Polar Animals (Week 1)

Poem: Wishing for a Fish
Sight Words: for, him

Reading: This week our comprehension focus was: Predict what will happen next. While reading we pause before turning to the next page and ask, "What do you think will happen?" Students use background knowledge and understanding of what was already read to make a predicted guess. This helps with our comprehension of the story and understand what is happening while reading.

We also learned about our new work on writing page. Students are to use the book from their book box and write 1-2 sentences about what the story is about. After writing, then they draw a picture from the story.

Students listened to the story Red Eyes or Blue Feathers while listening for the vocabulary words communicate, temperature, sly, mood, scent, and survive. On Thursday we dove into our words a little further discussing the words mood and temperature. We talked about how a thermometer measures temperature and the word temperature is how hot and cold something is. Then students looked at pictures of kids showing different moods and emotion. Students had to use the word mood to describe how they are feeling. Then we practiced moods on our own faces.

Writing: This week we learned about nouns. We watched a School House Rock video about nouns and then completed a noun chart listing people, places, and things. We also began writing our own informational writing pieces starting with a planning page. Students always start with a topic sentence and then 3 facts about the topic. Students always end their writing with a feeling ending. This week I modeled how to take their planning page and transfer their writing to their book. Students are moving right along and teaching others about a topic they know a lot about!

Math: This week was all about subtraction! Our math vocabulary word was minus. We met Linus the Minus and learned how he takes away. Each day throughout the week we used a variety of methods to practice subtraction. We first used math tools to show how we take away when we subtract. We also used the app Doodle Buddy. Students use stamps and cross out the number we are taking away. This will be an independent choice for students on their ipad day. We also used our new tens frame paddles to practice subtraction! We also introduced a new math by myself activity that we practiced as a whole group called SMASH IT! Students use playdoh to show the subtraction sentence starting out by making balls and smashing the number that they are taking away. Students then use a recording sheet to write the sentence and answer.

Content: This week we started by learning about Martin Luther King and discussed how things have changed because of what he said and did. We used different paints to talk about different shades of skin color and how people are not just black and white. We are all special in our own ways. The rest of the week we learned about polar animals. We started off by learning about how animals survive the winter. We sorted pictures and talked about how these animals survive the cold. Then students colored their own winter diagram to show where students go to survive. Students also learned about Polar Bears by reading books and watching videos to finish their polar bear craft at the end of the week. We watched a video to learn about blubber and also did an experiment to test how warm blubber can be.

SEL: This week we continued learning about friendship, We started the week off by reading a class favorite, Elephant and Piggie "Should I Share My Ice Cream?" We talked about how Piggie made Elephant feel better in the story by sharing with him. Students shared a time that they have shared or done something nice for a friend to make them feel better. On Tuesday we used sandpaper and cotton balls to compare how actions and words can make us feel. Students started by feeling the cotton balls and sandpaper and describing how each felt on their skin. We shared things we can say and do to make it feel like cotton balls. We finished the week by talking about friendship and discussing different scenarios and stories. We also worked at making a paper chain of all the kind things we saw friends do during the day. We tried to make it all the way from the ceiling to the floor!

NEXT WEEK:

Reading: Students will...
-recall the main idea and key details in read alouds.
-learn words in the -un and -ub word families.

Writing: Students will...
-continue writing informational books informing others of something they know a lot about.
-discuss the difference between fact and opinion.

Math: Students will...
-continue practicing subtraction using rekenreks and a number line.

Content: Students will celebrate the 100th day of school while participating in lots of counting activities and crafts surrounding the 100th day of school!