Light/Dark, Day/Night

We will begin our new unit on Monday, first exploring light and dark then connecting that to day and night and ending with an exploration of the Solar System. PBS has a fun shadowcasting activity you can try with your child online (link is below). This is a great way to begin discussing the topic with your child at home. To get a few more ideas of ways to extend the topic also click on "interact, understand, and the expand icons" on the Shadowcasting page. These links give great ideas, for example to encourage your child's curiosity "If your child becomes interested in the way real world shadows change length, you can help her observe when her own shadow is longest and when it is shortest." (from PBS)
Shadowcasting . Creativity Challenge . Creativity . PBS Parents | PBS

I hope you a had a great weekend full of adventure!

No-Bake Granola Balls - A Fun Measurement Activity

We will be starting an exploration of measurement in math on Monday. One fun way to explore measurement at home is through cooking with your child. Here is a great recipe and cooking activity to try...
No-Bake Granola Balls . Activities . PreK & K . Early Math . PBS Parents | PBS

Some of the vocabulary we will be using in class is: more, less, fewer, equal, bigger, smaller, longer, shorter, taller, heavy, heavier, light, and lighter. It would be wonderful if you could explore these concepts and vocabulary at home as well to supplement our classroom learning.

Here is an online measurement activity you can try with your child, this activity focuses on measuring the length of an object using non-standard units of measure.
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/length_strength1_clips/

Happy Friday!

This week we began a new math unit on graphing. We are learning how to show, count, and compare information on a graph. So far we've graphed our favorite colors, our favorite school activity, our feelings, and even the tupes of shoes we wear! Talk to your child about this to find out more. In your blue folders, you will find a homework assignment about takiing surverys. This is another form of graphing that we will be doing next week, read the sheet and give it a try this weekend!

I also wanted to update you on the letter names and sounds we have covered so far and your child should know. I emphasize sound because children should know both the name and sound of each letter. a,b,c,d,f,g,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,s,t,...and our letter for next week will be r. Here is a link to PBS Parents, with some great information on early literacy. Be sure to click on the box to the right "How to help your child get ready for reading" and the other box " Young children are invited to play with words and make funny sentences!" http://www.pbs.org/parents/readinglanguage/preschooler/main.html

Growing Storytellers

Posted below you can read and hear Isabella tell her story. At school Isabella first painted an elephant in the forest, when she was finished she wrote her own original storybook about bears and elephants. When Isabella was through drawing and writing I took dictation, writing her exact words as she read me her book. Several hours later Isabella read the story using a microphone and a special website called Voicethread.com. All of your children have been creating books at school and it is a great way to practice becoming an emerging writer and reader. I hope this piece will be useful for your own artwork, writing , and storytelling projects at home. If you have any questions, ask!

Isabella's Story

Check out what our ESL 1st graders did!

On Tuesdays - Thursdays I spend an hour after school working with a wonderful group of first graders. We have spent about a month creating our own digital storybook of the classic Three Billy Goats Gruff. I'm sharing it with you because this idea can be used with your children too! At home, when your child draws pictures encourage them to tell stories about it - or better yet create a story together about their masterpiece!

The Power of Words

Happy Friday families! This week we've learned so much about bears (just ask your child and hear what they have to say)! Our bear study will continue next week as we explore the life cycle and diet of different bears. One thing I've noticed this week is that we need to be exposing children to more action words (verbs) and describing words so instead of saying "the bear go up the tree" they will have the vocabulary to say "the bear climbed quickly up the tall tree." Here are some of the action words we will focus on next week: climb, crawl, growl, eat, hunt, run, sleep, stand, swim, walk. At such a young age we really don't have to do anything more than use this type of vocabulary ourselves in front of them - there's no need to push children to use it. They will pick the vocabulary up from simply hearing it used and will eventually add it to their personal vocabulary. In class, we will use these words in fun ways, like: playing charades which is acting out the word and letting other children guess the word, and through creative movement. Try to use these words and other rich vocabulary at home as well to increase your child's exposure to rich vocabulary. The boys and girls in our class are lucky enough to speak TWO languages so remember that this idea of using a more rich vocabulary applies not only to English but the language you speak at home. Children have a remarkable way of transferring knowledge - so learning verbs in Chinese or Spanish will eventually transfer to English with work at school.

Enjoy your weekend families!