Goodbye January, Hello February!

It’s been quite a busy week. The kids have been working very hard in class learning how to add ten and minus 10 to bigger numbers. Some are thrilled when I give them a challenge with numbers over 500. In science, we’ve been talking a little bit about rocks and erosion.

 We haven’t been doing a lot of literacy during VLA because we’ve been working on our coconut dance. We did review our sight words for the week and made flashcards for them though. We started practicing on the stage this week. For the next 2 weeks, we will practice 5 more times before the actual performance. We will be wearing our actually costumes on Tuesday to take pictures. This week the kids tried on their costumes to make sure it fit. Here are pictures of our cool coconuts!

 Yesterday, we had people from Generation Zero come to teach us about recycling and landfills. These people are from a group called Keep Austin Beautiful and they educate children about how to take care of the earth to make it a better place to live in. The kids really enjoyed the presentation. We will have this for the next 2 weeks on Friday. Not only did the kids learn a lot from this, but I did too. After they learned in the classroom, they went outside and did a little relay race sorting how things that belong in the trash and things that belong in the recycle. Both teams did good but Team SUPERMAN won.

 I’ve updated the library labels in the classroom and added more organizers for our books we make in class together. The anticipated 100 days of school is coming up! Only 3 more days!

 I hope the kiddos are ready for another busy week. This upcoming week, we have Tet pictures, 100 days of school, library, class pictures, another Generation Zero presentation, and some more testing for reading.

Next week, we will have the day performance, the night performance, our Valentine’s party, and the science expo hosted by 5^th grade.

4 Day Week- MLK Holiday

I hope everyone enjoyed their 3 day weekend. Don’t you just wish every weekend was a 3-day weekend? It was nice catching up on sleep for me this weekend. These 2 months are going to be very busy. With the testing window opening, we have many events in January and February. All within 3 weeks, we have field trip coming up this Tuesday, 100^th day of school, science fair, the big Tet events, Valentine's, a science generation zero compost presentation…and more that I’m probably forgetting.

On Thursday, the kids were asked to bring in a stuffed teddy bear of any kind for a writing activity in Mrs. Skalaban’s class. The kids were verrrry excited about this activity and could hardly wait to write about their teddy bears. They did a creative writing with their personal bears. Some of the stories were so funny. I enjoyed reading them. A student wrote about how his bear lost his shoe and had to move his clip down to yellow. On his journey to find his shoe, he soon found it hidden in the closet and could move his clip back up to green.

They also did a compare/contrast activity with one other friend in the classroom. They had to think about how their bears were alike, different, and the same to fill out a Venn diagram.

We received a new class parakeet this week. Although he is a very cute little birdie, he is also a very noisy birdie. :-/ He will be going back this Wednesday and our next pet will be a gerbil!

The New Years costumes have finally arrived! This year, first grade will be representing the ethnic group of the Khmer people. Khmer people do a traditional dance involving coconuts which we will be performing for the show in February. The kids are very excited to be using coconuts. We’ve been practicing the dance a lot in class lately during our VLA time. Next week, we will start using the coconuts so the kids can get used to clapping the coconuts together. Below are pictures of the costumes for the boys and girls.

All 39 costumes sorted!

The boys’ “Aladdin” pants.

Don’t forget, field trip to watch Junie B. Jones on Tuesday! Have your child bring a lunch to school. We will be eating in the classroom before going on the field trip in the classroom. 

Science Buddies, Natural vs. Man-made Resources, and Making 10 and Adding On!

We had science buddies on Wednesday. The 5^th grade teachers did an actual experiment with the kids this time using scientific terms such as “hypothesis, result, conclusion, question, experiment, and research.” During the experiment, Bounty, Generic, and AISD paper towels were used to see which paper towel would absorb the most water the quickest. The winner was the Bounty paper towel. The paper-picker-upper!

 I introduced this new math center to some of the students. These puzzles have me even thinking but some students are very quick at it. The objective of the activity is to put together the puzzle by having the corner/edges adding up to a specific sum.

 We received our new class pet last Wednesday. Our little box turtle is very shy. He is always hidden but one day, he finally popped his head out and I got to take a snapshot. He goes back this Wednesday.

In science, we are starting our rock unit. This activity says “If I had a lot of rocks, I would build a…”

Lots of students said they would build a house. Some students said they would build a castle. And some said they would make some jewelry. The kids really enjoyed doing this activity. I told them their mission this weekend was to find some rocks and bring it into class. We will be putting it in their bag on our bulletin board and we will be observing the texture, color, and sizes.

In math, we worked on adding 3 addends by looking for 2 numbers making 10 and then counting on. We also worked on skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s with bigger numbers. Some students are ready and want to take on the challenge by skip counting with 3 digit numbers! Way to go!

We were supposed to do this activity last week but it was SOOO cold, we were cooped up inside in the classroom. I’m so glad the weather finally warmed up for them to go out to recess. They needed it and I needed it also!

We went on a nature walk around the school to look for natural resources and man-made resources. The kids had a fun time doing this.

tài nguyên- natural resource

nhân tạo- man-made resource

Hope everyone enjoys their 3 day weekend!!! 

Welcome back! Welcome back! Welcome back!

It was nice seeing those smiling faces back after 2 weeks. I hope everyone had a restful and fun break. The kids did such a wonderful job transitioning back to school mode. I’ll admit, transitioning back to waking up at 5 every day was hard for me. I think I took a nap every day this week after coming home. We had a pretty productive week coming back. We had library on Tuesday so your child should have checked out a new book. It’s been awhile since we’ve been to library with the crazy December schedule. Please make sure your child is reading EVERY DAY and working on comprehension questions with you at home. I will be assessing their MOY test that will determine their reading level this month. 

In math this week, we worked on odd/even numbers and showing addition problems using tally marks. I introduced a new math center to the kids practicing identifying even and odd numbers and it’s been a hit. The kids are always wanting to play this. We use the little bingo machine and crank it. Then we release a number. We then determine if this number is an even number or an odd number. If anyone has an extra bingo machine around the house, I would be happy to borrow it to add another set in the math centers! :)

 Số chẵn= even number

Số lẻ= odd number

(I apologize if the Vietnamese accent doesn't show up. Sometimes this website is not compatible with my Vietnamese program)

Our math warm-up! We sit in a circle (or attempt to sit in a circle) with our dry erase boards, markers, and sponge.

 "Calvin saw 70 ants. Asher saw 8 ants. How many did Calvin and Asher see in all?"

In science this week, we learned about phases of the moon and natural vs man-made resources.

tài nguyên= natural resources

nhân tạo= man-made resources

***On the monthly calendar, there have been some minor changes. The Goodwill truck drive (that was scheduled for today) is canceled and group pictures that was scheduled January 15th is rescheduled to next month.