Our study of our national symbols focused on the flag, the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, and the Washington Monument.  As you can see above, we culminated the unit with a project in the computer lab.  The children were asked to draw a picture and write at least three sentences about their favorite symbol using the Pixie software.

Now that we have finished the unit on U.S. Symbols, it is time to begin a quick unit on matter.  In this unit, we are focusing on science standard 1.3, which reads, "The student will investigate and understand how common materials interact with water.  Key concepts include
a) some liquids will separate when mixed with water, but others will not;
b) some solids will dissolve in water, but others will not; and
c) some substances will dissolve more readily in hot water than in cold water."  We will be squeezing in several experiments as well as building our nonfiction reading skills as we dive into our science textbook.  You are welcome to reinforce your child's learning at home by conducting simple experiments to see how various materials such as vinegar, milk, baking soda, powdered drink mix, sugar, salt, sand, oil, soil, and rocks act when mixed with water.  Making cookies for the sake of science?  Definitely.  It's a beautiful thing.  

In math, we have begun our study of fractions.  In first grade, we focus on halves, thirds, and fourths.  It is important that the children understand that a fraction represents a part of a whole, that fractions require the whole to be divided into equal parts, and that the fraction name tells the number of equal parts in the whole.  We will also learn how fractions can describe part of a set.  If I have three apples, two green and one red, I can say that 1/3 of the apples are red.  Studying fractions at home can be very fun at snack-time.  Pizzas can be divided into fractions, fractions of the pizza could have different toppings, and apples can be sliced into fractions as well.  Enjoy!

If you have the chance to visit Mill Run, please visit the bulletin board across from the cafeteria leading onto the kindergarten/first grade hallway.  Our class was responsible for decorating the bulletin board for the month of March.  We decided to link to Dr. Seuss' birthday and focus on reading.  Each student interviewed his/her reading buddy, comparing their buddy's answers to the children's own responses.  We asked:

• Where do you like to read?
  
• What do you do to become a better reader?
  
• What is your favorite book?
  

Then, the children turned the interview responses into books.  A brief self-reflection like this can be a very powerful tool to increase one's own confidence in reading.  I encourage you to discuss the same questions at home as a family.  

As part of the Youth Art Month festivities, Mr. Browning is organizing a contest for three "color days"  The first color day will be Wednesday, March 6, and the color is blue.  Please help your child to pick out an all-blue outfit on Wednesday.  Thanks for your help!

Finally, many thanks go to AV's mom for sparking interest in the PTO BoxTop collection.  If we all work together to check our pantries, tissue boxes, and ziploc bag boxes, we might collect enough to place in the March contest.  Quite a few boxtops came in yesterday.  The students will count them on Monday, and we'll keep you posted with how many we have.  Thank you for your help!

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine on this beautiful day.  To coordinate with our Famous Americans unit in social studies, we used a poem for shared reading last week that focused on two very important presidents.  The students were having fun choosing actions to go with the poem, so we thought we would share it with you.

In case the above doesn't work, here is the link to the video:  http://youtu.be/jyFjR_fBwm4.  By the way, I always mark our videos as "unlisted" so they do not show up in public searches.

Congratulations to DB, the recipient of the January Citizenship award.  Mrs. Fulkerson took a moment to recognize him during a recent Guidance lesson.  If your child hasn't shared Kelso's Choices with you, please ask him or her to tell you all about them.  We refer to them frequently at school.

Speaking of good citizenship, the students have earned a special treat due to continued good behavior in the cafeteria.  We considered many possible options and then voted.  The winner was...  Stuffed Animal Day!  The children will be allowed to bring one small stuffed animal to school on Thursday, February 21.  We will use the animals for writing and other activities in the classroom, but the children will need to put the animals away in backpacks for "animal naptime" when we go to lunch or other specials.  For this reason, please help your child choose a stuffed animal that will fit comfortably inside his/her backpack.  Also, if your child doesn't have a stuffed animal to bring, please just let me know.  

In other classroom news, I have to send a HUGE thank you to all the parents who helped make our valentines party so fun!  Sadly, I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures!  One parent sent these in, so I hope you enjoy them.  If you have a photo on your phone or camera that you could email to me, I will add it here as well.  

In academic news, we will be starting a new piece in writers' workshop.  We will continue to work on revising our work by adding descriptive words as well as spelling unknown words by relating them to other words we do know.

In reading, we will work on nonfiction comprehension strategies:  identifying the main idea, supporting details, and useful text features.

In math, we are working on telling time to the hour and half-hour.  Students should be able to draw hands on an analog clock and fill in numbers on a digital clock to show the same time.  Students should also develop their awareness of time during the day.  What takes one minute?  What takes an hour?  

We are also working on building our fact fluency using the reflexmath.com program.  We will phase out Math Masters and use Reflex to track each student's progress.  Children will have dedicated time to use Reflex during school, but any time spent at home is very helpful, too.

In content, we are learning about important U.S. symbols:  the American flag, the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, and the Washington Monument.

