Hello everyone! Here’s what we have been up to this past week…
Literacy:
This week we learned the spelling pattern ou/ow… the “painful” letters. ;P To help us remember the sound those two vowels make together, we wrote the vowel teams on bandaids and wore them proudly all day long. We also generated words containing those sounds, and practiced reading ou/ow words with a fun small-group card game. This is one of those skills that we expose the whole class to, without expecting all of them to master it, providing a foundation for the students to continue to build on in first grade.
We're enjoying reading a new Magic Treehouse book, High Tide in Hawaii. There is lots of great information about how volcanos created the Hawaiian islands, how tidal waves effect beaches and landmasses, and lots more.
Public service announcement: Please check around for your child’s Book Buddy bag and latest practice book! Since it is almost the end of the year, we are hoping to start corralling those in the next week or so. Thanks for your help!
Science:
We have been learning this week about the zones of the ocean…. Sunlit, Twilight, and Midnight zones… thus named because the deeper the ocean becomes, the less light penetrates through to that level. We also learned why the ocean is salty and where sand comes from! Ask your child to tell you. Also ask them to tell you a joke that begins with, “How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?” It’s a cute one. ;)
Math:
This week we were busy bee’s learning the complex strategy of counting on in order to figure out number bonds, number bonds being two or more numbers that make a whole number for example 6+4=10. We looked at number bonds with missing parts such as 10 = 4 + __ putting the first number in our head (4), counting on until we got to 10 (using our fingers as we counted), and seeing how many more we needed to get there (in this case 6). A tricky concept that we will continue to go over in order to master!
Of course our money counting goes on! This week when we counted our money collection for the Rainforest we found that we have made $94.90!!! While counting we continued to reinforce our knowledge of coins and how much they are worth.
Our Math Stations this week included:
In other news:
Big thanks to our Mystery Reader, Marni’s mom Andrea! We really enjoyed the story she shared, and the special treat she brought too. Big thanks to our parent lunch helpers, Luke’s mom Kim, Beckett E’s mom Tiffany, and Marni’s mom Andrea. Ms. Louderback and Mrs. K really appreciated the chance to share lunch with the other teachers.
Below, a few fun photos from this week. Be sure to check out Shutterfly to see the rest!
Literacy:
This week we learned the spelling pattern ou/ow… the “painful” letters. ;P To help us remember the sound those two vowels make together, we wrote the vowel teams on bandaids and wore them proudly all day long. We also generated words containing those sounds, and practiced reading ou/ow words with a fun small-group card game. This is one of those skills that we expose the whole class to, without expecting all of them to master it, providing a foundation for the students to continue to build on in first grade.
We're enjoying reading a new Magic Treehouse book, High Tide in Hawaii. There is lots of great information about how volcanos created the Hawaiian islands, how tidal waves effect beaches and landmasses, and lots more.
Public service announcement: Please check around for your child’s Book Buddy bag and latest practice book! Since it is almost the end of the year, we are hoping to start corralling those in the next week or so. Thanks for your help!
Science:
We have been learning this week about the zones of the ocean…. Sunlit, Twilight, and Midnight zones… thus named because the deeper the ocean becomes, the less light penetrates through to that level. We also learned why the ocean is salty and where sand comes from! Ask your child to tell you. Also ask them to tell you a joke that begins with, “How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?” It’s a cute one. ;)
Math:
This week we were busy bee’s learning the complex strategy of counting on in order to figure out number bonds, number bonds being two or more numbers that make a whole number for example 6+4=10. We looked at number bonds with missing parts such as 10 = 4 + __ putting the first number in our head (4), counting on until we got to 10 (using our fingers as we counted), and seeing how many more we needed to get there (in this case 6). A tricky concept that we will continue to go over in order to master!
Of course our money counting goes on! This week when we counted our money collection for the Rainforest we found that we have made $94.90!!! While counting we continued to reinforce our knowledge of coins and how much they are worth.
Our Math Stations this week included:
- Playing 5 in a row with Mrs K. - where we roll a die and color in a number on a hundreds chart with that number in it. The first to get 5 in a row wins!
- Playing Hi Low with 10’s and 1’s - where the children pick two cards each and put the two digits together to make different numbers. The one with the highest number wins the hand.
- Race to 50/100 - where the children roll a die and get one cubes until they can exchange them for 10’s, and the 10’s for 100’s. The first to 50/100 wins
- Measure the inchworm around the room - where the children go around the room measuring pictures of an inchworm with a ruler and record their findings
- Number lacing with 10’s and 1’s - where the children roll dice and pick two lacing digits. They then lace the numbers and put them together to make the highest number.
- Take Away Teeth - where the children roll a die and remove teeth from a picture by blacking them out and write the subtraction number sentence underneath it.
- Count on puzzles - where the children have puzzles with an overall number and one die showing part of the number bond, having to find the other number that needs to be added. The children used the strategy of counting on in order to find the other part of the number.
- I pads - the children played a shape game.
In other news:
Big thanks to our Mystery Reader, Marni’s mom Andrea! We really enjoyed the story she shared, and the special treat she brought too. Big thanks to our parent lunch helpers, Luke’s mom Kim, Beckett E’s mom Tiffany, and Marni’s mom Andrea. Ms. Louderback and Mrs. K really appreciated the chance to share lunch with the other teachers.
Below, a few fun photos from this week. Be sure to check out Shutterfly to see the rest!