Morning Math and Nonfiction Features

Math Update

Our first grade mathematicians are at their best in the morning, it seems! I recently changed our math time from the end of the day to the morning, and the results have been very positive! We recently tackled some of the most difficult routines in the first grade Everyday Math program--function machines and strategies for figuring out differences in number stories. Wow! I am totally impressed with how everyone is doing. Would you like to come in and volunteer during math? Our new math station time is 10:30-11:00 a.m. Please let me know if you'd like to join us!

I'm including photos of students working in their Volume 1 math journals. We have officially made it halfway through our math program! I will send these journals home with your children on Friday. Please note that we do not do all pages, as we just do not have enough time in the day. Please encourage your child to do the unfinished pages as a great way to get some extra math practice! 

I blogged last week about students using Educreations to teach about a math skill they know. I hope you have had a chance to view some of these in the iPad tab above. As I tell students, if you can teach it, you really know it!

Reading Workshop Update

If your child has shown a sudden interest in distinguishing fiction from nonfiction, it may be because of our current unit of study in reading about nonfiction text features. So far, students have explored the following features: photographs, illustrations, labels, captions, diagrams, table of contents, and headings. We have several more features to explore. Ask your child to explain the purpose of these features when you come across one while you're reading together. They might surprise you with how much they know!

Students have been working with their literacy partners to explore nonfiction texts to search for certain features.

Our classroom library is full of engaging nonfiction texts! We are so fortunate. 

I see a heading, photographs and a caption--three nonfiction features!

There is so much to discover, especially when you work together!

We learn best from each other, and the document camera allows us to show what we find in a way that's easy for everyone to see.

I see a labeled diagram--another nonfiction feature!

We've been studying nonfiction books in our book club groups too. Watch for your child to bring home his/her book club (reading group) books each week to share with you at home.