In reading, students compared and contrasted the experiences of two characters in a text. Students practiced this skill with partners after reading Do Like Kyla and Ruby the Copycat.

Students also practiced retelling stories and identifying the moral in each text. To put this knowledge to practice, I invited Anthony's dad to teach a comic strip lesson to the class. Anthony's dad is a comic writer and artist, and he spoke to the students about developing drawings and stories that fit their unique interests. The students loved having an expert come to the class, and he even brought comics for everyone! After his lesson, students created their own three or four panel comic strips to enter in the Irving Newspaper comic strip competition.

Our reader's theatre actors presented their play to the rest of the class this week. Students practiced their lines and motions, and even created masks for their characters. 

In math, students learned about the parts of the base ten system. We practiced identifying how to "bundle" ten ones, and also how to identify how many tens and ones are in a two-digit number. Students also learned to Read, Draw and Write what they know when solving a problem. 

In writer's workshop, students wrote "how-to" pieces. Students brainstormed their ideas and then wrote using sequencing words to show the steps of their chosen skill.

J'zya was our Can-Do Kid this week! We loved learning about all the things J'zya can do. She loves to sing, and her favorite subject is math. J'zya read Today I Will Fly to the class. 

This week was Spirit Week at Irving! Students dressed like teachers and their favorite characters. 

Check out the Photo Gallery to see more pictures from this week!

In reading, students closely read texts which described characters' feelings and senses. We read The Lorax as a class, and then read When Miles Got Mad. Students worked together in teams to identify words which described how characters felt.

We also read a play during Reader's Theatre. Students practiced choral reading with inflection, then read their own individual parts to the audience. Next week students will add actions as they read!

In math, students continued their study of the "make a 10" strategy. Students also worked on identifying true and false number sentences, and strengthening their fact fluency. 

In social studies, we continued out unit on Women's History with student presentations. Each student interviewed one woman over the age of 60 about her life when she was a first grader. 

Our Can-Do Kid this week was Sophie! We really enjoyed learning all of the things Sophie can do. Sophie is a violinist, and she speaks both Chinese and French. Sophie read her favorite book, Let's Do Nothing! to the class and also shared some photos of her family. 

On Friday, Mr. Packer visited us to conduct our classroom spelling bee. Congratulations to Lucy and Arabella! They will be our classroom representatives for the school spelling bee, and Barrett will be our alternate. 

Mrs. Diehl also visited us to help students write their second blog post. If you have some downtime, please take a moment to read the kids' blogs and leave a comment!

For Fun Friday, students wrote sight words in frosting! Students each put a thin layer of green frosting on a graham cracker and wrote their sight words using a popsicle stick. 

In other classroom news, I am expecting a baby in early August! The students are very excited, and I can't wait to hear all of their unique name suggestions. There are lots of extra pictures this week, so please check out the Photo Gallery when you can. 

In reading, students learned how illustrations can help them understand more about characters, setting, and events in a story. Students also closely studied these story elements and looked for a problem and solution in each text. We read the tall tale Pecos Bill and talked about what makes a story a tall tale. Students then put their knowledge to practice writing tall tales during writer's workshop.

In math, students continued to use the "make a 10" strategy to solve problems with 9 or 8 as one addend. Students practiced this skill by using unifix cubes, empty 10 frames, and whiteboards to explain their thinking.

We wrapped up our science unit by making Purple Cows! Students identified which parts of the purple cow were a solid, a liquid, and a gas. Students also predicted what would happen when we poured grape soda into the vanilla ice cream.

Zaire was our Can-Do Kid this week! We loved learning all the things Zaire can do. Zaire loves to write and draw, and she even makes her own books! Zaire read her favorite book, Coral Reef, to us on Wednesday. 

Next week we will begin our unit on Women's History. I am really looking forward to learning all about the different women students have interviewed! Click on over to the Photo Gallery to see more pictures from this week!

In reading, students learned to identify and distinguish between information provided by the pictures in a text versus the words in a text. Students practiced this skill by reading Cats and Things Change. Students completed an assessment after reading The Forest Roof in Time for Kids.

In writer's workshop, students continued to compose and edit their Magic Tree House stories. A few students shared their stories with the class during Stars and Wishes.

In science, students studied properties of liquids. Students examined samples of water, oil, glue, and shampoo. Students tested whether these samples were fluid or viscous, and also how each sample mixed with water. Next week we will celebrate the end of our unit on the states of matter by making purple cows!

In math, students continued to use different strategies when adding 9 and one other number. Students used blank 10 frames, created number bonds, and split an addend to create a 10.

Kennedy was our Can-Do Kid this week! We loved learning all the things Kennedy can do. She loves to dance, and her favorite food is pizza. She also loves reading and her favorite book is I Hate My Bow!

On Friday, Mrs. Diehl came to the class to help us blog! Students learned how to type the address of our blog site and also how to log in to their blog. In our next blogging session we will work on composing a blog using the computer. 

Check out the Photo Gallery for more photos from this week!