Marching On...

Salutations Readers!  I write today as I gaze out open windows into a mostly clear blue sky with the sun shining and drying up what many of us hope is winter's remnants.  As spring time nears, thoughts of outdoor activities and nature's beauty start stirring.  Next will be shorts and sunglasses.  And who could forget about the start of the baseball season?

Room 108 has spent the beginning of March wrapping up the wonderful journey around the world of Captain Bill Pinkney.  If you have not heard this name repeatedly over the last couple of weeks then you must ask your child about him.  Students have used an arsenal of academic skills, discussed a variety of concepts, and followed his path around the globe in an attempt to capture the spectacular feat the captain's great voyage.  This theme has provided numerous extensions in all content areas: reading and writing of language of the captain's log, math with counting sailing days at sea and comparing to other modes of transportation, science with weather and its effects at sea, social studies with the variety of people he met, and geography with the cities, countries, continents, and oceans he touched.  

As children move ahead in the first grade experience we will venturing deeper into the concepts we already know.  Please continue the good work on homework packets and home links.  Keep after those math facts and really emphasize subtraction along with addition.  Everyday Math presents them as fact families with fact triangles as a manipulative.  

Make sure to take a glance at the upcoming dates - especially Spring Share March 18th!!  Hope to see you all there!

Constellations

Friday was a deep trip into the great beyond astronomers call outer space!  Students spent time learning about pictures in the night sky and listening to a couple tales that inspired their names.  In addition to discussing the names of many astrological signs, children practiced ruler use and measurement with high number connect the dots constellation activities.  Here is a short video outlining the basic of what used to be coined as "The Greatest Show on Earth": the nighttime sky.  Fortunately we were able to have some soundtrack for our constellation explorations!