Graphing and Non-Fiction Fun

And just like that...it is January! I cannot believe we are half way through the school year. I hope everyone had a wonderful break and got to spend time with family and friends. Last week our class got back into the swing of things and had a very productive week. In math, we started working on tally and picture graphs and using the data from the graphs to answer questions. The first graders are picking up on this quickly and had lots of fun creating our own graph about our favorite school lunch.

Pizza was the overwhelming favorite! :)

During our Common Core reading time we introduced non-fiction text features. Students got several opportunities to discuss and label parts of different informational stories: heading, caption, glossary, table of contents, and diagram are a few of the many features. If you get a chance to read with your child at home, try to select a few non-fiction stories and see if your child can point out some of these features and explain how they help the reader.

Finally, we rounded out the week with a fun writing activity. Students listened to the story Snowmen at Night and then wrote their own fictional stories about what they would do if they were a snowman who came alive at night. They came up with some very creative ideas! :)

It is great to be back and this second semester will certainly be filled with lots of rigor and engaging activities. As a quick reminder, please remember to send your child to school with full winter gear everyday! Unless the weather does not allow, we got outside for three recesses, and students must have snow pants and boots to play in the snow. A big thank you to my parents, Tim and Nancy Gifford, for the hats and gloves provided to each student as a gift before winter break! :)