Teacher: Mrs. Kimball
1st
and 2nd News
Week 25 February 22, 2010
Accelerated Reading
The accelerated reading program has started for First and
Second Graders. Students
read a labeled AR book then take a multiple choice quiz on the computer.
Students are learning that sometimes the questions are a little
more difficult than the book.
Help with reading the questions is always available for those who
need it. The best thing
about AR is that after students take a quiz they get immediate feedback
on how well they did.
If for some reason an AR quiz is not passed, students can read the book
again and re-take the quiz when the program has been reset.
Students are also learning that to pass an AR book you really
have to read the book instead of guessing answers on the quiz!!
Math
All students are focusing on place value in math.
Students are learning how to write a two or three digit number in
several different ways. For
example if you have the number 72, it can be written in expanded form
like 70 + 2 = 72 or as 7 tens and 2 ones.
Write down a two or three digit number and ask your child to tell
you what it means.
Library Time
We try to go to our GM Library every other Wednesday.
The book mobile came to school this last Wednesday, the 24th
so we will go to the GM library next Wednesday which will be March 3.
Books to be returned to the
bookmobile are stored in a big box in our classroom.
Books to be returned to the Green Mountain Library can be taken
immediately to our Library.
Students know that returned books go inside the box with Clifford
the Big Red Dog to be shelved later
Science
We have had a lot of fun with our Science kit of Solids and
Liquids. Students observed a
variety of liquids in bottles.
They learned about some of the properties of the liquids.
(Viscous, transparent, translucent, foamy, bubbly, colored,
clear) After student
observed how the liquid in a bottle remains level as it is rotated, they
worked on a Falling Bottle Puzzle.
On Wednesday and Thursday, students changed to a Bits and Pieces investigation. This investigation used small solids like pinto beans, lima beans, mung beans, rice and cornmeal. Each small solid was at a station. Students rotated around to each station and played with the solid by pouring it into different containers and by trying to pile it up. Later on all of these solids were mixed together to make a soup mix. Students worked in groups with different sizes of screens and tried to separate all five solids. Students learned that small solids or small particles of solid materials can pour like liquids but, unlike liquids they maintain their shape. The behavior of small solids has similarities to and difference from those of liquids.
Louise
Kimball
First and Second Graders have Bear Pride!