Language Arts

Many parents have been emailing me asking for some educational websites that would reinforce the concepts we have been learning in school. I reccommended www.starfall.com. It is easy for the children to navigate and it has a variety of Language Arts activities such as rhyming, story making, letter sounds, word families, etc... I sometimes use this as a center or in the technology lab. This way the children know how to navigate the site and can easily use it at home.

Powerpoint

This week in technology, we started making Powerpoint presentations. We have read many Flat Stanley books where he goes to many different places in the world. Since the children are only in first grade and don't have the skills to do this presentation indepedently, we work in the technology lab and create pages together. I model how to make the page on the SmartBoard and the children follow my directions to create their own similar slides. This has been a great opportunity for the class since they will be using Powerpoint in second grade. It is a nice introduction and it has been very engaging for our Social Studies/Technology lessons.

Sammy's Science House

Today in Technology, the children explored the program, "Sammy's Science House." We will be learning about the seasons. The program allows children to view different aspects of our environment during each season. After the children had spent some time exploring the seasons, I allowed them to explore the rest of the program, which features educational games which relate to sequence and using shapes.

Kidspiration

This week in Writing, we are starting our All About/How To Book Nonfiction Unit. The children will be writing a book on something they are an expert on (All About Book) and then another book on how to do something (How To). They can choose any toipic that they are interested in. To introduce this unit and create a less overwhelming experience, the children will use Kidspiration to create a web about themselves and things they know a lot about or how to do. I will not tell them that they will be creating books, rather I will just tell them to brainstorm a web on these things because we will be using them later in a project. I modelled on the SmartBoard how to build a web. I also demonstrated how to search through the photos to help jog ideas.

Summer Math Practice

Over the summer, it is VERY important to keep refreshing your math skills and practicing automaticity for math facts. Please visit the following sites for practice:

http://illuminations.nctm.org

www.fun4thebrain.com

Also, here is the link that correlates with our Math Program:

www.harcourtschool.com

Bailey's Book House

Today we used Bailey's Book House to create invitations for parents to come to Portfolio Day on Friday.

If you click on the table with the stationary, the program gives options and templates for all occasions.

The children had fun exploring different templates for the invitation. They also had the oppotrunity to add related decoration to the card. They practiced writing important information needed in an invitation.