The Georgia Aquarium Field Trip Was Great!

Progress Reports

Progress reports will be sent home this afternoon.  Please sign and return on Tuesday, 9/29/2015.

Also, the Aquarium trip is scheduled for October 2, 2015 (that's next Wednesday).  I've received some permission slips, but only two students have paid the $5.00 transportation cost.

If you'd like to volunteer for the Aquarium trip, please email me at daniel.hall@atlanta.k12.ga.us.

Thanks!

Review and Preview

High Museum Field Trip

It's been an exciting week at Adamsville in Mr. Hall's 1st Grade class.  This week, we went to the High Museum of Art and learned about animals.  We also learned about the writings of Mo Willems.  You can learn more about Mo Willems by visiting your local library and/or bookstore.



You can check out more information here:  http://www.high.org/Art/Exhibitions/Seriously-Silly.aspx

Also check out one of his books:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWEekO4ufwM

AQUARIUM FIELD TRIP

We will be going to the Aquarium as a class in October.  I would like some parents to volunteer their time to go with us and help supervise children.  The High Museum was fun but it would have been more fun with more supervision and everyone doing the right thing.  So, if you'd like to volunteer your time, please e-mail me at daniel.hall@atlanta.k12.ga.us.

Language Arts

This week

In language arts, we've been reading the story Lucia's Neighborhood, which focuses on the short "e" sound.  We've also been reviewing short "i," short "a," and some other letters.  The word list for this week has been:

fix, big, took, tan, pet, man, mix, pin, street, met, fin, who, does, look, book, ran, here, get, cook, set, home, me, my, in, can, pants, plant, six, win, all

For grammar we've been discussing nouns (person, place, animal, thing, or idea), especially common and proper nouns.  See this video (there are lots of others on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmZA90W53Rk  (You can tell the kids the speakers have an Australian accent, which goes along with our IB curriculum.)

For this 9 weeks, we've been working on the following skills and will continue to do so.  Using YouTube and the internet, you can find a lot of resources for helping your child with these skills at home:  short vowel sounds, story characters, retelling a story, context clues (understanding meaning from a story), informational text, main idea of a story, inflection -s (such as takes, likes, plays, sings, etc.), and narrative writing.

Next Week

The primary story we'll be reading will be Gus Takes the Train.  This story focuses on words with the short "u" sound such as run, up, Gus, cup, etc.   We'll also review other words with short vowels, such as:

run, sun, get, met, big, fig, bag, as, pun, set, let, pig, dig, rag ... and more difficult words such as makes, rakes, takes, train, strain, stain, many, hold, plain, rain, pull, full, friend, good

The high frequency words are many, friend, full, pull, hold, and good

We'll discuss elements of a story, such as characters, setting, and plot, and will look at the characters and setting of Gus Takes the Train by Russell Benfanti.

Also, throughout the year, we've been discussing folk tales such as Paul Bunyun, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, and Annie Oakley.  You can click the names to learn more about them.  This week we're also studying about maps and will probably complete a "Me on the Map Activity" like the one below (either in class or for homework):

We'll continue discussing nouns as well as verbs (an action word) and a little about adjectives (describing words).  Here are some good videos: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives

All students now have access to iRead, so they can do iRead at home.  If they don't remember their user name and password, I'll try to send them home in a letter this week.

Math

This week

For the past six weeks, we've been working on counting to 120 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAdV4qzonlA

We've also been working on tally marks (collecting data): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_UZiA_oxaY

Counting by fives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EemjeA2Djjw

If you'd like to give your child some extra practice at home, ixl.com is a great resource.  The following links are specific to what we have been learning:

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/counting-up-to-100

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/hundred-chart

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/skip-counting-patterns-with-tables

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/counting-on-the-hundred-chart

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/record-data-with-tally-charts-picture-graphs-tables

Next week

We will begin a new unit next week which will focus on the following skills:

place value (tens and ones), using 100 chart and 99 chart with place value, continuing with data and tally marks, charts and the words "most," "least," "more," and "less,"  and place value (mentioned it twice because there will be a lot of emphasis on place value.

Here are some good videos on place value, and below you will also find some useful ixl.com links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F3AycEDksY

This one will be good for parents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATgnG0M3S3Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21l3Jg5_MCg

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/place-value-models-up-to-20

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-1/place-value-models-up-to-100

I really hope all of this helps at home.  Contact me at daniel.hall@atlanta.k12.ga.us if you have any questions.

Some Useful Web Sites

Some of you have asked for extra help at home; here are some good Web sites we use at school that your child can access at home for additional practice and as resources:

http://www.starfall.com << really helps with reading skills

http://www.ixl.com << can be used for daily practice, math and language arts

http://www.abcya.com << variety of games that help build math and reading skills

http://www.abcmouse.com << very good for struggling students who need some additional help

http://www.classdojo.com << kids can check their points and monitor their daily behavior ... all parents received an access code towards the beginning of the year

http://www.kidzone.ws/dolch/grade1.htm << great Dolch word resources to help with word recognition

www.adaptedmind.com << great resources and activities for math and reading

Hi, welcome to Mr. Hall's 1st Grade Class at Adamsville ... home of Mr. Hall's ROCKSTARS!

Each week, check back here for updates with regards to homework, what's going on in class, field trip information, and other tidbits.

For now, please note the following policies to help with homework, home-school communication, and behavior:

Homework:  For the past couple weeks, students have been receiving homework packets on Monday that were due on Friday.  CHANGE:  Students will now receive homework on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  It will include spelling, math, reading, and language arts.  Homework will be due daily.

Agendas:  All students have received an agenda.  They should be bringing the agenda to school and home daily.  I would like to use the agendas as the primary way for home-school communication.  Please make sure your student has the agenda, that you see it daily, and that it is turned in every morning so I can review it, read comments, and respond daily.  Daily communication will help tremendously with classroom management.

Note:  Other than the agenda, the best way to communicate with me is through e-mail:  Daniel.Hall@atlanta.k12.ga.us.  I will respond to all emails as soon as possible.

The year has been quite busy thus far, but we're off to a great start!  I want to personally thank all the parents I've already met, and if we haven't, I hope to meet you soon.  If you have any questions, let me know via the agenda or email.

Here's to a rockin' year!