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READING HOMEWORK
In an effort to acknowledge the many activities you already do at home and the rich discussions you are already having, and to change things up a bit, there will be a new format for reading homework, called READ-O, similar to BINGO. You and your child may choose 5 activities in a row to complete throughout the week. Of course you may do more than 5!
*If you and your child are in a great routine of reading 15 minutes a day and would like to stick with that, feel free to record your reading on a piece of paper and turn it in with your homework.
COMMUNITY
We are really practicing how to wait our turn to speak and to avoid interrupting other people. We read a book called My Mouth is a Volcano. The main character in this books really has a hard time keeping his ideas in his head. He gets so excited about his ideas that they bubble up and escape out of his mouth. Through much practice, he discovers a strategy to take a beep breath, let is ideas escape so he can let them wait in the air the until a good time, and then breath them back into to say at the right time. We practiced this strategy as a class and observed our interruptions for a few days. We noticed some days had more interruptions that others, but we will keep practicing. Next week, we will also practice some explicit discussion strategies, including waiting your turn to speak, figuring out a good time to share your idea, making sure your idea is on topic, and figuring out how to talk the right amount of time (not too much, not too little) so everyone gets to share their ideas.
We also discussed the Devotion School Motto this week.
The Devotion School motto is: Work Hard, Be Kind, Help Others.
We talked about what it looks like to follow this motto in school, on the playground and at home.
SCIENCE
We learned more about the parts of teeth this week, and we learned the names and jobs of the different types of teeth. Next week, we will do some experiments to simulate the affects of different liquids on our teeth and to observe what happens when we get a cavitiy.
MATH
Continuing in Chapter 8, we practiced ½ of a number, and doubling numbers. We also learned how to write 1/2 , emphasizing that the bottom number is how may parts it is divided into and the top number shows how many parts are shaded or how many parts you get. We also explored numbers that you can’t cut in half equally (3, 5, etc.) In those cases there are options to have and extra one left over, or to split the extra in half. For example, if we want to split 5 cookies between 2 people, each person could get 2 with one cookie left, or each person could have 2 ½ . In writing these numbers, the big number in front shows how many whole items there are, and the fraction ½ is written to the right of the whole number. It’s a bit confusing to write, but the concept is one that many first graders can relate to and figure out independently.
GREEN, YELLOW, RED
For the past few weeks, we have been using a Green, Yellow, Red system to help the children monitor themselves throughout the day. Everyone starts on Green which means “Ready to Learn.” The children understand the expected behaviors one would demonstrate when they are ready to learn: following directions, listening respectfully, staying on task, helping peers do the right thing, etc. If at any point through out the day, students are not ready to learn, a teacher might move their name to Yellow on the chart. Yellow means “Think About It.” This is in no way a punishment, and its not necessarily a bad thing. Yellow is a chance and a visual reminder (without verbally pointing out a behavior) to think about actions and expected behaviors. Many times, this reminder is all a student needs to get back on track, and within minutes, a teacher might move his or her name back to “Ready to Learn.” If a child remains on yellow for a while, her or she might miss 1-2 minutes of Choice Time or Recess to regroup; but again, many children quickly shift back to expected behavior.
However, if the behavior continues or another incident occurs, a teacher might then move a name from yellow to Red, which means “Teacher’s Choice”. We rarely move names to Red, and in the situations where a name is moved to Red, we will talk about it right away and decide with the child what will help to make the situation better or what a logical consequence might be. We will always let you know of any major incidents in school involving your child.
Please feel free to ask us any questions regarding this system or your child.
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What was a funny part of the show we saw on Friday Morning?
• How do you write one -half?
• What did you notice when you observed your mouth and your teeth?
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