History & Geography

This week we have begun our next unit on Modern Day Japan.  We learned about how rice and seafood are staple foods of Japan. We learned about the geography and important landmarks of Japan and that Tokyo is Japan’s capital, as well as a city of over 12 million people. The class worked on making a map of Japan and labeling important features. We also wrote “What Am I ?” haikus.

Our objectives:
• locate Japan on a map
• identify Japan as a country made up of four main islands
• recognize the Japanese flag and understand its symbolism
• understand the main geographical features and staple foods of Japan
• recognize that Japan is a modern industrial nation
• identify Tokyo at the capital and largest city

Science

This week in our science domain Cycles in Nature we continued to learn about butterflies. The students worked on making a life cycle flip book and practicing reading it. We learned a butterfly rap, and worked on our  butterfly life cycle diorama.

Our objectives were to:
• explain that is cycle is a sequence of events that repeats itself again and again
• explain effects of seasonal changes on plants and animals
• define the term life cycle
• identify the stages of the light cycle of a butterfly (egg to egg)
• explain metamorphosis.

English Spelling and Writing

This week the class worked on their new spelling lists.  They came up with several ways to sort their lists.  On Friday we took our practice spelling test.  In our journals we wrote about the idiom of the week “It goes in one ear and out the other.”  Apparently reminders to do chores seems to be a popular subject to apply this idiom to.  Our word wall words this week were: here, house, how, hurt

La lectura

This week we read La casa de la mariposa.

Our weekly objectives were to:

  • learn the spelling of the /s/ sound through our PUF words
  • understand correct use of commas in a list
  • use the comprehension strategies summarizing and visualizing during our first read
  • use the comprehension skills sequencing and point of view during our second read

Our PUF words for next week are lunes, miércoles, and martes.

 

Las matemáticas

This week we continued learning about multiplication and division. Our weekly objectives were to:

  • solve division and multiplication word problems
  • divide to share equally
  • divide by repeated subtraction of equal groups
  • multiply by repeated addition of equal groups

 

Specialists:

Art with Ms. Kelly 

Figure Studies

Figure Studies

Each year I like to do a Figure Study project with all the students. This is a good way for them to learn about and review the basic proportions when drawing a person. We start with cutting out basic geometrical shapes for the head, body, arms and legs, and the students make a simple standing person using a collage technique. Then they learn how to make a moving figure, such as a person running or jumping. 

The 1st and 2nd graders did a great job with this! We looked at Henri Matisse’s cut-out figure called “Icarus” and the students also made crayon rubbings on top of their figure collages, which added another fun dimension to their figure studies.

Holiday Mural

After Thanksgiving, the students learned how to draw and paint Evergreen trees. We started with using the sides of oil pastels to create branches and a tree trunk. Then we switched to tempera paint, and the students learned how to use their paint brushes to create the texture of evergreen branches. Some of the small evergreen trees are on the Holiday Mural at school. I’ll be sending home the rest of these beautiful drawings and paintings loom so you can enjoy them over the holidays.