Spelling - Our weekly words and grammar focused on making plural nouns by adding s. We also discussed other ways of making plural nouns such as -es, ies and changing the word, ie foot - feet.
Reading - we continued to look at characters this week. Students looked at how characters changed throughout books and made connections of how the feelings of characters of different books were the same. We learned that when characters learn a lesson in stories their behaviour and feelings usually change. Students enjoyed four of Kevin Henkes' stories and could identify when the characters in each book felt miserable and excited.
Writing - We moved onto a new style of writing this week - Expository Writing. Students learned how to gather and order ideas to tell how-to do or make something. Students drafted their first expository how-to paragraph telling their friends how to do or make something.
Last week we focused on rocks and this week we moved to observing the properties of soil and how much water three samples could hold. Students again this year have really enjoyed the natural resources unit - rocks and soil hold such fascination for first grade students. We also discussed ways to conserve resources by reducing, reusing and recycling them. We have sent an email home asking for small reusable items for the children to build/make something with.
Students discussed culture and family customs and how we share them with people in the community. We wondered about the customs of the students that we wrote to at Mulberry school. As a little home school projects students will think of a family custom/tradition/holiday and prepare an informative poster about their topic to share with the class. Next week students will be bringing home an interview sheet to gather information from parents about the holiday or custom that they would like to share with the class.
Larissa