What's Happening in the Starfish Classroom?
Math: Late last week we had just finished our third unit of Math. In the previous units, we have worked with ten frames which are an important tool for addition. Ten frames are especially helpful for identifying pairs of numbers that add to 10, as well as for illustrating other facts within 10.
You may hear your child say, "I'll use the count on strategy" to add my numbers. This is an adding strategy that we use quite often in the Starfish classroom. It involves starting with the larger number and counting on the other number.
We also worked a lot with the turn around rule. The starfish now know you can switch the place of the addends in a problem and the sum will remain the same. Ask your child if they can show you a turn around fact at home!
What was the main focus of UNIT 3...we learned about number stories. We have learned a few organizational tools to "map out" number stories. These tools are called Part-Part-Total and Change to More Diagram. In this unit, students also explored the relationship between counting and addition and subtraction. We did a good amount of practice counting up and back on a number line to add and subtract. We even designed our own number lines creating addition and subtraction number sentences. We also investigated patterns on number grids to help them count more efficiently.
Do-Anytime Activities to try at home with your child:
1. Practice counting by 1's, 5s, or 10s aloud with your child. For an extra challenge, try starting at different numbers.
"Let's start at 87 and count by 1's"
"Let's start at 65 and count by 5's"
2. Have your child tell you a number story for a give number sentence, such as 3+5=8.
"I had 3 dogs. Then I got 5 more dogs. How many dogs do I have in all? I have 8 dogs.
3. Write addition number sentences for your child. Have your child determine if your number sentence is true or false. During the month of October we would call them tricks or treats!
For example: 5+5=11 "I know this number sentence is false because I know 5+5=10."
Reading Strategies to Solve Tricky Words...
Can you believe these cute stuffed animals are helping us to solve tricky words?
Meet Lips the Fish who teaches us to look at the beginning sounds of words.
Meet Chunky the Monkey who teaches us for look for chunks or parts of words we know
Meet Eagle Eye who teaches us to look at the pictures to help us solve tricky words
Meet Skippy the Frog who teaches us to skip the tricky word to ask ourselves what would make sense in the sentence.
Meet Flippy the Dolphin who teaches us that reader sometimes have to try the vowel sound two ways. Both the short and long vowel sound to figure out what makes sense.
During our reading lessons and when conferencing with the kids individually, the Starfish are learning that word solving takes careful monitoring. We have been playing the game "Guess the Covered Word" by choosing a few words in our books, covering them with small sticky notes. The kids have been using a variety of strategies to guess the word. The starfish are discovering it sometimes takes a few strategies to figure out the word!
You could also ask your child these questions to help solve tricky words in their books
Have you heard your first grader talk about being Word Detectives in the Starfish Classroom?
Your child has been "in training" to be a word detective. This unit has tied in very nicely to all the work we had done in previous weeks learning strategies to tackle tricky words in our books. This unit aims to tap into the power of play. Every couple of days, we receive a mystery email from the SSDA (Super Secret Detective Agency). The kids take these emails very seriously as they are TOP SECRET. We close our classroom door as the emails provide top secret classified information. In this unit, it moves through three parts. In the first part, it teaches the children to take on the role of word detectives in-training, learning that, like a detective, readers are always on alert for problems and trouble. The kids have been working to monitor their reading by locating difficult words, using what they know to try to solve these words.
The second part continues with the playful theme of word detectives. The kids are just about to earn their word detective badges! The focus primarily will be to locate and build their high frequency word knowledge.
The final part of the unit will focus on ways to use visual information in their books effectively. We will work to learn how to look closely at words in our books. We will look closely at blends, digraphs, syllable breaks, inflectional endings, etc.
It's been a very exciting time during reader's workshop! We will post pictures once our Word Detective Badges arrive in the mail!
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Here's an example of one of the emails we have received from the Super Secret Detective Agency
Dear Word Detectives in Training:
The SSDA (Super Secret Detective Agency) has been so impressed with your willingness to train to be word detectives. We knew we chose the right class for our training.
Word Detectives look CLOSELY to get clues. Word Detectives make sure to look across the WHOLE word from start to end.
We have been watching and wanted to give you a detective lens to borrow for reader’s workshop today. We think this will help you to look CLOSELY at the WHOLE Word. We need them back at SSDA by the end of the day. We will have to send them to other detectives in training in other parts of the world next week.
We hope these help your detective work.
The Detectives at SSDA
We had so much fun celebrating so many Starfish Birthdays in the Month of November! A special birthday wish to our November Birthdays-Faith, Cowan, and Ellina!
Did you know that we planted bulbs for our new school garden?
We can't wait to see them grow this spring!
What's Been Happening During Tide Pool Time?
Tide Pool Time happens every Wednesday afternoon with the Lobster class next door. This allows the Starfish to collaborate with another first grade classroom.
We had our first Tide Pool STEM innovation activity with the Lobster class two weeks ago. The kids were partnered together and given straws, 36 inches of masking tape, a Dixie cup, and 3 pennies. The Starfish and Lobster Partnerships had to work together to design and build a tower that would hold the dixie cup filled with pennies above the ground/table. It was great to see the creativity, collaboration, and communication between partnerships!
We are Grateful to be together!
OUR THANKFUL TURKEY
Our Thanksgiving Feast
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast on Tuesday morning. It was a wonderful celebration of friendship and enjoying being together as a class. Thank you so much for your food donations to make our feast possible! The kids did such a wonderful job writing Thankful cards to their classmates. Each starfish had a chance to stand up and read their card they had made to their first grade friend.
Thankful Trees
I'm hopeful that the Thankful Trees made it home safely. They were taking it very seriously to hold them tight with two hands on their travels home yesterday. The kids were so proud of their Thanksgiving Creations! We hope you cherish your child's Thankful Books and Trees for many years to come! Happy Thanksgiving to your family!
A Special Afternoon for Baby Murphy
Thank you so much to all the Starfish Families for coordinating such a special afternoon celebrating our upcoming bundle of joy. It has been such a special experience to share the excitement with your children. Ryan and I have been blown away by all our family, friends, co-workers for their generosity and thoughtful gifts as we prepare for our growing family. We can't thank you all enough!
The class made a special book to help prepare us for Baby Murphy. I will make sure to bring it back into the classroom for our holiday party for you all to see! Thank you Cindy Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Larkin, and Mr. Gagnon for helping to make this book come together! I absolutely adore it!
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