Crew News 2/12/12

Highlights from last week...

• Realistic Fiction! I kicked off this new writing genre study by reading some realistic fiction featuring a boy named Andy Shane and his bossy classmate Delores Starbuckle.  The kids absolutely loved this read aloud. (Andy's class has morning meetings too!).  And yes, if your child came home singing "Walk Like an Egyptian" it was because Delores Starbuckle danced to it in  her desire to land Egypt for her class project.  So...at closing circle I played the song and we did the dance together.  Oh, first grade joy! 

• Math. The quarter...Just when we've grasped counting D, N, and P's in math, the children now have to learn to count the quarter!  We chanted "25, 50, 75, 100" and learned that the quarter is the BIG coin.  Best to learn what the front of it looks like because the mint has changed the backs of quarters too! (they obviously have never had to teach money!) PLEASE PRACTICE WITH COINS AT HOME....AND CONTINUE WORKING ON ADDITION FACTS IF YOU CAN! They really enjoyed learning rainbow addition facts and our Friday's problem solving in Math Exchanges was awesome. 

• Phonics.  Continued work with the long and short vowel combinations of words and th, wh, ch, sh (which surprisingly can show up in the beginning, middle, or ends of words!)  We continue to work on personal spelling lists and words from our word wall. 
• Writing.  The students made a plan for their personal narratives and learned about problem, solution and plot. 
• Expedition. We have been talking about how people earn, save and spend money. We wrapped up our Financial Literacy unit with the children writing a financial goal.  They wrote a  goal which included something they wanted to save up for, how much they would save, and how they would earn the money.  VERY cute to read about, especially how much they plan to save!   
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!