Many of the health outcomes this term focus on how to communicate with and get along with our peers. I find that watching short video clips help students to become engaged in discussion about social skills. Check out a couple of videos we've recently watched and discussed in our class. Preparing for winter In science we have been doing a series of short experiments to find ways that animals prepare for the cold winter. In the below experiment, we learned how oil on the skin of some animals helps it to repel wet weather from its body. First we rubbed water into our dry skin and noticed that it absorbed into our hands... Then we covered our hands with oil and tried to rub water in but noticed that it just beaded off... This week I also introduced the students to my "blubber glove", a glove filled with...you guessed it, lard. The children each got to place one hand directly into ice water and another hand into the blubber glove and then into ice water. They noticed that the hand surrounded by blubber was much warmer in the ice water than their bare hand was. Following this experiment, we chatted about how animals like whales keep warm in very cold water.
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Our writer's workshop is broken up into parts: -Introduction- Something that "hooks" writers into what we will be talking about that day -Explicit instruction- Explanation or modelling of a new specific skill -Guided practice- Children practice using the new skill together in a group activity -Independent practice- Children write on their own, using the new skill -Consolidation- Children share their work and take tips, compliments and questions from their peers. So far, we have spent most of our time practicing ideas for generating great topics as well as the conventions for writing. Check out some of the skills we have been working on throughout the last several weeks in writer's workshop. Expert topics: Write about something you have a lot to say about. If you won't be able to add details, then you should probably choose a new topic! What will the reader want to know? Don't just say, "I went to a party, it was fun". Tell us what we really want to know! What did you do at the party? Were there snacks? Where was the party!? Stick to the topic: Don't jump around. Start an idea and write a lot about it. Instead of writing about your whole day, choose an exciting part and expand on it. Finger spaces: If your writing is crammed together, use your finger or a space stick (popcicle stick) to space your words out. Stretch words out: Don't just start writing what you think the letters are, say the word long and slow, or many times fast (for the first sound) to try and hear all of the sounds. Write them down one by one. Sight words: These words are posted in our room so should always be spelled correctly! UPPER/ lower case: This is tricky for first graders. Remember to use capitols only at the beginning of a sentence, for the word "I" and for important names or titles. |
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