Finally, I hope to see everyone at Tales by Twilight this Thursday evening at 6:20 pm.  Did you hear Mr. Vickers announce that every child will go home with a new book?  I can't wait to see what the children choose!  See you then!

On Friday, February 8, we celebrated the 101st day of school.  The children seemed to enjoy the idea of adding 'one' to their fond memories of the 100th day of school celebration in kindergarten.  We made Dalmatian hats, we watched 101 Dalmatians during lunch, and we even did a math project with a dalmatian theme!

In case you were wondering about the big dalmatian your child brought home, the assignment was to give the dalmatian puppy 101 spots - ten groups of ten plus one more.  This aligns with our math standard 1.1b:  "The student will group a collection of up to 100 objects into tens and ones..."  We are developing our understanding of place value by working with groups of tens, adding ten to a given number, and sorting numbers from least to greatest.  

In preparation for Valentine's Day, I have selected some of my favorite books about friendship and caring to read this week.  Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, oh, and Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink are both personal favorites!  As a reminder, we will have a Valentine's Day party on Thursday, February 14 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm.  Please see last week's post Many thanks to our room parents for organizing the party!   

What is your favorite childhood Valentine's tradition?

This Friday, February 8, we will celebrate the 101st Day of School.  We will include some fun activities with a 101 Dalmatians theme to make this day extra special.  This coincides with the Childhood Cancer Awareness event, so please help your child remember to wear PJs and/or a yellow shirt on Friday to show support for this cause.   

Next Thursday we will celebrate Valentine's Day.  The children will make a special bag as part of our party activities, so you do not need to prepare a valentine "mailbox" or other such project at home.  But please do remember to have your child bring a valentine for each member of the class.  Valentine messages should be positive and friendly.  Thank you for refraining from attaching candy to valentines.  That is LCPS policy.  

Please mark your calendars for Tales by Twilight, Thursday, February 21 at 6:30 pm.  I will be reading my all-time favorite picture book right here in room 4.  Are you curious to find out what it is?  I can't wait to share this wonderful story with our Mill Run family!

What is your all-time favorite picture book?

The children were very excited to take part in a scientific experiment this week.  This was a preview of concepts we will discuss in more detail later in the year during our unit on states of matter.  This project will be on display during Mill Run's Science Expo February 6th.  Here are the steps of our project:

Question:  Can two types of matter be in the same place at the same time?

Hypothesis:  We considered the materials needed and the procedure.  We each made a prediction of what we thought would happen.

Materials:  a bowl of water, a cup, and a paper towel

Procedure:

First, fill a bowl with water.

Then, crumple a small paper towel and stuff it in the bottom of a cup.

Next, turn the cup upside down and put it in the bowl.  Hold it firmly.  Count to ten.

After that, take the cup out of the bowl.

Finally, look inside the cup.

Results:  We discovered that the paper towel was still dry inside the cup.  We noticed that when we placed the cup in the bowl, it made a smacking sound when it touched the water.  Also, it took strength to hold the cup in position in the bowl. 

Conclusion:  We decided that two types of matter cannot be in the same place at the same time.  Air was trapped inside the cup, and the air kept the paper towel from getting wet. 

As we begin the third quarter, we are beginning some new units of study.

In math, we are beginning a quick unit focusing on place value.  We have been touching on place value all year during our calendar time within our morning meeting.  Key concepts in this unit include:

• understanding the expanded form of a two-digit number (74 = 7 tens and 4 ones), 
  
• representing a two-digit number with a visual diagram of tens and ones, and 
• solving to find the number when you add or subtract one, or when you add or subtract one ten (74 + 1 = 75, 74 + 1 ten = 84).  
  

We will also continue using Reflex Math and the Math Masters program (aka Rocket Math) to measure our progress in recalling basic addition facts quickly and accurately.

In reading and writing, we will use question words to enhance our understanding and our work.  In reading, we will ask and answer wondering questions to monitor our understanding of the text.  For example, Where is the story taking place?  Who is important?  What has happened so far?  Why did the character do that?  How did they get here?  Providing the answers to questions like these can improve our written work as well.   

In social science, we are learning about famous Americans and their contributions to society.  Specifically, we will focus on Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington Carver, and Eleanor Roosevelt.  We have also learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.  Our "I can make a difference" essays, inspired by the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. are on display in the hallway.

Question:  If you were in charge of first grade curriculum for the Virginia Department of Education, what famous Americans would you add to our list?

One of my main goals in writing this year is to help build the children's confidence.  When students are first mastering sight words, new spelling patterns, and reading more difficult texts, writing can be a daunting task.

We are practicing each stage of the writing process, from getting ideas, drafting, revising, editing, and celebrating our writing.  At the beginning of the year, writing a pattern book was a huge accomplishment.  Now, in the middle of the year, the children have written a personal narrative.  They chose an incident from their lives when they had a strong feeling, and they wrote about what happened from the beginning, to the middle, and the end.  When they identified the heart of their story, they added paper right in the middle to stretch out the most important part.  Wow!    

