Grade One
Book Worms!
"We're literacy obsessed!"
Welcome to our classroom
Science: Energy in Our Lives
This month we are introducing a new unit in science, energy in our lives. In the first couple weeks of school we started to explore our topic, looking at a variety of non-fiction texts and learning some of the new vocabulary.
Day 1
Today we are going to start with a non-fiction read aloud and then our fabulous Custodian, Ms. Kelly, will take us on a tour of the school so that the students can learn first hand where energy is generated and how it is used.
Day 2
We are starting today by doing a “shared writing” activity, which involves all of our students collaborating to write Ms. Kelly a thank you letter for taking us on our energy tour. We are going to show Ms. Kelly how much we have learned by outlining some of our key findings from yesterday. This will allow students to re-tell what they learned from yesterday, and we as teachers will be able to assess their understanding of the tour. It is also a great way for us to practice letter writing, which we have already had some experience with earlier in the year.
After our letter we will do a small inquiry activity. The students will be given post-it notes and will get to walk around the classroom putting red post-its on any outputs, and blue post-its on input. These are two new vocabulary words we discussed yesterday, and we will remind students to look for motion, heat, light, or sound. Finally will discuss the students’ exploration as a class to make a list of the different sources.
Day 3
We will start today with a read-aloud about energy conservation. In math the students did a tally to show how classrooms in our school use energy. Today we will be generating ideas about how we can conserve energy, knowing what we know about how we use it (e.g. turn off the lights, walk to school, turn of computers…). The students will be using this list to make an awareness poster that advertises one conservation strategy (this will be done next week and incorporate media literacy, visual art, and science).
Math: Data Management & Probability
This week we are continuing with our exploration of data collection, graphing and analysis as part of our data management and probability unit. We’re integrating math and science by using our knowledge of graphing in order to graph and talk about the results of our energy inquiry.
On Monday, we’re reviewing the concept of how to create a bar graph when provided with information (last week’s lessons). We’re also highlighting specific math vocabulary that we use when discussing our graphs and as a class, we’re creating an anchor chart that students are encouraged to reference when speaking or writing about the graphs we’ve made. Some of the terms we’re using are, “more than”, “less than”, “greatest”, “least”.
Over the course of the week we will be analyzing the data we’ve collected during our investigation of energy inputs and outputs, graphing it and finally, discussing how the results of the graph help us to understand how energy is used in our classroom and what we can do to better conserve it. Through this unit, students will continue to strengthen their oral language, develop new subject-specific vocabulary and participate in collaborative knowledge building.
Units at a Glance
Here's a quick look at some of the other things the Grade One Book Worms are working on this week!
Calendar Math
Calendar math is an activity that we do as class every day as it provides students with the opportunity to further develop skills in oral language and promotes cooperative learning. It incorporates daily practice in four out of the five strands of math in the Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8, Mathematics and helps students to develop a growth mindset in math.
Everyday students identify the date on calendars that they’ve created in the first week of school. They then add the number to a number line and discuss all of the different ways they can count to that number, for example, by 1s, 2,s, 5s, etc. (Number Sense and Numeration). They identify patterns within the numbers and colour code the number according to each pattern that applies. For example, students have noticed that when counting by 9s, the number in the tens column increases by 1 and the number in the ones column decreases (Patterning and Algebra). They make predictions about how the patterns will continue (Data Management and Probability).
We have two containers with bundles of straws that represent the number of days we’ve been in school and the number of days we have left. Each day, a straw is transferred from one container to another and used as a vehicle for looking at place value, which is crucial to children’s understanding of numbers (Number Sense and Numeration).
We use magnetic squares on a baking sheet to create arrays using today’s date. For example, on the ninth day of the month we look at all the ways that we can create arrays using nine tiles – 3x3, 1x9, etc (Geometry and Spatial Sense, Number Sense and Numeration). If someone poses a suggestion that doesn’t work, we predict on which day we will have enough tiles to create an array with those dimensions.
A snapshot of calendar math in our classroom!
Guided Reading
Guided reading is an integral part of our literacy program. We use it as a method of listening to students read, providing constructive feedback and teaching decoding and reading comprehension strategies in a small group setting. We've divided our students into five ability-based groups and meet with each group once per week. Guided reading group 1 consists of our lowest level readers and we have consciously scheduled them for every Monday so that, if time permits, we can fit in extra time to meet with them throughout the week (in addition to the extra supports those students are receiving). Guided reading provides us with an opportunity to informally assess each student on a weekly basis and use that information in order to fuel our program going forward.
