Happy Holidays!

This week in first grade had a little bit of everything!

In word study, we've been learning about silent e.  Students have been spelling silent e words, sorting silent e words, and noticing silent e words in their reading.

We have started studying the traditions and holidays happening this time of year that focus on light.  On Wednesday, we were lucky enough to get a visit from Linnaea's mom, Kristin.  She shared the tradition her family takes part in each year on the winter solstice.  They make a bonfire and each family member throws an object into the fire that symbolizes something he or she would like to let go of in the new year.  Kristin made us a 'fire' so that we could try out this ritual as well!

We learned about Snowflake Bentley and then made our own snowflakes to decorate our classroom windows!

On Friday, Rowe School participated in the Hour Of Code.  Students had an introduction to computer science and used the app Kodable to practice basic programming.

*Finally, a reminder that next Friday 12/19 is PJ Day at Rowe School!  Please remember: stuffies, blankies, and other special items stay at home on this day.*

Welcome December (and chilly weather)!

We've been measuring EVERYTHING we can get our hands on this week!  Students have been using 12 inch rulers, 6 inch rulers, and tape measures to practice accurately measuring objects and body parts.  We've even done some estimating of object lengths to the nearest inch using terminology such as  about, almost, and between _____ and _____ inches.

In reading we are focusing on marking the pages in our books where we notice character feelings changing.  We're also beginning to work on reading fluency: sounding more like a storyteller and less like a robot when we read!

Our science and social studies unit on the Winter Solstice also began this week!  We've been reading lots of science books about the Earth's tilt, rotation, and orbit and doing some experiments with our bodies to better understand these complex concepts!

In writers' workshop we've started the publishing process for our realistic fiction unit.  Next week, we will celebrate the unit by sharing our published books with other first grade classrooms!

Out on the playground, students are having a blast playing in the snow.  Please remember that your child needs ALL winter gear in order to play in the snow:

BOOTS
SNOWPANTS
WINTER COAT
HAT
GLOVES

Please consider sending a pair of 'inside' shoes to leave here at school during the winter months.  Extra socks are also a good idea!

"The Old Days"

Hello Families!

It is officially the holiday season in room 108!  We finished studying our own families (and made a fantastic class book!), and have started studying what it was like to be part of a pilgrim family in the 1600's, or 'the old days' as the first graders have affectionately labeled the time period.   We've read some great historically accurate books that tell the tales and roles of pilgrim girls and boys.

We wrapped up unit 3 of Everyday Math.  Unit 4 will focus on standard and nonstandard units of measurement, more frames and arrows, number stories, telling time, and solving addition facts.

In readers' workshop we are spying on the characters in our books to learn about their likes, dislikes, thoughts, and feelings.

In writers' workshop, we're working on making our realistic fiction stories come to life with action, dialogue, feelings, thoughts, and sparkle words!

We are in the midst of the annual Rowe School Food Drive!  The Smart Owls made a goal to fill our entire graph (60 items), and have happily surpassed that goal!  We will be collecting food through Monday 11/24.

Weekly Highlights

We said goodbye to our owl unit last week.  This week we said hello to our new social studies unit focusing on families.  As we read and learn more about different kinds of families, students are creating their own family structure visuals to share with each other.  Next week we will start reading about pilgrim families, giving students a chance to compare and contrast their families and roles with those of the pilgrims!

As part of this unit we are asking each family to choose one Thanksgiving tradition to share with our class.  The request was sent home in green folders earlier this week.  Thank you for helping to make this unit a richer and more vibrant learning experience for these first graders!

In math, we are wrapping up unit 3 with domino addition.  The dominoes are a BIG hit with this group!

Beginnings and Endings

Last week we wrapped up our small moments writing unit.  This week we began our new realistic fiction unit!  The students are really enjoying the creative process and most have moved on to paper with more space for writing and less for drawing!

In science we wrapped up our owl unit by sharing what we've learned to complete our KWL chart.

We made owl trees to practice telling and solving number stories in math!

We've also started learning about and counting dimes.

Happy Halloween!

We had a jam-packed Halloween week!

We finished publishing our small moments stories and celebrated by sharing our stories with the students in Mrs. Lincoln's class!

We dissected Barn Owl pellets to see what they ate for prey!

We made owl masks in preparation for Chewonki's live owls visit and Halloween!

On Thursday, Chewonki visited Rowe School and brought some very special guests!  Huntington the Screech Owl, Olivia the Great Horned Owl, and Veria the Barred Owl.  Just when we thought we knew everything about owls, we learned...

*Screech Owls can be grey or red.
*Owl have feathers covering their entire talon, unlike the bald eagle or other birds of prey.
*Owls get rid of excess body heat by drooling!

Check out some photos from their visit...

What We've Been Up To...

We've been studying the lifecycle of owls this week.  The first graders have been hard a work making owl lifecycle wheels to teach family and friends their newfound knowledge!

Our first round of story publishing is in full swing!  Writers' workshop has been filled with meticulous handwriting, detailed drawings, book spelling, and fancy laminated covers.  These first graders LOVE publishing...I have a feeling there will be many more published books in our future!

We're still studying digraphs!

Pattern-making was the name of the game in math this week.

We made our Rowe School bus drivers some cards to show how much we appreciate them.  Whether it's bringing your child to and from school each day, to the occasional friend's house, or on field trips, these wonderful people do so much to keep Rowe students safe.

We were lucky enough to get sneak peek into the Dave Mason's world of storytelling.  He only told 2 stories, but the students were hooked!  He'll be telling more Halloween stories next Wednesday evening at YES as a fundraiser for the PTO.   Here's just a quick clip from his time at Rowe!

Week 7

Here are a few shots from our  4 day week.  Enjoy!

We started our owl science unit this week!  

Students are very interested in learning more about owl babies, owl anatomy, and how owls move.

Our word study focus this week was digraphs.  Students practiced sounding out words with the ch, ck, sh, th, and wh digraphs.  I'm already noticing lots of digraphs in stories!

We made our spelling words into rainbow words.

We learned some new math games that focus on coin counting.