April Showers Bring May Flowers

I cannot believe we are entering the final quarter of this school year!  CRAZY!  We are looking forward to getting outside again and restarting the walking club! 

Here is a sneak peak into some Units of Study we will be learning in the month of April....

Writer's Workshop
Poetry
We will be learning how to write all different types of poetry. 

Math
Money
We will be learning the names and values of coins and we will practice counting coins.
This skill can be difficult for some first graders. 

The Touch Money technique can be very helpful when a child has a difficult time counting mixed coins.   Every dot represents 5 cents.  Children can draw the dots on their money if they are completing a worksheet or remember that a nickel has 1 dot, a dime has 2 dots, and a quarter has 5 dots.  Then you count by fives.  You can try this technique at home with your child if they are having a difficult time counting mixed coins!

Monthly Math Journals

On Fridays in math, we work on our monthly math journals.  In our journal we focus on learning the important steps to solving a math story problem. 
This is called Model Drawing. 

The five steps we follow are:

1. Read the story problem
2. Write an answer statement with a blank.3. Find who and what and circle key words
4. Draw a picture
5. Solve the problem and complete the answer statement. 




















We also practice Inquiry Math. 
Inquiry Math is when I give the students an answer (ex:  the answer is 17) and the students have to think of all kinds of different ways to make 17 in math.  It is awesome to see their little minds at work trying to think of all different ways to make a number!











PaTtErNs

This week in math we learned about different types of patterns!  We did many different activities where the kids learned how to create, finish, and name a pattern!  Here are some pictures of my students hard at work!

In March, we will learn how to tell time on an analog and digital clock.

Click on the link for some great telling time websites!
http://classroom.jc-schools.net/basic/math-time.html