Ninety-Sixth Day of School

The 100th day of school is coming up this Monday.

Today in Writing, we added our opinion statements, transitions, and closing to our current opinion piece. We are now at the point where our paper should score a 3 on a CCCS rubric.

In Social Science we added the continents of Europe and Asia to our world maps. We also discussed the evolution of the ink pen and the telephone throughout recent history and once again discussed how education has changed over the years.

Ninety-Fifth Day of School

In Writing today, we chose our topic for our final opinion piece before our unit assessment. We vocalized our reasons for our opinions and sketched our plan for the drafting phase o f the process.

In Social Science, we located Los Angeles, the Pacific Ocean, North America, South America, and the Atlantic Ocean (tested) on our own personal world maps which we will be taking home to study when we are through. Testing date TBA

Reading Logs are due Wednesday.

Chapter 4 Math Test will either be tomorrow or Wednesday.

Ninety-Third Day of School

In Writing today, we began prewriting for our next opinion pieces: reviews. Today we made lists of places and things we could possible review.

In Science, we demonstrated our theory that air is stronger than 1st graders by constructing air pressure/vacuum systems using syringes and flexible tubing.

Ninety-Second Day of School

In Writing today, we revised our opinions by adding details and examples.

Ninetieth Day of School

In Writing today, we wrote introductions to our opinions for the purpose of capturing our readers' attention.

In Visual Art, we discussed primary and secondary color relationships.

Math Test Results

Of 24 Students taking the Math Test, 24 passed with an adjusted score of 12 or better. Nine students achieved a perfect score.

Eighty-Eighth Day of School

In Writing today, we added the conclusion to our opinions.

In Science, we experimented with air and resistance by constructing parachutes.

Eighty-Seventh Day of School

In Writing today, we added transition words to connect our ideas.

In Social Science, we discussed differences and similarities in schools in different parts of the world (tested). We also tried our hand at our first map, starting small with a map of our desktop.

Eighty-Sixth Day of School

In Writing, we wrote our supporting reasons for our opinion.

Eighty-Fourth Day of School

In Writing today, we finished quick-sketching our reasons for our opinion and came up with q title for our paper which would give a hint as to the opinion we were going to express as well as capture a reader's attention.

In Science, we explored the versatility of air by asking the questions: what can air do and can you make air go around a corner. We discovered that air can travel, insulate, cool, push/pull, make sound, and twist. We also discovered that we could, in fact, make air travel around a corner. next we used our materials to make a game involving air.

Eighty-Third Day of School

In Writing today, we selected a topic and talked out our reasons for our opinion. Generally we give 3 reasons for expressing an opinion even though giving one reason will satisfy the 1st grade standard.

In Social Science, we continued our discussion of our place in the world while learning about maps. We learned some important facts about maps: maps have a title, an author (cartographer/publisher), a date, and a key. Maps use symbols and colors to represent physical structures and geographical features. We will use our knowledge of map features to create a series of maps to describe our physical environment. We also discussed the geography of our planet and important features we need to know in first grade. As discusse at Back-To-School Night, 1st graders should be able to locate where they live (Los Angeles) on a world map (within reason), locate and name the 7 continents, and name and locate 4 oceans (tested).

Eighty-Second Day of School

So if you are following along with us in the writing process, we began ore opinion unit this week. Yesterday, we constructed our arguements (vocabulary word) for our opinion on whether a cat or a dog makes a better pet. Today we listed things we care about and had an opinion of. Then we which they were better than which could become opinion statements such as: dogs make better pets than cats, or cloudy days are better than sunny days.