Hello Super First Grade Families and Spectacular First Graders!
Wow! It's hard to believe it's November already; it feels like October went by in the blink of an eye! I move the desks around on the first of the month and the kids look forward to working with new friends. Kids - be sure to tell your parents who is in your table group!
The kids brought their pictures home today. They turned out great! Nice smiles, everyone!
This week we are doing a science unit on bats. Each day we will learn about a different type of bat, do a bat experiement or activity and write facts on the wing of a construction paper bat. Today we learned about the bumblebee bat; the kids loved this! The kids learned that the bumblebee bat weighs less than a penny. The kids felt a penny in their hands and then they chose objects from around the room to compare them with the weight of a bumblebee bat. Our schedule is a little bit different this week and so we got to learn about another kind of bat today, the fruit bat! The kids learned that the fruit bat uses its sharp teeth to eat through the tough skin of fruit. We pretended to be like a fruit bat and we practiced eating an orange like a fruit bat! The kids had a blast with this! During the week we will also learn little about brown bats and vampire bats. On Friday we will have a visit from from Tristan's aunt. She is a bat biologist and Director of Education at Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas. This should be a great day for the kids!
The kids had a fun time with our "batty" centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to Bats Around the Clock and then they completed a cloze passage with bat vocabulary.
2. Science - The kids did experiments to simulate bat echolocation and vibrations. They used rubber bands to see and hear vibrations and they also made different call sounds and tapped their throats. This was a lot of fun!
3. Writing - The kids made a book of nocturnal creatures. Some of the nocturnal creatures were review and others were new to the kids.
4. Math - The kids identified bats by their wingspans. The kids were given clues about bats and then they looked at construction paper bats and they identified them based on the clues. After that, they estimated the wingspan of each bat and then they measured the wingspan of each bat. There were some surprises! The kids were surprised to learn that some fruit bats can have a 6 foot wingspan!
5. Reading - The kids read 1:1 with me. The kids have made a lot of progress with their reading during the month of October!
We have new spelling words this week. This week in addition to our spelling words, the kids have bat theme words. They loved this! The kids brought home Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. I gave the class a special challenge for this week's test. We have used the word nocturnal a lot and it is a tough one to spell! Since it is a spelling word this week, the kids and I made a deal! If everyone spells it right on the test, the class will get a special prize!
We began chapter 7 in math today. Chapter 7 focuses on subtraction strategies. Today we worked on counting back 1, 2 and 3. The kids learned to count back using clapping strategies and a number line. The kids did a great job with this! Your child came home with the parent letter that provides information about this chapter.
We did a neat bat activity in computers today to practice writing in a word document. If you'd like to see what the kids did in computers today, click on the post directly below this one, "Computers, 11/1."
Have an A + week!
Mrs. Johnston
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