Writing and Sharing with a Partner

We have been writing "Small Moment Stories." We've been writing about things we've done and things that have happened to us. We've worked on adding details, making sure our writing is legible, and making our illustrations colorful and exciting. 

As a celebration of our hard work and story writing so far, we partnered up and shared stories. These authors gave each other positive feedback, learned more about each other, and even got some ideas for their own stories!

Here are two quick videos of students sharing their work.

All School Share Performance

Check out our performance at November's All School Share. We sounded so spectacular with the other singers in Mrs. Menz, Mrs. Kulis, and Mrs. Mandigo's class!

Do you want to sing along? Here are the lyrics...

Thatcher Brook School Song

(To tune of Yellow Submarine)

Thatcher Brook is a great school.

Where we follow the golden rule.

And we write, and sing, and play

With our friends every day.

We all go to Thatcher Brook School. Thatcher Brook School. Thatcher Brook School

We all go to Thatcher Brook School. Thatcher Brook School. Thatcher Brook School

We are safe. We do our best.

Make good choices. School's our nest.

Read a book and do our math.

We are friends who like to laugh.

We all go to Thatcher Brook School. Thatcher Brook School. Thatcher Brook School

We all go to Thatcher Brook School. Thatcher Brook School. Thatcher Brook School

Math Happenings

We have been trying a lot of activities in math to help us solve addition and subtraction problems accurately and efficiently.

One of the activities is called "Combination Sort" - we have to sort addition equations by their sums.

"Make 10 Butterflies" and "Make 20 Butterflies" are class favorites. We put together puzzle pieces by looking for partners to 10 or 20.

Counters in a Cup is a game where we hide counters under a cup and our partner has to guess how many counters are being hidden.

Our newest activities are called "Bump Addition" and "Bump Subtraction!" Each player gets 10 cubes and rolls the dice. They put one of their cubes on top of the answer (from adding or subtracting). The object of the game is to get all of your cubes on the game board. You can "bump" other players off the board if you roll a number your partner has already covered.

Ask your child what his/her favorite math activity or game is and how they play!

Reading Buddies

Have you heard about our reading buddies? These fuzzy creatures help us feel comfortable as we read independently. We practiced making sure that they were helping us become better readers and not distracting us. We can read for a really long time when we have something special to read to. ;)

Turkey-Themed Math and Sharing What We're Thankful For

This month we had some turkey-themed math activities! We had to add and color based on the sums, we rolled dice to add and subtract numbers and colored the sums, and we colored in the turkey with the greatest number in its belly.

We talked a lot about what it means to be thankful. We drew pictures and displayed all of the things we were thankful for.

During Closing Circle, on our last day before vacation, we did a lightning share about what we were thankful for...

Turkey Tens for Thanksgiving Week

One of the games we played today was called "Turkey Tens." You roll a die and cover the number that goes with it to make ten. The first player to cover all of their numbers wins the game! You can use coins, erasers, pieces of paper, or even paperclips to cover the partners to ten.

 First graders are working toward being independent in accurately and automatically identifying partners to 10.

Do you need a challenge? Is your child already automatic with making ten? Play "Turkey Twenty" by adding a "1" in front of every number on the game sheet. Roll one die and cover the partner to make 20. The first player to cover all of their numbers wins the game!

Happy Playing!

Two Notes...

Hello Families!

1 - You should have received your child's photo and/or class photo on Friday. Picture retakes are scheduled for next Friday, November 15th.

2 - It is parent-teacher conference time! You can sign up for a conference time on the Canyon Creek Online Scheduler tomorrow, Monday, November 11th, at five. Conference times are first come, first serve! Please let me know if you need assistance in signing up for a time.

Have a great week! :)

Drop Sticks, Pattern Blocks, Geoboards, and More...

We have been exploring geoboards, triangles, counting by 10s, pattern blocks, and shape attributes. We   worked together to sort shapes and presented posters to show our thinking. Ask your first grader what his/her favorite math activity was this week!

 

 

 

The Perfect Square

This week we went up to the library with Mrs. Kulis' first grade mathematicians. We had a big math lesson in the library! Mrs. Abele-Austin and Mrs. Daigle took us on a geometry-filled adventure!

We read Perfect Square, written by Michael Hall. Mrs. Daigle read the story to us and helped us notice details in the illustrations and text.

Mrs. Abele-Austin talked to us about squares. We discussed what made a square a square. Is it still a square when it is sideways, upside down, or crooked? (Yes!)

After we read about this incredible, transforming square, Mrs. Abele-Austin introduced us to the "Perfect Triangle." We were able to create our own illustrations by using triangles! We had hole punches, scissors, fancy pattern scissors, and glue sticks.

These clever mathematicians created teeter totters, fish, bridges, sharks, villages, and trees!





Some mathematicians made flowers, boats, airplanes, tree houses and rockets!