Book Review

This week, we will be completing our first Book Review of the school year! 
A Book Review is basically an old-fashioned book report.  It is my hope that each student will be able to:

1.  Pick a book of their choice and read it!
2.  Complete the Book Review packet. 
3.  Return to school to tell our class about the book they read.  (Be careful not to tell too much information!  You do not want to tell the ending of the story.)

I plan to record each student presenting the book review so everyone can hear about the book and decide if they would like to read the book, too!

This assignment is meant to be fun!  Please encourage your child to do their best!
Thank you for your support!

Click below for sample Book Reviews:

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=112764&title=Reading_Rainbow_Book_Review_Example

Happy Reading!

Weekly Update ~ 12/18/11

We continue to stay busy as our holiday break quickly approaches! 

-In Language Arts, we worked on identifying the main characters, setting, and plot of stories.  The children enjoyed reading a variety of fantasy stories based on the famous story, The Three Little Pigs.  Each story was based on the three little pigs, but the plot varied.  Here is a summary of our weekly story, The Pigs, The Wolf, and The Mud, which had an interesting twist! 

We also enjoyed reading, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!, which was told by the Big Bad Wolf.  Ask your child to tell you the wolf’s side of the story! 

-In Spelling, we have been working on short u words, and spelling rhyming words.  Follow the links for additional practice:

http://www.mhschool.com/mmh_games/content/reading/gr1/unit02/week4/s1/index.html

http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/ug/load.htm?f

http://www.starfall.com/n/short-u/su/load.htm?f

http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-u/load.htm?f

http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/samoset/RESOURCES/shortuprac.htm

-Our Grammar lessons focused on proper nouns.  We talked about the importance of using a capital letter when naming a specific person, place, or thing.  Practice using proper nouns to name these common nouns.  The first few have been done for you.  (Don’t forget to begin with a capital letter!)

Noun	Proper Noun
teacher	Mrs. Swisher
dog	Clifford
day	Friday
month
holiday
restaurant
game
toy
friend
animal

Here are some sites for practicing proper nouns:

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/basketball/index.html

http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/g/capitalizationp3.cfm

-We also learned about contractions.  Contractions are like taking shortcuts with words. Instead of saying:  "Let us go now."  You can say:  "Let's go now."  Instead of saying:  "I am hot."  You can say: "I'm hot."

Here are some websites for contraction practice: 

http://www.quia.com/mc/86241.html

http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/flyby/flyby1.htm

http://www.primarygames.com/contractions/question1.htm

http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/samoset/RESOURCES/klcontractions.htm

-In Math, we continued to practice using strategies to solve subtraction problems.  We completed chapter 8, and began chapter 9, Graphs and Tables.  We discussed ways to sort and classify items, and will move into collecting data to create our own graphs.  Check out our students as they worked in small groups to sort buttons in multiple ways. 

  

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/dino/ques.html

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/calculator_tally_table/

-In Science, we wrapped up our unit on Earth, Land, and Water.  We will be learning about Magnets in our next unit. 

-We finished off our week with a guest reader!  Retired Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Passarello, visited us for the day, reading Tomie dePaola’s, Merry Christmas, Strega Nona.  The children loved learning about Italian traditions on Christmas Eve.  Ask your child if they can tell you anything special about the story, or the award-winning author.

-Talented members of the Moon Area High School chorus and band also joined us today!  The choral concert included many familiar holiday songs, such as Up on the Housetop, Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel and Jingle Bells, as well as new favorites!  Thank you for a wonderful concert! 

Weekly Update ~ 12/10/11

Greetings from Room 136!  It’s been another exciting week in first grade!

-In Language Arts, we worked on identifying the main idea of a story, and providing supporting details from the text.  The students also learned all about maps.  You can use a map to gain more information about a place.  Check out the following video of our students hard at work! 

