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Spring has sprung in our class! Our bean plants grew in a matter of days. Our Learning to Look coordinators helped us to create Monet, Van Gogh and Seurat masterpieces. Our caterpillars are eating and growing and will soon be butterflies. In math we are exploring fractions. In science we are studying mammals and working on our mammal projects. We have just completed publishing our poetry books and are about to begin a unit on non-fiction writing pieces. In Social Studies we have taken virtual class trips to urban, suburban and rural communities. In reading we are reading non fiction passages and working on key comprehension strategies such as making inferences and drawing conclusions. The new year brought lots of excitement to our classroom. Our Math work taught us how to measure and how to tell time. We have begun our unit on multiplication and division. Our author of the month was Arnold Lobel. We used the characters he created in "Frog and Toad" to help in our reading of series books. We looked closely at character traits and used post-its to help retell story episodes. We have begun our unit on fairy tales. We have been noticing common themes in these stories and are having wonderful discussions. The children are comparing and contrasting different versions of the same tales. They have begun to create their own versions of the stories. The children also wrapped up a unit on persuasive writing. We have been taking care of our mealworms and watching their growth. Soon we will have beetles! We went on 2 great trips where we learned a great deal about reptiles and amphibians. We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King and other African Americans and discussed their contributions to our country. We worked on biography projects and learned about the lives of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The month of March brings the beginning of Spring and more wonderful learning experiences! Please ask your child...
December flew by! We began the month with a trip to the New York City Ballet. The children found out many "secrets" about the Nutcracker performances. We also concluded our unit of study on birds with a trip to the Weinberg Nature Center. Our yearlong science theme is "animal adaptations". The children learned about physical adaptations that help birds survive in their habitats. We are looking forward to our study of balance and motion when we return in the new year. December was full of children's literature that focused on holiday traditions. Our author of the month was Tomie DePaola. Visit www.tomie.com for information on Tomie, his work and games. We also did a project with Ms. Cheung's second grade class where we created the words to one of Tomie DePaola's wordless picture books. In our reading groups we have been exploring characters in series books. In writing we worked on writing non-fiction and focused on features of non-fiction texts. We studied singular an plural nouns. In Math we are working on renaming and regrouping two and three digit numbers. Have a wonderful and safe holiday! Although we missed some days of school due to Hurricane Sandy, November was still full of action! We began our reading unit on series books. Whether we were reading The Magic Tree House, Nate the Great, Flat Stanley or Frog and Toad - the children were engaged in applying strategies to make sense of their reading. Our author of the month was Kevin Henkes. In November we also began reading and writing for information. The children learned about main ideas and details and learned how to formulate paragraphs. The children are in the process of choosing their favorite non-fiction writing piece to publish. We learned about nouns, did more work with short vowels and wrote friendly letters to each other. We also wrote thank you letters to our first grade buddies, thanking them for the wonderful Thanksgiving feast they shared with us. In Math we continue to add and subtract two and three digit numbers. With the help of our facts cards we have gotten better at knowing our addition and subtraction facts. We started our bird unit. We have been learning about bird adaptations. We ended our month with a trip to the Bronx Zoo. Ask your child about...
October was an exciting month! We have been learning the good habits of good readers and writers. We have been working in small groups to help sharpen our "word attack" strategies. We have been enjoying books from some of our favorite authors - such as Leo Lionni and James Howe. The children have already published two pieces of their writing. The first piece was a personal narrative and the second was a realistic fiction piece that we shared with our first grade buddies. They had lots of questions for us! We have been working on formulating complete sentences and have begun to write paragraphs. Our editing work has centered on capitalization and punctuation. We also created a list of spelling strategies and have compiled a list of spelling tools (charts and word walls) that can help us. We began our Social Studies unit on communities. We discussed what a community is and what it means to be a good citizen. We focused on citizen's rights and responsiblilties including voting. We learned about the seasons, Halloween and trees. In math we continue our work on number sense and have begun to add and subtract numbers. October 1, 2012 September was an exciting month! In Class 2Ba we have spent the month of September getting to know each other and settling into our daily routines in the classroom. The children have chosen their "perfect reading spots", filled their bookbins with "just right" books and have been learning the habits of good readers. We have been comparing and contrasting different genres of books. In writing we have been writing stories about our very exciting lives, created "writer's hearts" that can help with generating ideas and learned the routines of Writing Workshop. In Word Study we have been learning about short vowels and consonant blends. The children have also been practicing their handwriting in their workbooks. In Math we have been strengthening our number sense by using manipulatives and the hundreds chart. We have been working on place value and have Math partners with whom we do different activities. In Social Studies we have been learning about maps, directions as well as continents and oceans. In Science we discussed seasons and weather and even took a vote for our favorite season. Can you guess what it is? Don't forget to ask your child about...
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