Well folks, we are officially half way through first grade! We have passed day 90! Since we are halfway through the year this week we took our mid-year benchmark tests. There are 5 tests: reading (split over 2 days), writing (split over 2 days), math (also a 2 day test), science, and social studies. This week we took the reading portion. We will finish up our testing next week with the writing, math, science, and social studies. We spent the bulk of this week reviewing and getting ready for everything since the tests cover all of the skills we have learned the first half of the year.
In math we took sometime to build on our math strategies by reviewing the doubles strategy and many others. We have also started using a 120 chart during our morning meeting to help build our math skills. Below are some videos that will help explain what we do in class.
In math we took sometime to build on our math strategies by reviewing the doubles strategy and many others. We have also started using a 120 chart during our morning meeting to help build our math skills. Below are some videos that will help explain what we do in class.
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In writing we started "squiggle writing" and wrote about if we lived in a snow globe (I got this idea from my friend Hope at http://shenanigansinsecond.blogspot.com/2012/01/love-me-tender-snow-globe-fun.html). The kids did such a great job on this! We used cup lids from our plant unit that were in the science lab to create the globe. We based this writing off of the book The Snow Globe Family . If you click on the book title it takes you to a link at Amazon that has a description of the book.
We also started 2 other writing activities. One is for morning work, we call it "squiggle writing" and the other is for one of our daily work on writing, independent writing times. For that one students can pick a picture from a magazine to cut out and write about. I like to try to incorporate a lot of variety into writing so that kids learn about different places and resources they can use to get ideas to write about (we've all experienced the all too familiar writers block).
Here is what squiggle writing looks like:
Here is what squiggle writing looks like:
We also started a new chapter book for our read aloud. This week we are reading The Little's. I try to read them one chapter book a week and use different series so that they get exposed to new authors and genres. Some of the books we have read that they really enjoyed are: Andrew Lost, Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, A-Z Mysteries and Nate the Great.
Clicking on the titles will take you to links in Amazon so that you can read descriptions about the series. I think the absolute favorite has been Andrew Lost, so I am going to try to order more. He is a relatively new author to me but the kids just loved his book!
As you can tell we have had a VERY busy week. They have worked so hard, they definitely earned a nice long weekend!
Clicking on the titles will take you to links in Amazon so that you can read descriptions about the series. I think the absolute favorite has been Andrew Lost, so I am going to try to order more. He is a relatively new author to me but the kids just loved his book!
As you can tell we have had a VERY busy week. They have worked so hard, they definitely earned a nice long weekend!