We did some fun crafts these last few days before Thanksgiving. The children wove a placemat and Mrs. Cortes' 3rd graders helped us make a turkey by tracing our hands and feet. For the past few weeks, the children have been learning about the Pilgrims. The kids spent some time sketching & writing what they have learned about the content we studied. I hope you all have a wonderful, RELAXING holiday with family and friends. School resumes on Tuesday, December 2nd.
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After spending much time reading informational text, the class has now started a new writing unit on writing non-fiction text. The kids thought about different topics they know a lot about. They ranged from dogs to balls to ninja turtles and all the way to mother nature! To determine if they know a lot about a certain topic, the kids talked with a partner and tried to list, on their fingers, five things they know about their topic. Check out the video and some of our mini-lesson charts we focused on this week to help develop our writing. Our music class this week involved singing! Mr. Perez worked with the children on really listening to different notes and trying to sing in certain keys. Pretty cool stuff! Last, but not least, please complete and return the pink conference paper this Monday. Please put at least 4 times you are able to meet with me. I'll make a master schedule and send home a note after Thanksgiving informing you of your exact time. Thanks!!
![]() We have been spending a great deal of time reading and understanding non-fiction text. Much of the reading we do as adults is informational. The Common Core standards place a heavy emphasis on both reading and writing non-fiction pieces to make sure our students are college and career ready. Directed Drawing is technique I use often in class. The children draw along with me as I teach them. It's a powerful method because each child is actively involved and needs to pay attention throughout the entire lesson. The Directed Drawing we did this week was about the Pilgrims voyage to America. Ask your child what he/she learned! After listening to a book about bears and a book about penguins, the children were given sticky notes to jot down the main topic and any key details they learned from the text. We finished up the week with a Close Reading activity. The idea of Close Reading is to read the text with a close eye - meaning to read it several times in order to get a better understanding. Close Reading usually takes 2 -3 days. On Friday, we did our first reading - the children try to read through the text independently. Next, I read the text aloud to the students as they followed along. At this point, the children circled any words they did not understand. Children discussed their circled words with a partner and then as a class to determine what they meant. Close Reading is done with material that has some challenging words or concepts in order to help children persevere until they understand what it means. ![]() In music class this week, Mr. Perez began to teach the children about half notes and quarter notes. The class used rhythm sticks to follow the measures written on the board. It's like learning a new language!!! The kids can't wait to go to music every Thursday! We are very excited at Lampton. We have a music teacher that will be working with the first grade classes ALL school year! His name is Mr. Perez and he is awesome. We met with him for the first time on Thursday. He taught us the difference between a "song" and a "piece" of music. ( A song has words while a piece does not.) We listened to different types of music and he introduced us to some of the instruments that we will learn to play. Mr. Perez said that we will learn to read music, too! The focus that children need in music definitely helps in other curricular areas, too - such as READING! Our students are very lucky!!! Take a look at a sample of our first session... Our writing unit on Personal Narratives is coming to a close. The kids selected their best story, revised it with a partner, edited it by checking the word wall , and fancied it up by using markers & colored pencils. Today the children made a cover and gave their stories a title. Next week the children will get an opportunity to share their work with their classmates. We ended the week by meeting and reading with our 5th Grade Buddies in Mrs. Gardner's class. A few times a month, our classes will get together to read with each other. Not only do the first graders enjoy it, but the 5th graders LOVE IT! It's so nice that the little ones have a big buddy at school. Quick Reminder: No school on Tuesday - Veteran's Day Holiday :)
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