October 16, 2015
Here is an update on what is happening in Room 103 
Reading
Our Literacy Stations are up and running! Students rotate through seven different
stations throughout the week. At the Work on Writing Station students have been
working on Mouse Books (more information below). This station will grow with the
students throughout the year to incorporate different types of writing. Our latest
addition was the Ipad Station where the students are currently using an app in which the
students trace words, letters, and numbers to practice making their letters correctly.
The students enjoy the balance of cooperative and independent work as well as the
variety of skills practiced. Right now the favorites seem to be Ipad and Read to
Someone! During stations I spend time reading with small groups of students to provide
more guided practice.
As we wrap up our introduction to Reader’s Workshop, our class discussed the
importance of reading different genres and compared this to having a balanced diet. It is
important to read fiction, non-fiction, and poetry because we gain different things from
each genre. First up is fiction! We will discuss the story elements present in fiction texts
such as characters, setting, problem, and solution. We will also examine the beginning
middle and end structure of a story and determine what important parts of the story
happen in each of these.
Math
We are continuing to practice the count up strategy when adding two numbers. We have
also learned the term “turnaround fact” which explains that the order of two numbers
being added together does not matter because the total does not change. For example.
13+2=15 and 2+13=15. We are also working with different non-standard units of
measurement more closely. Some important tips being reinforced when we measure
with different objects such as unifex cubes are no gaps between cubes, no overlap of
cubes, make a straight line, and measure end to end. We have also spent a great deal of
time working with the number 10! We are looking at all the different ways to make 10
such as 7 and 3, 8 and 2, 5 and 5, etc. We call these “partner pairs” of ten. The term
partner pairs is one you will hear often in first grade! Knowing the different number
combinations that make up the number 10 can help children when trying to solve more
difficult problems.
Writing
Earlier in the year we read the story The Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. In this story, a
mouse lives in the library and writes mini books for the students to read. These books
inspire the students to become authors themselves! We discussed the different topics
that we could write about and started writing our very own Mouse Books! While writing
these books we reviewed the writing process. We wrote our books and went back in to
add more detail, check our capitals and periods, we even read the stories to a friend to
get their feedback! The students have worked incredibly hard and are proud of their
books! Students are continuing to create books on different topics while at the Work on
Writing Station.
Science
Thank you for taking the time to create the rock collections with your child, the
students were thrilled to show off their rocks! To kick off our rock unit, we completed
a “Rock Walk” in which the students displayed their rocks for everyone in our class to
walk around and check out. After reading from our science book, we made a list of
different properties we could use to describe our rocks such as the texture, the color,
the presence of air holes or fossils, the list goes on! The students drew detailed pictures
of their favorite rocks and wrote different properties about the rocks. We were also
lucky enough to examine a piece of granite and determine the minerals that were used
to create it! In the coming weeks we will be discussing how people use rocks in our world
and why they are so important to us.
QR Codes
Our class used the Ipads to scan QR Codes for the first time this week and it was a
huge success! Placed around the room were books of different genres with a QR Code
taped to the front cover. Students worked with a partner to determine the genre of
each book by looking for key features we discussed as a class. Each pair of students
had an Ipad and used their QR Code Scanner to scan the QR Code and see if they were
correct! This is a tool we will be using frequently throughout the year.
Important October Dates
October 16th ~ Book Orders Due
October 16th / 17th ~ Freaky Friday/Spooky Saturday
October 22nd ~ Early Release
October 23rd ~ Box Tops Collection
October 30th ~ October Reading Calendar Due
October 30th ~ Halloween Party (More information to come later)