monkey" is the animal who helps us look for word chunks in words. For example, in the word "spot" a child may read the chunk /ot/ and be able to decode the word more effectively. We have also worked on the "silent e" sound. We refer to this letter as "sneaky e."
Our comprehension focus has been recognizing text features and their purpose in non-fiction articles and books. Text features are found in non-fiction and help the reader find facts and information. Some of the text features that we have learned so far are : titles, photographs, illustrations, captions, labels, glossary and the table of contents. The children are very knowledgeable about text features and their purpose!
In writing we have been practicing becoming natural editors to our finished work. This includes going back to our writing and looking for punctuation marks, capital letters, good spacing, nice handwriting and any misspelled words that we should know. We completed our very first informational/explanatory writing piece! The children chose their own animal to research. After discussing how to research, the children used www.pebblego.com to research information about their animal, such as its appearance, its habitat, what it eats and any additional cool facts. They then put their research notes into a short paragraph. They illustrated their animal and some children even added labels to their animal. I will be sending these home shortly. I am so proud of this first informational writing piece and they children are too!
In math, we have worked on place value within numbers and using tens and ones to compose various numbers. We compared two digit numbers by using the greater than, less than and equal symbols. We also discussed and analyzed what is "10 more" than any number within 100 and "10 less" than any number. We looked at different patterns within the 100's chart and how to figure out quickly what ten more or ten less is. The children are very good at articulating how they problem solve through their answers. I expect them daily to tell me how they came up with an answer and to share their problem solving strategy with their peers.
In science we have been describing evidence that living things have parts not seen by the eye. We experimented with using a magnify glass and the importance of using different tools in science. We have also discussed habitats and looked more closely at the parts of a seed and the basic functions of a plant.
In social studies we have discussed the different roles and responsibilities of community members and who makes up a community: our school community and our community where we live.
Important Dates to remember:
Sept. 27th- International Night 6-8pm
Sept. 27th- Early Dismissal day
Oct. 1 - PTA Meeting 5:30-6:30pm
Oct. 10th- Reading/Writing Night 6:30-8:00pm
Thank you for helping your child every night with their homework and their reading! I appreciate your time and dedication to your child's education.
Angelina_K_Ferri@mcpsmd.org
My apologies for being a bit behind on our academic updates!
These past few weeks we have been very busy in class...
In foundational skills, we have continued to build our recognition and spelling of first grade sight words. Sight words are words that students may not be able to sound out (said, there, etc.) We work on both reading these words and spelling these words. We have also worked on chunking words when we may not know what the word is. We use "reading animals' to help us decode words we may not know. "Chunky Monkey" is the animal who helps us look for word chunks in words. For example, in the word "spot" a child may read the chunk /ot/ and be able to decode the word more effectively. We have also worked on the "silent e" sound. We refer to this letter as "sneaky e."
Our comprehension focus has been recognizing text features and their purpose in non-fiction articles and books. Text features are found in non-fiction and help the reader find facts and information. Some of the text features that we have learned so far are : titles, photographs, illustrations, captions, labels, glossary and the table of contents. The children are very knowledgeable about text features and their purpose!
In writing we have been practicing becoming natural editors to our finished work. This includes going back to our writing and looking for punctuation marks, capital letters, good spacing, nice handwriting and any misspelled words that we should know. We completed our very first informational/explanatory writing piece! The children chose their own animal to research. After discussing how to research, the children used www.pebblego.com to research information about their animal, such as its appearance, its habitat, what it eats and any additional cool facts. They then put their research notes into a short paragraph. They illustrated their animal and some children even added labels to their animal. I will be sending these home shortly. I am so proud of this first informational writing piece and they children are too!
In math, we have worked on place value within numbers and using tens and ones to compose various numbers. We compared two digit numbers by using the greater than, less than and equal symbols. We also discussed and analyzed what is "10 more" than any number within 100 and "10 less" than any number. We looked at different patterns within the 100's chart and how to figure out quickly what ten more or ten less is. The children are very good at articulating how they problem solve through their answers. I expect them daily to tell me how they came up with an answer and to share their problem solving strategy with their peers.
In science we have been describing evidence that living things have parts not seen by the eye. We experimented with using a magnify glass and the importance of using different tools in science. We have also discussed habitats and looked more closely at the parts of a seed and the basic functions of a plant.
In social studies we have discussed the different roles and responsibilities of community members and who makes up a community: our school community and our community where we live.
Important Dates to remember:
Sept. 27th- International Night 6-8pm
Sept. 27th- Early Dismissal day
Oct. 1 - PTA Meeting 5:30-6:30pm
Oct. 10th- Reading/Writing Night 6:30-8:00pm
Thank you for helping your child every night with their homework and their reading! I appreciate your time and dedication to your child's education.
Angelina_K_Ferri@mcpsmd.org
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Thank you!
Thank you to all of the families who were able to attend our back to school night! Your time is greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoyed learning about your child's learning environment and what we do everyday.
Hope to see you soon!
Angelina_K_Ferri@mcpsmd.org
Hope to see you soon!
Angelina_K_Ferri@mcpsmd.org
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