Happy Tuesday! Today's morning work was a crossword puzzle about Amos & Boris. The in-person learners and I talked through some of the puzzle questions together. After joining the at-home learners, we completed our morning business. Our Fun Fact for 135th Day of School was that the Badwater Ultramarathon is a 135-mile race in Death Valley, California. In my opinion, that event sounds like the opposite of fun!
After reading the morning message, the first graders responded to the Question of the Day. We established that birds have two wings, feathers, hollow bones, and beaks. They are also warm-blooded, lay eggs, and are bipedal. Ask your child what bipedal means!
To introduce birds specific to Australia, we read the books Edward the Emu and Edwina the Emu. Later, we read about real emus, watched a video clip about them, and practiced drawing them. We also looked at photos and drawings of other birds native to Australia. Finally, the students completed an activity sheet about the little blue or fairy penguin.
During the morning independent work time, the students completed the Unit 27 Practice Master to work with this week's spelling words. They also were given time to read about fossils and dinosaurs either on Epic or from books in the classroom. This week's Second Step lesson was a follow up to last week's discussion about fair ways to play.
After reading the morning message, the first graders responded to the Question of the Day. We established that birds have two wings, feathers, hollow bones, and beaks. They are also warm-blooded, lay eggs, and are bipedal. Ask your child what bipedal means!
To introduce birds specific to Australia, we read the books Edward the Emu and Edwina the Emu. Later, we read about real emus, watched a video clip about them, and practiced drawing them. We also looked at photos and drawings of other birds native to Australia. Finally, the students completed an activity sheet about the little blue or fairy penguin.
During the morning independent work time, the students completed the Unit 27 Practice Master to work with this week's spelling words. They also were given time to read about fossils and dinosaurs either on Epic or from books in the classroom. This week's Second Step lesson was a follow up to last week's discussion about fair ways to play.
After Music, Lunch, and Quiet Time, we jumped right into Math. There was lots to review in this chapter! The problem shown below took a good amount of time to work through. My goal is for students to not only know how to make a variety of calculations, but also to be able to explain why they are taking certain steps in their problem solving. In this way, they will be able to apply their problem solving skills to a variety of other mathematical situations.
The book Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs showed the first graders how scientific thinking about prehistoric creatures has changed over time. This led to a fossil project in which the students put together the pieces of a dinosaur skeleton puzzle. However, the drawing in the puzzle depicts a t-Rex dragging its tail on the ground, something scientists now believe to be an inaccurate depiction of how it carries itself. Students should be sure to write this title on the project: Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs!
Lastly, I read the book Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons to the class during Closing Circle. The students in the classroom enjoyed the book. Unfortunately, I didn't realize my laptop had decided to switch over to speakers that were not connected, so my friends at home did not hear the story. Thank you to Ms. Jensen for leading that group in brainstorming ways to try to get my attention! Please click here to watch a recording of the read aloud of the book that I made after school.
Parents, please check the April 22 learning plan to prepare your child for school on Thursday. There will be no school on Wednesday due to parent-teacher conferences being scheduled throughout the day.
Lastly, I read the book Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons to the class during Closing Circle. The students in the classroom enjoyed the book. Unfortunately, I didn't realize my laptop had decided to switch over to speakers that were not connected, so my friends at home did not hear the story. Thank you to Ms. Jensen for leading that group in brainstorming ways to try to get my attention! Please click here to watch a recording of the read aloud of the book that I made after school.
Parents, please check the April 22 learning plan to prepare your child for school on Thursday. There will be no school on Wednesday due to parent-teacher conferences being scheduled throughout the day.