I apologize for my lack of posting last week. The end of the quarter is always a busy time for reflection, reporting and planning. Here is a glance at some of the learning we did last week. In math, we have been working on balancing equations by deciding if they are true or false. We have learned that both sides of the equals sign need to add up to the same number. Fore example, we started with the equation 4 + 2 = 7. We decided that this is false, because one side of the equation was 6 and the other was 7. We know that 6 does not equal 7. Following this, we talked about ways that we can make this number sentence true. Now that we understand what = means, we will now be moving to using greater than and less than symbols, rather than the true or false model. Our Weather unit of inquiry (UOI) kicked off last week. Last week we focused on what weather is, and how the sun affects weather and our daily lives. After tuning in (stating what we think we know about weather) and finding out (listing what we want to learn in this unit), we broke into three groups and completed some activities based on the four seasons. This was interesting because not all students come from countries with four seasons, of have seen all of the seasons. One of our lines of inquiry for this unit is that "weather changes the way people live their lives." We talked about how the clothing we wear for different types of weather is one way that weather affects our lives. We practised dressing up for different seasons and types of weather, and had a little fashion show (pictures below). Coming up from break one day, one of the students noticed that our garden was "sick." We talked about how it hasn't rained and when plants do not get watered they often die. We talked about how we could water them ourselves from the tap. This then brought up discussions about another line of inquiry for this unit: "we have a responsibility to care for people affected by weather." Antananarivo is currently facing a drought. We talked about how if we used water for our garden, people who really need the water for their farms may run out. It is our job to conserve water. This may have been the best transition from one unit of inquiry to another that I have ever had. What that said, we had plenty of tomatoes to harvest. Since we had a large number of tomatoes, I thought that I could use this to teach a little math. We estimated how many tomatoes we thought we had and counted them by 10s. We had 124. After counting them, we took the ones that were too ripe, and put them back in the ground to grow more; the cycle continues. We talked about how too much sun and no water hurt the plants in our garden. We then wondered what would happen to us if that happened. We set up three experiments to test out the power of the sun. In experiment 1, we put a cup of water in the sun and a cup of water in the shade for the day. We found out that the suns energy could heat up a glass of water. In experiment 2, we put a piece of construction paper in the sun and a piece of construction paper in the shade. We found out that the energy from the sun faded the construction paper. As a result of experiment 2, we talked about how the energy from the sun affects our skin and bodies. Students put sunscreen on a paper and put it in the sun. We noticed that the paper around the sunscreen faded, but the area with the sunscreen was protected from the sun. This is why we need to put sunscreen on when we go outside. We also watched part of a video on this (see below). This week we are learning about wind. After reading a book about what creates wind, and what wind does, we made windsocks to test the speed and direction of the wind outside our classroom. Last week our phonics study was on silent letters. We studied letter pairs where only one sound is made. Students sorted words and played games to learn more about the following digraphs: gn, wh, kn, mb, wr We also added the last component to our Daily 5 programme: word work. Students use the Words Their Way program to study different word, sound, and letter combinations, sorting words into categories and spelling them. Here is a quick video of the class doing a speed sort. To learn more about the Daily 5 or Words Their Way, please see the bottom of our resources page. When we are finished with word sorts, they will be sent home for you to practice together with your child.
