Time Line Project

Time Line Project:

Dear Parents,
Please have your child bring in 6 to 7 pictures of themselves from birth to now. 
Baby and then 1 for each year. 
Students will be making a timeline with the pictures. Make sure the pictures are copies of the original pictures because we will be gluing them down.  
Also, You can send digital pictures via email and I will print them out on the color printer at school. 
Students need to be able to tell one or two things about each picture.
PLEASE HAVE PICTURES BY Thursday, March 22!
See Example:

 

Black History Night

The Great African American Migration to northern states happened from 1910s to 1950s. Students learned this was due to the unfair practises and laws of the places of the south.  After getting to the North many African Americans were able to get jobs and housing allowing them to focus on the arts, thus the Harlem Renaissance we studied last year.  Thank you to all the parents who came to see the students perform many songs learned in music class. 

February Newsletter

Reading Workshop: We launched our new unit, Readers meet Characters and Series books by reading about Iris and Walter from the series and Mr. Putter and Tabby from the series.  We recorded our thoughts, wonderings and favorite parts on post-its and in our readers' notebook. 

We learned that Characters DRIVE the story by: 

showing emotion, 

taking us places, 

getting into trouble or having problem and then...

 fixing the problem or finding a solution.

Also, we are learning about characters from their friends. 

**Character in series books become our friends because we know them so well.***
Click link for series books at first grade's "Just Right Level"   First Grade Book Suggestions

Writer's Workshop, Our Writing Review unit is all about writing an opinion. The children are writing their opinions about the items in the collection they brought from home. But that is not all! Kids have opinions about a lot of things. They are honing their skills by writing about their favorite: food, sport, color,  pet, etc.  Did you know Opinion writing is like the cookie O.R.E.O.? Opinion writing involves much more than just stating an Opinion. Students must give Reasons for their opinion presented in an interesting and convincing manner with Examples.  The last sentence is a restate of their Opinion.  

Math: We finished Chapter 10 Weight. We learned that heavier items make the scale go down like a see-saw. We talked about which weighed more and how much more.  We started Chapter 11 Picture Graphs and Bar Graphs. We are practicing organizing our information or data and making tally and bar graphs. Next up will be Chapter 12: Number to 40. Being able to use and understand numbers up to 100 is a needed skill for second grade. We will talk about place value and use the place value chart. Questions we will ask students: 38 is how many tens and how many ones? 

Science: The students are finishing the Solids and Liquids in the Science lab with Mrs. Hwande.  They investigated the interactions between solids and liquids while describing, observing and recording the results of their experiments. Key words: viscous, transparent, translucent, opaque. rigid, flexible, smooth, rough. Finally, students read the Dr. Seuss book, Oobleck and then made oobleck. They found it is a third kind of liquid called plasma.

NEXT UP: Social Studies: Long Ago and Today. Please get baby pictures of your child together and send them to school. We will need 7 pictures: Baby, and then 1 from each year.  We will be creating a time line of their lives! 
We will be gluing these to a paper to make the time line.
Parent Teacher Conferences are March 19-22.   
All parents used www.signupgenius.com to make their date/time selection. 
You will be getting a reminder email a few days before the conference.  

Looking Ahead: 
March 16- Conference Prep- NO SCHOOL 
March 19-22 Conferences
March 23- 30- Spring Break
April 6- Early Release
April 12th- Field Trip to the Museum of Transportation
May 11th- Field Trip to the Magic House 
May 25th- Field Day
May 28th- No School Memorial Day
May 31st- Last day

Wydown Middle School Strings Concert

Several Former Captain Students are apart of the Wydown Strings Orchestra. 

Strings lessons start in 4th grade. 

These two boys are considered number 1 and number 2 in the state for violins. 

Science in the Lab!!!

Today we start our Science unit, Solids, Liquids and Gases, in the Science Lab with Mrs. Hwande. The students learned teacher expectations and explored the room. They were fascinated by Penelope, the pet rat and the microscope!

Math Progression Videos

Many parents were wondering about the latest Math test. Here are two videos from Math Guru, Graham Fletcher, that help  explain Math Understanding.

Early Number and Counting

Progression of Addition and Subtraction

The Great Migration Simulation

Students are learning about the Great Migration of the 1920s-50s of Southern African Americans who moved North. Those who moved North were able trying to find a better way of life: jobs, housing and less discrimination.
Please see the slide show of our work today:

Great Migration Simulation

Black History Night Activities

This years theme for Black History Night is the Great Migration. This theme connects to last year's theme of the Harlem Renaissance. We have read books and watched videos about these artists: Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, and Faith Ringgold. We made a quilt square for each person and then made quilts. They are hanging up stairs in the hallways. Black History Night is Thursday, February 22. The kids need to be at Clayton High School starting at 6:30 with the show starting at 7 p.m. All students 1st through 5th grades get to sing, act or dance on stage. Please mark your calendars for this special event!

Zoe's great grandma made this quilt.

Lucy G.'s baby quilt.

Izzy got her quilt in preschool.

Nate's baby quilt.

Mary Grace has had this quilt for a long time.

Antique quilts from Mrs. Goode

Fluency Reading Practice

One of the Reading Goals in First Grade is Fluency. Fluency is reading a book with no mistakes at a good rate with expression. Research shows that smooth reading helps with comprehension. We tell the students that this is a "Just Right Book!" Today the student s got to show off their reading skills for the kindergarten students.