Dear Room 2 Families,
February 2, 2016
This classroom community of learners is
AWESOME!! The children have been working hard and are very invested in the many
topics we’ve been exploring these past several weeks. It’s been wonderful
watching them as their reading skills have strengthened, thus helping them to
learn more about the world around them. It’s such an exciting time in their
learning!
Science
I hope you had a chance to hear all about
our penguin studies these past several weeks! The children learned so much
about these funny little creatures by reading a variety of books, including Penguins
by Gail Gibbons and Seven Weeks on an Iceberg, by Keith Potter. Our
penguin unit offers such rich selections of nonfiction literature to first
graders. We also learned a song and two new poems called, “ Seven Continents”, “Peter
Penguin” and “Regurgitate.” The children have reinforced their knowledge about
these land masses by coloring in maps where penguins live. Your child
illustrated copies of the poems and song for his/her poetry and song notebook.
Some of our other favorite books include Lost and Found, by Oliver
Jeffers and If You Were A Penguin, by Wendell and Florence Minor. We
spent a portion of each day reflecting on what we learned about these birds.
Here are a few questions that you may want to ask your child during a car ride
or a dinner conversation:
- What is the biggest penguin called? (Emperor Penguin)
- How tall is it? (4 feet tall)
- What is the name of the smallest penguin and how tall is
it? (Little Blue or Fairy Penguin; 1 foot tall)
- How many different types of penguins are there? (18)
- What do penguins eat?
(fish, krill, squid)
- What are some of the penguin’s predators? (killer whales
or orcas, leopard seals, fur seals, sharks, sea lions, skua birds, giant
petrels)
- Where do penguins live?
(All penguins in the wild live south of the equator. Penguins can
be found in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, Africa, and the Galapagos
Islands)
- What kinds of
animals are penguins? (They are birds. They have feathers, wings, and a
beak, and they hatch from eggs.)
- Can penguins fly?
(Penguins lost their ability to fly millions of years ago; they use their
wings when they swim as sturdy paddles or flippers.)
- How do baby
penguins get their food? (I’ll let your child reveal this one to you!)
We’ve learned about the penguin’s body, its predators, nest building
(though not all penguins build nests), the brood pouches of the King and
Emperor penguins, and the penguin’s eating habits. We’ve talked about the
similarities and differences in some of the 18 species. Some highlights during
activity time have included passing “eggs” from mom’s feet to dad’s feet like
king and emperor penguins, 4-square posters titled, “What We Know About
Penguins” and penguin mini-books.
Many
thanks to our parent chaperones who helped to make our field trip to the New
England Aquarium a HUGE success: Lauren Alongi, Caryn Berkowitz, Polina Bouriev,
Rashmi Charry, Jeffrey Chausse, Jorge Diaz-Santiago, Kristine Hagan, Victoria
Hargreaves, Marchella Lee, John O’Neill,
Kate Ozpeynirci, Mike Nugent, Jennifer Pearlman, Keisha Taylor, Adam
Wyner, and Ilana Wyner. Whew~what a crew! We are all so very appreciative that
you took the time to spend the morning with us! I know the kids all LOVED
having you all along! The trip couldn’t have been what it was without you. We saw
a wonderful variety of sea creatures including rockhopper penguins, little blue
penguins, African penguins, lionfish, sea dragons, jellies, sharks and rays in
the shark and ray touch tank, sea turtles, eels, leopard seals, sea lions and
much, much more. The children did a wonderful job sharing their knowledge of penguins
with our chaperones~I was so proud of the first graders! The field trip was a
wonderful way to enrich our studies of these amazing creatures. Many, many
thanks again to the EXTREMELY GENEROUS PTO for covering the cost of admission
and bus fees for this field trip. We are so very grateful!
Social Studies:
We’ve had many conversations about Martin
Luther King, Jr. and his continued importance in our world today. I wish you
could have been present for the discussion we had about this important leader
and famous American who truly made a difference in the world. The children put
so much heart and soul into their comments and gave thoughtful insight as to
what they wished their future would hold for them. We created posters with our
fifth grade buddies, representing these dreams and wishes as an extension
activity after reading the book, We Dream Of A World. They’re consistent reminders of how we’d like
to be treated, what is fair and just, and how we can work together to make a
better, safer place to live and grow. Please stop by our room to see these fabulous
creative, heartfelt expressions!
5+7=6+6 3+8=9+2
Math
Our work
with addition and subtraction has continued. We’ve been working on automaticity
of math facts through 10 and solving addition and subtraction equations through
20. We’ve also been focusing on solving story problems, showing our work using
words, pictures, number labels, and number models or equations. We’ve practiced
solving equations with missing addends. We’ve even been working on equations
with 3 addends! We’ve worked on balancing equations like the ones above as
well. The Room 2 Mathematicians are incredible!
Author Illustrator
Jarrett Krosoczka:
On
Monday, we had the pleasure of having author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka share
his craft with us here at Happy Hollow! He told us about his experiences of
becoming a writer and how a book goes from idea to printed product. It was
fascinating to listen to him talk about what/who inspires him to write and to
hear how perseverance played such a crucial role in his success as an
author/illustrator. He read his story, It’s Tough to Lose Your Balloon to
us. For more information about Jarrett Krosoczka, please visit his website
at studiojjk.com.
·
Progress Reports and Conferences
Progress
Reports/Report Cards were sent home last week. The
report card is based on end of the year standards so indicators that
report “progressing” or "sometimes" are typical at this halfway point
in the school year. Conferences begin in early March and will run for 5
weeks. I’ll be scheduling conferences through a Volunteer Spot Sign-Up. I’m
eager to share your child’s progress with you and I look forward to chatting
more in person during our spring conference. Please let me know if you have any
questions about your child’s progress report in the meantime.
Valentine’s Day is Sunday,
February 14th!
I
hope you received the Valentine’s Day note that I sent home yesterday. Please
let me know if you didn’t receive it and I will send another one along. It had
important information about exchanging valentines as well as our class list.
Again, if your child chooses to exchange valentines, please make sure
he/she brings one in for each member of the class. Children are welcome to
attach any “extras” to their valentines such as stickers, pencils, tattoos,
etc. Mr. Lee allows children to deliver valentines with nut-free, egg-free,
dairy-free treats attached but we ask children to refrain from eating them in
school. Parents will then have the opportunity to determine which candies or
treats, if any, can be eaten at home.
Keep your
eye out for a 100th Day of School homework activity that will be
sent home tomorrow!
Please let
me know if you have any questions about the information in this
newsletter. I hope you all enjoy the
vacation ahead!
Take care,
Lise
Weig J
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