A month of growth!

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