Through Sickness and Health

This week has certainly been a challenging one for our class, as a virus has been making its rounds through many of us. It’s been tough seeing so many absent faces, and we’ve all been trying our best to stay healthy. As we push through, I’m hopeful that this will be the last of it for a while. I’m looking forward to a healthy, productive period ahead!

Writing: Crafting Teaching Books

One of the standout highlights of our week has been the students' work in writing. They’ve been busy creating their very own teaching books about animals they’ve chosen. The process has been incredibly engaging for them, as they practice taking factual information about their animals and putting it into their own words. It’s been amazing to see how they’re growing as writers, learning to communicate complex ideas in clear and simple ways.

Kindergarten Math: Exploring Numbers and Arrangements

On the math front, our kindergarten students have been diving into some important concepts. They’ve been practicing arranging a set of objects in different ways, and this exercise has reinforced a key idea: a quantity remains the same, no matter how it’s arranged. This foundational concept helps them understand that numbers represent amounts, and those amounts don’t change just because the objects look different in a set.

Additionally, they’ve been working on decomposing numbers into parts. This involves breaking numbers down into smaller parts and then using numbers and addition notation to describe these parts. For example, a student might say that 5 can be broken into 2 and 3, or 1 and 4. It’s a critical skill for developing number sense and preparing for more advanced math concepts in the future.

First Grade Math

Students are wrapping up their unit on number patterns and using the 120 chart.  Learners have been focusing on patterns they see when counting by twos, fives, and tens.  In addition, they are learning to add and subtract 10 from any number on the 120 chart. 

Geography: Exploring Maps and Globes

Students have been continuing to explore the world around them by studying different types of maps. They’ve been learning how maps provide different kinds of information about locations, features, and borders. Most recently, we compared the use of maps with a globe, highlighting the differences between these two tools for representing Earth. The students had some great insights into why we might choose to use a map over a globe (for example, when we need to zoom in on specific areas or look at a larger scale). This hands-on experience has been valuable in developing their spatial awareness and broadening their understanding of geography.