-We introduced our Author of the Month, Jan Brett.  Jan Brett is a best-selling American author/illustrator of childrens' books, with over thirty-seven million books in print.  Her books are known for colorful, detailed depictions of a wide variety of animals and human cultures ranging from Scandinavia to Africa.  Her best-known titles include The Hat, The Mitten, The Three Snow Bears and Gingerbread Baby.  You can visit Jan Brett’s inspiring website at the following web address: http://www.janbrett.com/index.html.  Enjoy coloring activities, games, art tutorials and more! 

-We read The Mitten, and practiced restating the main idea, as we wrote a one-sentence summary of the story and created our own mitten display.  Ask your child to summarize the story! 

-We also enjoyed reading Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby.  Last week we read the Gingerbread Man during our folktale study, so this week we compared the two gingerbread stories.  Ask your child to compare and contrast the two stories.  How were the stories alike?  How were they different?  Which story did they like best?  Were they surprised by the endings? 

-Our Grammar lessons focused on irregular plural nouns.  Try making these nouns plural:

child	foot	tooth
woman	goose	deer

-In Math, we continued to practice using subtraction strategies.  We learned about Fact Families, which include related addition and subtraction facts.  


Addition and Subtraction Practice:

http://www.ezschool.com/Games/FactFamily1.html

http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/fact-families

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/fireflies/index.html

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/count_back_numberline/

-The children decorated their own Fact Family Gingerbread Houses.  Check out a few samples of our work. 

-Please continue to work on addition and subtraction facts each night.  We will begin to do skill drill practice in the classroom, and the more facts your child has memorized, the better he/she will perform. 

-In Science, we discussed the importance of recycling and reusing materials.  The students practiced collecting fruit and vegetable scraps such as orange peels, apples, and carrots to be used for compost.  By reusing this food for compost, soil is enriched, thus helping plants to grow hearty.  For more information on composting, click here: http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/recycle/facts/compost.htm

-We finished off our week with another Mystery Reader visit! After reading clues, the students were quite sure our Mystery reader was Mrs. Cullifer.  However, both Mr. Cullifer and Mrs. Cullifer surprised us as they entered the classroom with (1) blonde hair, (2) blue eyes, and (3) glasses!  We all enjoyed the silly story, The Great Reindeer Rebellion, written by Lisa Trumbauer and illustrated by Jannie Ho.  The children laughed out loud as they made predictions about how Santa would deliver the toys when the reindeer went on strike, and watched the story unravel!  A big “thank you” to the Cullifer Family for the donation of this hilarious book to our classroom library!  Just as the story ended with a celebration, the students enjoyed a tasty treat as they reflected upon the story.  

Weekly Update ~ 12/4/11

The holiday season is upon us!  We had an exciting week as we returned from our Thanksgiving break and welcomed the month of December!

To kick off December festivities, we celebrated excellent student behavior throughout the month of November, with lunch with Mrs. Swisher!  Once again, we had 100% participation!  A special “thank you” to the children for continuing to make good choices in class and following rules and expectations.  This group of students use such wonderful manners and kind words on a daily basis, and I know that comes from what they learn at home.  “Thank you” parents for your ongoing support! 

In Language Arts, we discussed famous folktales, as we read Little Red Hen.  The students discovered that a lesson is usually learned in a folktale.  We stressed the importance of cooperation, and working together to help get a job completed.  We practiced retelling stories noting the beginning, middle, and ending.  When you read a story or watch a movie with your child, practice retelling the main parts.  This is an excellent exercise for developing summarizing skills.

Activity 1: http://activities.macmillanmh.com/OralLanguageActivities/main1.php?activityID=362

Activity 2: http://activities.macmillanmh.com/OralLanguageActivities/main1.php?activityID=364

Folktale Fun:

http://www.starfall.com/n/folk-tales/little-red-hen/load.htm?f

http://pbskids.org/lions/stories/                                           

Spelling Practice:

http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/song-se/load.htm?f

http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/en/load.htm?f

http://www.mhschool.com/mmh_games/content/reading/gr1/unit02/week2/s1/game1_type4/index.html

http://www.mhschool.com/mmh_games/content/reading/gr1/unit02/week2/v1/index.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/whirl/game.shtml

Our Grammar lessons focused on plural nouns.  We discussed rules for adding –s and –es to make nouns plural.  If a word ends in –sh, ch, ss, s, or x, usually you must add an –es to make it plural. 

