Students showed off their "Small Moment" and "All About" books today at the grade-level writing celebration. Although the "Small Moment" unit was completed several weeks ago, the children enjoyed revisiting their stories, and some noted how their writing has improved since September! Their "All About" books demonstrated the vast array of experts currently in the first grade. This last week was a time for preparing for the writing celebration, which included correcting misspelled sight words, adding punctuation at the end of sentences, and checking for proper use of upper and lowercase letters. Before sharing with families on Friday, the three first grade classes gathered together and celebrated all they have learned. It was so much fun for them to practice their best teaching voices with one another and to see the ways in which their friends are experts!
First graders have transformed themselves into teachers. They began by thinking of topics about which they are experts. Using their fingers to plan facts they know, first graders checked to make sure they knew at least 5 facts about a topic: enough to write an entire book. Next, they began planning by sketching diagrams and writing labels to create pictures that help teach the reader even more. They studied how nonfiction books have labels, diagrams, maps, and photographs that can help explain some of the facts on the page. Finally, they wrote many facts about their topics to create "All About" books. It’s incredible to see how much first graders know about any given topic! There are animal experts, chess experts, and basketball experts just to name a few. They look forward to sharing these pieces, as well as their "Small Moment" books with you on December 20th for the first writing celebration!
First graders began a unit on measurement. Initially, they used paper clips, cubes, markers, and pencils as units of measurement. Later, they will use standard units of measurement. During their exploration, students discussed the difference between an estimated measurement and an exact measurement; they also discussed the need for both. In addition, they learned to be careful and avoid common measurement errors such as not lining up an object properly, leaving gaps between units, and overlapping units. These hands-on experiences have been both fun and educational!
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