We want to take a moment to thank you for your encouragement.  We would also like to share our "writers' mantra" that we use to begin our writing workshop each day.  Enjoy!

In case the 'embed' feature doesn't work, here is the link:  http://youtu.be/czehR4bkOTc.  

This is a very exciting time of year in first grade.  Many children make wonderful leaps of progress at this time.  This is true in math as well as in our other subjects.  

This week, I would like to give you a little more information about our approach toward addition and subtraction work at school.

We are using the Math Masters (or Rocket Math) program to build our ability to recall basic facts quickly and accurately.  We also want to increase gradually the number of facts recalled in one minute.

For problem solving, we want the children to be able to apply multiple strategies. The screen shot below shows four addition strategies we have practiced in class.  

Some strategies are better suited for different problems.  But the examples above give you a sense of how to apply them.  For the problem, "8 +4", students could find the answer by:

* Counting on from the larger number.  (In other words, don't waste time by counting from 1 to 8, then counting four more.  Just start with the larger number and count from there.)

*  Using a number line.  Start with the larger number and make "hops" to add the smaller number.  The number you land on is the answer.

* Drawing a picture.  The best way to make this work is to draw a picture in groups of fives or tens, to easily be able to see the new total.  In this example, we drew 8 circles and 4 triangles, starting with sets of 5.  Then it is very easy to see that the total is 5 + 5 + 2 = 12.

* Use a related fact.  Any useful fact can be applied to help solve a problem.  Often doubles help.  Often it is convenient to rearrange the numbers to make a set of 10, as shown above.  When using this strategy for subtraction, the related fact might be the corresponding fact family fact.  If I know that 8 + 4 = 12, then I know that 12 - 4 = 8.

We will continue to practice our computation skills in the second half of the year.  Thank you for your continuing support of our work at home!

Mrs. Piper, the first grade assistant at Mill Run, sent a thank you note to the class.  It reads, 
         Dear Mrs. Hayden's Class,
                Thank you for the Starbucks gift card.  It was so nice 
         of you to think of me this holiday season.
                Love,
                Mrs. Piper

In content this week we are continuing our study of winter changes.  We are learning about the changes that people, animals, and trees make in winter.  You may want to discuss the following points with your child at home:

• The temperature gets colder in winter.
  
• If it is cold enough, we will have snow instead of rain.
  
• The sun rises later and sets earlier in winter.
  
• Plants conserve energy in winter.
  
• Deciduous trees lose their leaves in winter.
  
• Evergreen trees keep their leaves year round.  Most evergreen trees have needle-shaped leaves.
  
• People wear heavy clothes to go outside in winter.
  
• People may sled, ski, or go ice skating in winter.
  
• Many animals must make changes to survive the winter.
  
• Some animals (some bears, chipmunks, and mice) hibernate.
  
• Some animals (some whales, monarch butterflies, and geese) migrate.
  
• Some animals adapt.  The Arctic hare changes its fur from brown to white to camouflage with the snow.
  

We are beginning a supplemental math program in class to practice and master quick recall of basic math facts.  This program is called Math Masters, but your child may refer to it as "Rocket Math" since our score sheets have a picture of a rocket.  The quiz will come home either with a star, indicating that your child met his/her goal and will proceed to the next level, or with a smiley face, indicating that your child should continue to practice the facts on that page and will try again next time.  The goal number is derived from a quick measure of your child's writing speed.  That way the math masters assessment is truly individualized for each student.

Practicing math facts will be the substance of our math homework for the next several weeks.  If you would like to help your child with additional math fact review, please click this link:  http://quizlet.com/_arvl9  to access a set of flashcards online.  Or, you can try the game called Scatter that is embedded below.  Just match the addends with the correct sum.

Life was very busy in the last week of school in 2012!  We welcomed two guest readers, enjoyed a variety of Grinch Day activities, sang at the school holiday sing-along, and wrapped up the year with a classroom party.  I am particularly grateful to ZP's mom, CB's mom, and NT's mom for organizing the party.  Many thanks to all the parents who contributed to the party.  The children seemed to have a wonderful time.  I certainly enjoyed watching their joy!

I hope that you have been enjoying a relaxing and rejuvenating holiday season with family and friends.  Most of my extended family gathered this past week, and now that we have returned home I am eager to see the children and learn about their holiday adventures.  

I have just a few notes for you as we prepare to return to school on Wednesday, January 2.  

In January, we will begin the Math Masters program (also known as "Rocket Math") to practice quick recall of basic addition and subtraction facts.  More information on this program will go home next week.  

Homework will resume the week of January 7.  Homework packets will now include a writing component and word study activities will be reduced.  Please see the homework cover page for details.  Math homework will consist of practicing math facts in conjunction with Math Masters.  

Finally, I am deeply grateful for your kind thoughts and generous gifts.  Words do not adequately express my appreciation, so I must resign myself to a simple, "Thank you very much!"