Try making these nouns plural:

cat	bush	box	rabbit
fox	tree	bench	dog
pet	kiss	pet	dish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9-L1rETVxY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc-ukN1Rvb8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6COqkRp9s9c

In Math, the students completed chapter 7, Subtraction Strategies.  Please continue to work on addition and subtraction facts each night.  We will begin to do skill drill practice in the classroom, and the more facts your child has memorized, the better he/she will perform. 

Chapter 7:

Count Back Number Line Practice your subtraction skills using a number li http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/count_back_numberline/

In Science, we are about to wrap up our unit on Earth, Land, and Water.  We have been classifying rocks based on texture, size, shape, and color.  We will continue to explore the hardness of rocks.  Finally, we will end our unit by discussing the importance of recycling. 

We also had our first Mystery Reader visit of the year!  After reading clues, and narrowing down our guesses, we welcomed Mrs. Longwell and Mini-Mystery Reader, Thad, into our classroom.  I think we all heard bells ringing as we listened to the infamous, Polar Express, and enjoyed nibbling on homemade cookies!

*If you would like to be a Mystery Reader, please contact Mrs. Swisher is you have not already done so. 

Thanksgiving Fun Video

Greetings! 

I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family!  I meant to send this out earlier, but realized I left my camera cord at school.  Anyway...better late then never! 

The students had a fun-filled short week of school!  We read various Thanksgiving stories, and learned detailed information about the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and the First Thanksgiving.  Ask your child to tell you an interesting fact they learned.  You may actually be surprised!

We also had a Thanksgiving Parade around the school building, followed by a feast!  A good time was had by all!  Check it out!:

Weekly Update ~ November 20th

What a fabulous week we had in first grade! 

-In Language Arts, we read about animal moms and dads, and how they take care of their babies.  They are like humans in many ways, but also quite different. 

Follow these links to learn how animal moms and dads help their babies. 

http://activities.macmillanmh.com/OralLanguageActivities/main1.php?selectionID=212

http://activities.macmillanmh.com/OralLanguageActivities/main1.php?activityID=404

http://activities.macmillanmh.com/OralLanguageActivities/main1.php?activityID=405

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/

Click here for Life African Safari Animal Camera:  http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php

We discussed a very important skill, identifying main idea and details.  Click here for more practice:

http://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/media/repository/protected_content/COMPOUND/50000207/89/38/comprehension_launch.html

http://www.mhschool.com/vocab_games/mmh_games/content/Grade1/Unit2/w1v1/index.html

-In Spelling, we concentrated on the short o word families. 

http://www.starfall.com/n/short-o/so/load.htm?f

http://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/media/repository/protected_content/COMPOUND/50000024/78/21/phonics_launch.html?defaultSkill=15&stateCode=PA&defaultGrade=1

http://www.patandpals.com/character_tog_ebook_window.asp

-In our Grammar lessons, we learned about nouns.  The students are able to identify a noun as a person, place, thing or animal.  The students worked together to find nouns in magazines to create a collage. 

They also went on a noun scavenger hunt throughout the school building searching for nouns.  They each took pictures of the nouns they found.  Check it out in the following video.

 -In Math, the students continued to work on addition strategies throughout Chapter 6.  Use the following links to play addition review games. 

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/adding_bricks/

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/seashell_search/index.html

We are also learning a fun doubles addition song that goes with our Dinosaur Doubles Addition book (an excellent resource Mrs. Swisher purchased from http://www.heidisongs.com/index.html).  Ask your child to sing the Doubles Song!

-In Science, we began our Unit on Earth, Land, and Water.  The students learned about the different layers of the earth (top, middle, and bottom), and what can be found at each layer.  We also discussed living things, non-living things, and once-living things.  Finally, the students made observations about soil, and discovered what happens to soil when it rains.  Ask your child where the water goes after a storm.

-We are looking forward to a few days of fun and learning before Thanksgiving Break!  Have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.  I am thankful for your continuous support and the opportunity to work with your children each day.