Nonfiction Unit of Study: BATS!

Bats!

1L is studying bats this week! We have been working hard to apply important reading and writing strategies to this nonfiction unit. 

We have learned that...

Nonfiction texts are about real life. 

Readers "read to learn" about topics from nonfiction texts. 

Nonfiction readers take a sneak peak even before they read a book or watch a video. 

Readers ask questions! 

Readers "stop and jot" down answers to questions they find on stickies or organizers.

Nonfiction readers learn more by chatting about a page with a friend 

Nonfiction readers and writers are word collectors.

Fiction can help to teach us about nonfiction topics too!

Reference these videos at home for some important review of bat vocabulary. This can be a homework choice! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3w9ZbRQIek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FVoTMOorXA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6rYJMddEzg

You may also visit Brainpop this week, search "bats" to find a really informative video!

Love, 

Mrs. L

Temperature and the Thermometer

Temperature

First graders continued their Science work with Weather and the Seasons today!

Students are discussing temperature using general language : Cold, Hot, Warm, Chilly and Cool

AND

Learning how to measure temperature exactly using a thermometer and degrees fahrenheit. 

Please check out Brainpop and search "temperature" this week to find an important video we watched several times in class.

Students should use this as a homework choice the week. 

Love,

Mrs. L

School Pictures!

School Pictures!

Just look at those adorable little learners!

School pictures are in student's GO books today. Please make sure to keep an eye out! 

Love,

Mrs. L

Christopher Columbus...Hero or not?

Christopher Columbus Study

1st graders have been studying a new biography this month, Christopher Columbus. Students have been doing research this month. We have reviewed, read, talked about and thought about this topic a lot! After this, we attempted to make some true statements about Christopher Columbus and his place in history. 

Visit Brainpop and search Christopher Columbus for a video to watch at home!

Once students started realizing the true history of Christopher Columbus, we quickly realized that we had our own opinions about this man's role in history. 

Students began an initial exploration of persuasive writing by first coming up with our own opinions about Christopher Columbus, and then deciding if we "should" or "should not" study this interesting character in history.

Here are some of our ideas!

Finally, some other teaching points in this unit were: 

"Researchers summarize their learning. That means, restate what other's taught us in our own words!"

and...

"Reader's combine knowledge from different sources to extend thinking."

Happy Friday!

Love,

Mrs. L

Reader's Build Good Habits

Readers: Read More and MORE!

In 1L, we have been working on "building good reading habits" both at school and at home. One way that we do this is by setting goals for ourselves to read more and more! We keep track of our reading by putting our books in piles on our mats, reading through them, building a new stack and reading them again! It is challenging, but we keep track with tally marks too! 

What was your reading goal today? 

Here are some of our ideas to help us reach our reading goals: 

You can read before school, waiting for the bus, in the car, at a sibling's game or under your favorite tree in your backyard! 

Love, 

Mrs. L

Johnny appleseed portraits

Johnny Appleseed 

Portraits

We discussed "realistic pictures" and how they give readers an accurate picture of how something really looked. As writer's we will revisit this idea throughout the year, adding details to our pictures in order to teach our readers important things that our words may not include. 

Love,

Mrs. L