WAY TO GO!

We are so proud of our first graders for all their hard work in Accelerated Reader!  We are the only grade level that had 100% participation this month!  Your necklaces look AWESOME with all of those book worms!!!  Mrs. Kee and I are thrilled that you are so into reading!  Keep up the incredible work!

HOMEWORK 3-28-12

We have learned that number sentences must be balanced.  The part on the left side of the equals sign must have the same value on the right side of the equals sign.  The students have a tendency to add the numbers given and put the sum in the empty box.  Please help them see that this does not create the same value on each side of the equals sign.

Practice this skill by playing Complete the Addition Sentence on IXL.  Remember that IXL only allows a certain amount of practice, so plan accordingly.

HOMEWORK 3-27-12

Practice your facts on XtraMath.
Go to AAAMath and practice subtraction (the game in the blue box...scroll down) for 2 minutes.

COMMENT BOX:  Find the missing number in each number sentence/equation.  Write the complete number sentence in the comment box.

7 + 3 = 4 + ____

5 + ____ = 10 + 4

2 + 3 + 5 = 7 + _____

Going Fishing

Today in my class we read What Makes a Magnet?  One activity the book suggested was to have students gather a group of magnetic and non-magnetic items and let them go "fishing" in a box to see what is and what isn't magnetic.  We thought this would be fun to do in class.  So, for a caught being good coupon, students are asked to bring in a collection of items for classmates to test.  Please send in your items in a gallon plastic sealable bag.  We will write your child's name on the baggie and allow students to test the items to see which items in the collection are magnetic and which items are not.  Thanks!

HOMEWORK 3-22-12

Our focus continues to be on geometric solids. We count the edges, vertices, and faces.  You can watch a 3D shape video with your child.  It is the 2nd video from the top (do not count the ad for IXL).  First graders only need to know the cube, rectangular prism, cone, sphere, and cylinder.  Other shapes are presented, but those are not requirements in the first grade curriculum.  However, this is a great opportunity to extend learning.  If your child is having trouble naming the shapes, the top video presents a song that gives many examples of 3D shapes. 

We have also built them in class using 'nets'.  Nets are flat, but when folded, form a geometric solid.  You can do this at home by clicking on the link, printing out the net, and folding it into the shape.  Before folding, have your child look at the shapes that make up the net and guess what shape it is going to be.  Ask why s/he thinks that way, then fold.
cube
rectangular prism
cone
cylinder

For homework, play Count Edges, Vertices, and Faces on IXL.  Remember that time on IXL is limited.  Even if your child is presented with an unknown shape, s/he should be able to identify edges, vertices, and faces.

COMMENT BOX:   Find a cylinder in your home.  Tell how many faces, edges, and vertices.

HOMEWORK 3-21-12

Homework tonight is the same as the Homework from 3-14-12.  Click the link and follow the directions.  :)

For a Caught Being Good Coupon, find a number that could complete the following Fact Family and write the 4 number sentences that are part of the family.  For a second Caught Being Good Coupon, find another number that could complete the Fact Family and write those 4 number sentences.  Write your response in the COMMENT BOX or bring it on a piece of paper.

5, 6, ___

Brown Bag Book Party!

Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures!  But, yesterday was our first (of hopefully many) brown bag book parties.  We got the idea from Pinterest, but changed it to reduce the amount of paper we would need to have many parties and to accompany literature we were reading.

We started preparing for our party earlier in the week by reading St. Patrick's Day in the Morning.  The story is about a little boy named Jamie who is not allowed to march in the town's St. Patrick's Day parade because everyone thinks he is too little.  Before his family wakes up, Jamie and his dog, Nell, march the parade route by themselves.  After discussing the story elements (setting, characters, problem, solution), the students completed their 'party ticket' (a graphic organizer where they had to write down the story elements - they could refer to the book for reminders).  The party ticket had to be finished to attend the party.  Once complete, the party ticket was glued to a brown bag.

On Friday afternoon, students were given Lucky Charms cereal to sort.  The students made a tally chart to show how many of each kind of marshmallow they had.  After completing a personal tally table, students mingled with other students and found out how many of each they had together.  They also found out what type of marshmallow each had the most and least of.  All the cereal went into the brown bag for the book party.

When it was party time, the students sat at their neighborhoods (tables).  Each table was given a cup with 6 craft sticks.  Each craft stick had a colored dot on the bottom.  The cup was passed around the table.  Each student had an opportunity to select a stick when it was his/her turn.  The dot color on the stick corresponded to a discussion task displayed on the board.  When all six sticks were selected it was time to snack on the cereal.  The kids had a great time and there was incredible conversation abounding!  We are already planning our next party!

In case you wanted to discuss the questions with your child, here is a list of the discussion tasks the students discussed in groups:
*   Think about a new ending to the story and share.
*  What do you think would have happened if Jamie's parents had woken up?
*  Tell about a time you were told you were too small to do something.  Share it with the group.
*  Make a text-to-text connection.
*  How are you like Jamie?  How are you different from Jamie?
*  What was your favorite part?  Why?

These are tasks that you can alter to accommodate any book your child is reading.

HOMEWORK 3-15-12

Tonight we will work on geometric solids some more.  Although it may seem easy, some of the children are still having difficulty naming the shapes, often calling a "cube" a "square" and a "rectangular prism" a "rectangle".  We are working on this skill daily and often play Shape Hunt in the classroom during calendar time.  When asked to find a rectangle, some students are bringing boxes or similar items.  Part of our study of geometry focuses on students knowing the difference between "plane figures" (flat shapes) and "geometric solids" (3D shapes).  You can play Shape Hunt at home by asking your child to bring you everyday examples of squares, triangles, rectangles, circles, cubes, rectangular prisms, cones, and spheres.  For a refresher, go to the Harcourt Math site and check out their online glossary (see instructions from last week's geometry homework).

