Mrs. Murphy's Starfish: January 2016

Dear Starfish Families,

It has been a busy start to 2016 in the Starfish classroom. We wanted to share what's been happening in our classroom.

What's Happening in Math?

When we came back from winter vacation, we worked hard to finish the final lessons of unit 4 in math. In these final lessons, we focused on strategies to gain math fact power. We continued working on doubles facts, recognizing patterns of ten more and ten less, and adding three numbers together in a number sentence. Last week we began unit 5 which focuses on place value and comparisons.

Place Value:
Last week we worked quite a bit with base-10 blocks to represent numbers and to demonstrate understanding of place value of numbers. The starfish learned that the digits in a 2-digit number represent the number of tens and ones. For example, in the number 72, 7 is in the tens place and has a value of 7 tens, or 7; 2 is in the ones place and has a value of 2 ones, or 2.

Comparisons:
This week the starfish will learn about comparing numbers using the greater than, less than, and equal symbols. We reviewed what the equal sign means and how to use it. We continue to practice how to determine whether a number sentence is true or false. The kids are really enjoying this!

Do-Anytime Activities:
1. Look for 2 digit numbers in and around your home. Ask your child to tell you how much each digit is worth. Ask your child to compare 2 digit numbers using <,>,=.

2. Tell addition and subtraction number stories using 1 and 2 digit numbers of household objects. Then work together to solve them and write number sentences.

3. Ask your child to order a group of items in your home from shortest to longest.

4. Give your child 4 or 5 2 digit numbers. Ask your child to order the set of numbers from least to greatest.

5. Practice counting small piles of dimes and pennies together. Talk about how to organize all the dimes and pennies in a line to make it easier to count by tens and ones.

Later this week, I will introduce the kids to Number Scrolls. The kids get very excited about writing on their scroll. If you have empty paper towel rolls, we would greatly appreciate them for our upcoming math work!

We will be playing a fun place value go fish game later this week. I will send home a copy of the game on Friday for you to enjoy with your family!

Learning about Empathy:Stepping into someone else's shoes

During whole class discussions, reading books, and working in Social Detectives, our class has been learning the importance of empathy. Last week, Mrs. Curry and Mrs. Bick brought child profiles which included the child's name, age, likes, and dislikes. The kids worked in small groups to think about the kids and go "pretend" birthday shopping based on what the child liked and didn't like. This was a fun activity and the kids were so thoughtful in thinking about others.

We also read Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts which was a great read aloud to promote discussions to think about others around us. It's a great story!

Did you know the starfish are receiving LOTS of mail?

The kids are so excited to check Mrs. Murphy's mailbox each afternoon to see if we received any new postcards from across the country. We have received 9 postcards to date. So far we have been able to mark New York, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia, Virginia, and Utah on our map.

This was taken early last week. We continue to add more to our map in the hallway!

Learning about Martin Luther King Jr.

Last week our class read many books and did a few projects to learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and this time period of history. Some activities from last week included MLK Jr. Portraits, made heart stained glass for peace and love, created a Pathways to Change poster:changing the world one step at a time.

What's happening to Writer's Workshop?
The starfish began our opinion unit: Writing reviews. The kids judged their collections and write about their favorites. The starfish had to defend their opinion with lots of reasons why.

Sending Valentines to United States Soldiers

The kids enjoyed making Valentine's Day cards to send to our soldiers overseas. We will be sending these out this week to make sure they arrive on February 14th.

What book is your class reading for Chapter Read Aloud?

Our class just finished the first book of My Father's Dragon series. This is a three book series that every first grader thoroughly enjoys. The kids couldn't wait for lunch and recess to over so they could come back to find out which animal the main character Elmer Elevator would meet on Wild Island. We had a book celebration last week and are excited to start the next book in the series.

Learning to be Reading Bosses

In our most recent reading unit, the kids are learning that readers have important jobs to do. In this unit we review many of wonderful decoding strategies we learned at the start of the year: checking the picture, stretching out the words, finding parts of words we know, trying the vowel sound 2 way,etc.

Here's just a glimpse at some of their reading mini-lessons:

The kids learned that when they come to a word they don't know... they can be a reading boss. They know to say "I can do this" "I can try something, using all that I know"

The kids have been practicing to triple check their reading: Does it make sense? Does it look right? Does it sound right?

The kid are working with their partners to coach each other to use their reading strategies. We have been practicing that reading partners don't TELL the word, they provide a strategy to help figure out the word.

Last week, we talked about reading partnership time. We decided we needed to find more time for the kids to read and TALK about their books. We learned it's important that partnerships don't jump from one book right to the next. Just like adults, the kids are learning how to TALK about their books using these sentence starters:

I think....because....

I wonder....Maybe....

Why do you think that?

It's been very exciting to continue to take a step back to watch their reading growth unfold. Each day, these starfish are trying so hard to improve and build up their reading stamina, tools, and love for reading.