New Year's Resolutions and Self-Reflections

Happy January families! I know that it has been a couple of weeks since our last update and I have quite a bit to share with you! We have had a lot going on in our classroom the last couple of weeks all mixed in with our return from Christmas break, snow days and the mix of cold and warm weather.

Upon our return from break, our class participated in developing their own New Year's Resolutions. We began with a discussion/lesson on setting goals and what that means. We listened to a story called Squirrel's New Year's Resolution. We discussed that setting personal goals for learning, helping others, and for our own wants and needs are all important and can help us feel proud of the accomplishments we make and help we can offer to others. You can find the story in the video below!

We have continued learning about Economics in Social Studies. Before Christmas break we started learning about the difference between Needs and Wants. Now we have added to that information and discussed how we obtain those things - by working and saving money in order to buy them. We have learned about the importance of saving money that we earn and have even learned the difference between Goods and Services. We have learned that Goods are things that you can buy and can touch with your hands and Services are things that you pay other people to do. We watched the following video to help us practice and learn these concepts.

Our friends are enjoying adding these concepts into their Social Studies Journals. In fact, some of them have even been making videos on SeeSaw during Genius Hour to share this information with you! As we move forward we will be learning more about being Consumers and how goods are Produced!

In Science, the first graders have all been learning about the Solar System. I have been enjoying hearing what they have been learning over in Mrs. Powell's class for Science! They have watched and enjoy this catchy little song about the Solar System!

As you have seen from papers coming home, we have been learning about our Numbers in Base Ten during math. We have been learning place value and how to find, count and build our numbers using tens and ones. We have been doing a pretty good job and mastering this concept so far, although it can get tricky at times. We are continuing to learn about tens and ones as well as how to compare our 2-digit numbers using the symbols for greater than, less than and equal to (>,<,=). We have even had opportunities to play partner games to help us build and compare our 2-digit numbers in Base 10!

Any chance for partner games is well received! We also have new math station games including Base Ten Bingo and Base Ten Alligator Chomp which are lots of fun!

This week we wrapped up our reading unit on Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The students have learned a lot and have really enjoyed learning about how people lived in the past as well as how their lives were similar and different. On many occasions, I have heard students applying new vocabulary words that they have learned during our reading block to their conversations and other areas of learning! Next week we will begin learning about Early American Civilizations.

As you have noticed, spelling tests will be coming home each Monday (except for the last week of a unit of study). We will be practicing the words each day at school in some form. It is still a good idea to practice them at home as well! This weeks words were ALL tricky words and therefore did not follow typical sound/spelling patterns. Because of this and other factors as well, I have decided that this week was a BONUS week for spelling. I have attached a note on your child's spelling words from today, however the points they received for this weeks words were all bonus points! Next week we will be back to our typical spelling words that focus on the sound/spelling patterns we have and will be learning!

We have just finished up a fun Magic Tree House book Dinosaurs Before Dark during our afternoon read aloud time. Our class LOVED listening to the adventures of the two main characters Jack and Annie and their close encounter with a Tyrannosaurus Rex! For fun, your child might enjoy this Cosmic Yoga for Kids called Tiny the T-Rex! It is a fun, calm exercise opportunity if you are stuck inside with crummy weather! You can find this and tons more like it on youtube!

As we have worked over the last couple weeks finishing up our iReady state testing, reading records and other assessments, our class has had many opportunities to reflect on their learning. We have discussed on many occasions how reflection and thinking about what we are learning and have learned also helps us become better learners! When we reflect on our learning we can think about the things that we are good at and have improved on and also what we can continue doing to help us improve more! This week our friends took time to share their learning with a partner and then write Self-Reflections! In their reflections, they wrote about and described something that they have learned recently that has helped their brain to grow and also described their favorite part of their learning! I LOVED reading everyone's well thought-out reflections. When they were done, everyone went on to SeeSaw and made a video during Genius Hour where they read their reflections! Make sure to log on to your child's home account so that you can see them read and describe their learning and growth!

I hope you enjoy the warm weather while it lasts! It looks beautiful outside today and we are absolutely LOVING the sunshine make its way through our classroom window...and of course we love playing outside when its sunny and warmer than usual! Get out and enjoy some unplugged fun away from technology while it lasts!!!

I will be sending out a blog post update on our We HeART Valentines Day Party soon! It should be a fun time!!