For tonight, your child should play the IXL game entitled Relate Planar and Solid Figures.  Please have your child name each shape that is shown (not just the correct answer).  Ask questions about how they know that is the correct shape (students should name the number of sides, vertices/corners, faces, etc.).   Remember that IXL only allows a certain amount of practice time each day.

COMMENT BOX ASSIGNMENT:  In your home, find an example of a rectangular prism.  Have your child count the faces (6 flat sides), edges (12 "lines" where the faces meet), and vertices (8 corners where the edges meet).  Then, have your child trace each face of the rectangular prism on a sheet of paper.  Have him/her name each shape that was traced (there should be a combination of squares/rectangles or rectangles only).  In the COMMENT BOX, have your child do the following:

What object did you choose?
How many faces does it have?
How many edges does it have?
How many corners does it have?
When you traced your object, what shapes did you trace? (eg. I traced 2 squares and 4 rectangles)

To earn an extra marble or paper clip for your neighborhood, bring in examples of shapes.  PLEASE make these objects that we can keep for class activities and that we do not need to return.  Please do not bring large items (nothing larger than a shoe box).  Objects are due by Monday.  You may bring in more than one object, BUT EACH OBJECT MUST REPRESENT A DIFFERENT SHAPE (ie.  ONE square, ONE circle, etc.).

SHAPES TO BRING:  square, circle, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, cube, rectangular prism, cylinder, sphere

HOMEWORK 3-14-12

FAST FACTS NIGHT! 

First, go to XtraMath and practice your addition facts.
Next, go to AAAMath and practice subtractions facts.  To get to the practice activity, scroll down until you get to the blue section.  Play for 2 minutes or longer. 

You're done!  :-)

HOMEWORK 3-8-12

We are exploring geometric solids in first grade!  Geometric solids are cones, cubes, rectangular prisms, pyramids, cylinders, and spheres.  You can see an example of each by going to the Harcourt Math Glossary and using the word list on the left side to look at each shape.  We are comparing these shapes to plane figures and also identifying where these shapes appear in our environment.  We will be learning the definitions for face, edge, and vertex/vertices (corner/corners) and counting the number on each.  We will identify which solids roll and which stack.

We use this poem to help us remember our geometric solids (as well as build reading fluency):

3D shapes are fat not flat.
A cone is like a party hat.
A sphere is like a bouncy ball.
A prism is like a building tall.
A cylinder is like a can of pop.
A cube is like the dice you drop.
3D shapes are here and there.
3D shapes are everywhere!

Tonight, you need to play Geometry of Everyday Objects.  This is on the IXL site, so your use of the game is limited daily.  If you are doing homework with more than one first grader, you will need to have them work on it together so each gets an opportunity to play.  IXL is an awesome site; I suggest you explore the wide variety of games they offer (especially on days/nights when there is no online homework).
COMMENT BOX ASSIGNMENT:  It's time for a shape hunt!  Look around your home environment.  Find at least one example of a cone, cube, rectangular prism, sphere, and cylinder.  List your items in the comment box.  Be sure to include your name.

HOMEWORK 3-7-12

I bet you already know it...it's XtraMath night.  Log in and work your hardest to learn those facts.  :-)  It may be a bit more difficult tonight since the computers have been down at school and we have not been able to use it each morning.  Then, read below for your COMMENT BOX activity.

As stated on the Math Cats website, "Fact families are 3 numbers that are related, just as the people in a family are related. They make a set of related math facts."  Fact Families help students see that addition and subtraction are related.  At the Math Cats site you can print out cards to help practice Fact Families.  They also show how you can use them at home.  We are using the addition/subtraction set.  For the COMMENT BOX tonight, write the 4 equations that belong to the 7, 2, 9 Fact Family.  Please remember to write your child's first name in the box.  Comments will not appear immediately (I monitor and release them).

Online Stories

One of the stories we shared as part of our Presidents' Day celebration was Arthur Meets the President.  We read it together to practice fluency and also used it to practice story elements.  We learned about some of the famous places in Washington, D.C., too!

Since then, the students have been asking me to post the link to the story, so here it is (click on the title above).  You can also check out other Arthur stories while there and link to some other online stories. 

While sharing the story, we did not learn much about the Jefferson Memorial.  Learn about it and either leave a comment in the COMMENT BOX or bring in a written answer for a prize. 

Don't forget...you can use XTRAMATH on the weekend.  Some of you are very close to knowing all your addition facts. 

HOMEWORK 3-1-12

Tonight you get to be an author!  We have worked on writing descriptions in class about pictures.  We have talked about what makes a piece of writing good.  Here are some of the qualities we have discussed:

*  We liked the descriptions that were like stories because they were entertaining to hear.
*  We liked the stories that described what was happening because we could picture the scene in our heads based on the words.  The describing words let us picture the colors and sizes.  We also liked when someone compared one object to something else (The snowman's cheeks were as red as roses.).


We have also talked about how important it is to tap out words we need to spell and to spell our "trick words" correctly.  We need to use correct punctuation so the audience knows how to read it.  We need to use capitalization properly, as well. 

Your task tonight is to write for ten minutes about ONE of the pictures shown below.  You can either type it in the COMMENT BOX or bring it in on a sheet of paper.  You can time yourself for ten minutes using the timer we use in class (use the 'count down' option and select 10 minutes) or a timer you have at home.  When the timer goes off, you may either stop writing where you are or continue writing more.  Keep in mind the pointers discussed above.