December 12th

It is a busy time of year, but the students continue to work diligently.  We have been writing procedures using transition words.  Ask your child some of the procedures they have written.  We have discussed that writing procedures it a step by step process in teaching someone how to do something.  Therefore, the students should be choosing topics they are either a "practitioner" or "expert" in.  Ask your child some of the topics they have chosen.  The students are learning not only to use transition words, but to ensure they are giving enough detail.  In our reading program, we have been looking at the idea of ready through the eyes of the writer.  That is, looking at things that writers do and why we think they do this. I would read a book and the students would investigate the author's patterns in writing and then express why they think the author does this.  We have been doing a Mo Willems unit.  Some students discussed the use of punctuation marks and speech bubbles to show excitement and try to be funny.  Other students looked at how he puts other characters in his stories from his other books to keep the reader interested.  

In math, the students are learning about linear measurement.  In grade one, they use non standard units, so we have started with hands, feet, and classroom materials as our units of measure.  We will continue with this unit for the next couple of weeks.  Ask your child a few of the "rules" when measuring an object. Try writing a procedure at home on how to measure a table. In science, the students continue to learn about energy.  This week, we have discussed the use of electricity.  We will move into the idea of conservation to end our unit.