Crew News December 11, 2012

Learning to Use Chopsticks
Today as part of our study of families in China, we learned how to use chopsticks. Ms. Krista came again to help us learn this cool skill. She also brought us some chopsticks and chopstick "trainers" that we can use (kind of like training wheels on a bike). We still will need lots of practice but now we know the basics.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Play a math game - either an online game on our Resources page or have your child teach you a game that we play in class.

Renaissance Art Blog
If you haven't checked out Ms. Pam's blog lately, you should take a look. She has a main page with general Art blog posts and then there are Pages for each grade level project. It is fascinating!

Renaissance Art ~ The Practice and Ponders of an Art Teacher

Crew News December 10, 2012

Sight Words

Our new sight words are: come, get, from, have, are
 
Previous words include: and, going, of, for, like, little, look, saw, she, said, the, thing, they, was, with

These are great words to point out to your child when they are reading or to have them practice spelling at home, too. 

Ask your child to explain how we practice these words at school using the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check method.
 


Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 5.1 Tens-and-Ones Riddles

Crew News December 7, 2012

Joyous Chinese Cultural Center
We had a wonderful day of learning at the Joyous Chinese Cultural Center. We went to sessions on making dumplings, doing Kung Fu, doing paper cutting and doing calligraphy. Check out the photos below to get a peek into how we spent our day. Be sure to watch the last photo in the slide show to see just how we all felt when we got back to school this afternoon. Thanks so much to all of the chaperones who went along and were so helpful all day. (If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the slide show.)




For a larger version of this slide show, go here.



Homework
No homework for the weekend. Enjoy some good books with your child.


IA
Our IA next week is Art.

Crew News December 6, 2012

Dim Sum Expert
Ms. Krista, Sophia's mom, came in today and taught the whole first grade all about dim sum. We learned so much and are now ready to do our fieldwork at the Chinese restaurant in a couple of weeks. Thanks, Ms. Krista, for sharing what you have learned with us.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.

Crew News December 5, 2012

TumbleBooks
Need a great place to find online books for your child to read. TumbleBooks is the place. It has many great books like A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee, Diary of a Fly, Diary of a Spider, Enemy Pie, Franklin Goes to School, Ish, Little Pea, Mercy Watson to the Rescue, Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10, No Nuts for Me, Pirates Don't Change Diapers, Scaredy Squirrel, The Dot and many, many more.

At this site, you can choose to read the book yourself or have it read to you. Many times online books can be a bit disappointing but not here. These are great books that you would find in any library. I highly recommend trying this site out.

To access this site from home, you will need to register with your library card number and library pin number. (We don't have to do this from school which makes it easier with 25 students.)

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 4.13 Unit 5: Family Letter

Library
We have library tomorrow. Please help your child remember to return his or her library books.

Crew News December 4, 2012

Wonderopolis
On the Resources page of our crew blog, you can find the link to a great site called Wonderopolis. This site has a new "wonder" or question each day along with the answer and a video that helps answer the question. It is a fun site to visit because they answer so many great questions. This site has questions on all kinds of interesting topics from seahorses to trash to eyelashes to igloos to origami to lagoons to turtles and so much more. Some of the reading is a bit challenging for first graders but they can watch the videos and enjoy the pages with an adult who can help them read them.

This is a great way to increase your child's Science and Social Studies knowledge and increase their background knowledge which helps with reading. It is also just interesting and fun to read about some of these topics. Check it out when you have a minute.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 4.12 Color-by-Number

Crew News December 3, 2012

Paper Cutting
Ms. Noreene came to talk to our crew about the art of paper cutting that is common in China. She brought some beautiful samples and read a couple of great stories to us about paper cutting. We also watched as she created a paper cutting of her own. We will get the chance to make our own paper cut designs during our fieldwork on Friday.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 4.11 Domino Sums