Happy Thanksgiving!

Last week, we had our Fall Book Fair. The Book Fair had so many new and cool books. The kiddos were really excited to explore the options. Lots of friends in class made many visits to go buy books. Please make sure you are reading a book with your child daily and asking them questions about what they read! Reading is so important in first grade.

 In science, we worked on the four seasons. The class helped me draw pictures of what each season looks like and we hung it up onto our class bulletin board. I am so happy to see how much their fine motors have improved through their drawings compared to the beginning of the year.

 The kids did many writing activities with Mrs. Skalaban in the month of November about Thanksgiving. Last Thursday, they made turkey hats and had a turkey lunch feast in the cafeteria along with the other first grade classes wearing their hats. The children had fun coloring and creating their turkey hats.

I’m slowly introducing more and more math center activities for the children as the year goes on. Some of the kids are getting really creative with the math manipulatives.

In math last week, we worked on word problems. Specifically addition problems. Every day in class, we do a math warm up with dry erase boards. We practice the skills together and then they are sent off to their tables to do it independently.  

"Nhi and Tai have 44 apples. Nhi and Tai ate 2 more. How many apples did Nhi and Tai eat in all?"

"Samuel has 14 shoes. Samuel bought 14 more shoes. How many shoes does Samuel have altogether?”

To help the children determine if they will be adding or subtracting, this anchor chart in class will help them. We look for words we see in the word problem that’s on the anchor chart and then we look to see if it’s on the adding side or the subtracting side. I ask the kids to underline any of these words in their work also to help them remember which operation they will be doing.

For the last 2 days before Thanksgiving break, we practiced base ten representatives and expanded form. The kids are so smart that they got this down! As the year goes on, the numbers will only get bigger. 

Expanded Form= Hình Thức Mở Rộng

We did a robotics lesson this week on how to build a sturdy wall. We came up that “sturdy” means something that is strong and is hard to knock over. The kids were realllllly excited for this lesson because it was the first lesson they were able to explore with actual Legos. They worked with a partner to build. After building, they recorded in their spirals a picture of their study wall. 

I hope everyone has a happy, happy Thanksgiving! Remember to eat lots of food because I know I will!

The Summitt Lion/Dragon Dance team will perform at the annual Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 11 a.m. The parade begins around the Capitol and ends at the Ann Richards Congress Bridge. Come out, bring a toy to donate and support our team!

*I sent home a field trip permission slip in the children's daily folder. Please sign it and return it by December 5th in order for your child to go. 

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