0 Comments
I love inquiry! Good science education requires both learning scientific concepts and developing scientific thinking skills. Inquiry is an approach to learning that involves a process of exploring the natural or material world, and that leads to asking questions, making discoveries, and testing those discoveries in the search for new understanding. Even better than the guided inquiries that we do during our units of inquiry is when we have an opportunity for authentic inquiry. This came to us last week when we had the earth quake. It was all most of our little learners could talk about, and they had PLENTY of questions. As a result, we spent a good chunk of our morning asking questions and inquiring all about earthquakes. To finish our weeklong mini unit on the Growth Mindset, we worked in three groups to create a Rube Goldberg machine that could pour a glass of water. This activity solidified our lessons on 'The Power of Yet,' and taught us that we can learn from mistakes and perseverance. Students began by working collaboratively to discuss their ideas. They followed these discussions by collecting materials, blueprinting their plan, and presenting it to their group. When each group had collectively agreed on their plan, they set off to build their machine. With plenty of trial, error, chaos, mess, discussions and problem solving, each time came up with a functional machine. ...Some more functional than others. This morning we used base 10 blocks to learn about place value. Our 'Math Message' was: How many cubes are equal to 1 long? (How many ones are equal to 1 ten). The children shared their strategies for solving the Math Message. Most students lined up cubes next to the long. Students learned that a long is a group of 10 individual cubes that are connected. We learned that longs can also be called tens. Connecting ten cubes makes it possible to count the cubes by 10s. Cubes that are not in a group can be called ones because they can be counted by 1s. We discussed other instances in which we have grouped objects to count them, such as making tally marks, bundling popsicle sticks as part of the Number of the Day Routine, or counting objects. After discussing this, each child was provided with a Tens-and-Ones Mat. The class used base-10 blocks to represent numbers. For example, I said: place 3 longs and 4 cubes on the mat. How many cubes are shown? How do you know? Sample answer: I counted 34 cubes. There are 3 longs, which are 3 groups of ten cubes, or 30, and then 4 more cubes. We then counted the tens and counted on the ones. Once we got the hang of things, we learned how to exchange or regroup. I displayed 1 long and 15 cubes on my mat and asked:What number is shown? After we figured out that it was 25, we discussed how we can be sure. This is when we stared to trade: We traded 10 cubes for one long, then count the total number and got 25. We will continue practicing this throughout the week. Today we started a new unit of inquiry on weather. We read a book called 'What is the Weather like Today?'. We also began our inquiry cycle by discussing what we already know about weather. Then after looking at books, we began to inquire about what we wanted to find out during this unit of inquiry. Please make sure that you are watching the flipped learning videos on weather nightly.
Welcome to 2017!
This week we hit the ground running with review and new learning. In Mathematics we have been reviewing how to tell and answer number stories. We used the photos of items from a fair (below) to solve problems and write stories for our friends. I encourage you to practice this skill at home, and draw attention to real number stories in your everyday lives. Feel free to review the questions below as well.
During Language Arts, we have been working on completing our insect/amphibian reports. While the research and writing process has taken longer that I intended, I am so happy with how these non-fiction reports are turning out. Our little learners have learned how to; add page numbers, write a table of contents, draw diagrams, write captions, put information into their own words, and add additional non-fiction features. I have been bragging about your little ones and showing everyone their reports. I am so excited for them to be completed and for your children to be able to share them with you!
I have also been tediously assessing each child's reading level before the quarter is over. If you would like to meet with me to discuss your child's progress before the end of the quarter, I encourage you to e-mail me to set up an appointment.
This week is our last week of the Life Cycles unit of inquiry. We were so excited to see how much our garden grew during the break while we were gone. We have sunflowers, tomatos, basil, pumpkins, watermellon, beans, pineapples, and some mystery plants growing. We will continue to explore the lifecycle of our garden throughout the remainder of the year, while learning how to take responsibility for taking care of it (weeding/watering/pruning).
We have also been focusing on how to improve our learning. We learned how in the new year, many people set goals and make resoluntions. We have made it our collective goal to develop a growth mindset in 2017. Thank you so much to all of you who have been watching the flippled learning growth mindset videos at home, and answering the discussion questions wiht your child.
SOAR: An Animated Short from Alyce Tzue on Vimeo.
Today, we watched 'Soar' (pictured above) and learned that with a good attitude and persistance, we can do anything. Students then wrote four ways that they can soar at school through practice. We took their ideas that help them soar, and made them into kites to fly outside. Please enjoy these at home tonight.
It's been a great first week back so far!
|
ASA First GradersWe are caring, balanced , reflective, openminded, risk-taking, knowledgeable, principled, thinkers, communicators, inquirers, explorers and learners. Archives
March 2017
Categories |