The Longest Spring

A very nice read-aloud!

My bunny visual for the story

This was the week we learned that we will not be going back 
into school. I feel so sad about that and can't believe we will 
not be getting together in person to finish out the year. 

I want to express my appreciation for the efforts all the families
are making to keep their children involved through google
classroom, our ongoing sites of Epic and Freckle, and our virtual
meetings on google meet. At least we see each other on the meets,
even if it is not quite the same experience...

During our virtual meets, we always have a read-aloud or are on a site where a book is read. This week we read The Velveteen Rabbit, over two days. Such a heartwarming story from another place and time, and the kids were really captivated by it. Listening to The Day the Crayons Quit was also a fun activity.

Coin poems

We have been learning about coins and counting money in our google assignments, Epic assignments, and in the Meets. Saying the poems, skip counting nickels, and adding in some movement while counting have all been part of the fun.

Next week we will continue with this as we move on to quarters and then counting mixed coins.

Phonics spelling patterns

I continue to post new weekly sight words on google classroom and on this blog, and this is another subject we have practiced in Meets. Learning the spelling patterns, reviewing digraphs and endings, and learning when and why we use /ing/ and /ed/ has been the focus. 

In science we have delved deeply into animal structures, habitats, survival features, and animal heredity with animal parents and their young. Next week we will categorize animals into mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, birds, or amphibians and look at the life cycle of a frog.

Lots of birds spotted lately!

Social studies will move forward into American symbols, such as the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, White House, and Bald Eagle. 

Hopefully we are all settling into a learning routine- I know it is challenging with parents working from home and with the stressors this new situation can bring. I do love seeing your children each day and seeing the work they are turning in and working so hard on! 

On Monday, the specialists hold their virtual meet at 9:00. Our class 10:30 Meet will be available for anyone needing help or extra support on assignments or on navigating google classroom. Tues. - through Fri. we will continue our whole class meets to see everyone!

I wish everyone a nice weekend and anticipate the kids having lots of opportunities to use their imagination, play outside, and fill their time with new activities.

Mrs. Dagley

It is spring, isn't it?!

My favorite flowering tree

I love the signs of spring all around with tulips, daffodils, blooming magnolia trees, and wildlife back out -and- about BUT! Is this spring? Twice this week my magnolia blossoms have been dusted in snow! This is definitely an unusual spring both in nature and in society as we continue to social distance and engage in remote learning.

That being said, I do love seeing so many of the kids each day when we 'come to school' remotely! It's been a nice way to have some continuity in seeing their friends each day and in sharing and listening to one another. We have had read-alouds, phonics lessons, math lessons, science video and book links, and a chance to share student work that they have completed through our google classroom.

Some of our read-alouds

It's been fun discussing the story pattern in the Laura Numeroff books (If You Give A Pig A Pancake), comparing birthday stories and character traits in Little Bear and Henry's Happy Birthday, and giving our opinion on the wolf's version in The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs. We even read a chapter in a chapter book called The Seven Treasure Hunts. There were great comprehension answers to the questions we asked afterwards, and it was an inspiration for a fun activity of making treasure maps to hide our own treasures for a family member to find!

Continent practice

Luckily I found this map puzzle down in the basement, because now we can locate places that our stories bring us and we can practice our map skills and continent song too!

We practiced some spelling this week with words that have the /th/ sound, saw a related video on digraphs, and played 'Don't Erase The Bee' on the whiteboard easel (found in the attic!). We also worked on words ending in ___ck, and words with suffixes (s, or es).

Don't Erase The Bee

When coming to our virtual classroom it is best if the kids only unmute themselves when it is their turn to speak- Google Meet picks up an incredible amount of background noise! They should also be on 'Spotlight view' so that whoever is speaking or whatever is presented, is full screen. That layout is found as an option in the 3 vertical dots at the right hand bottom of the screen. I tried whole class answering and it is a sound fiasco- in future they can use the chat to all answer a question at once!

Thank you for all your help with the kids on google classroom assignments. I save everything that has been sent in an email in my remote learning folder and I comment on anything that is turned in on google classroom. 
Next week we have found a way to simplify writing on links with papers and an easier way to turn in assignments at the end of each day (all would turn in with one button). I will be sending an email about this with an enclosed video that Mrs. Correia made for the first grade team explaining the steps. I think this will streamline the whole google classroom process. 

We can still meet as a class on Google Meet!

Reminder! Monday is Patriot's Day- no school! Going forward, Tuesday- Friday we will continue to meet online at 10:30. Mondays will be a chance to meet with specialists at 9:00, and therefore will be extra help, small group, and question time for our own meets on Mondays if desired. I have worked with kids individually on fact families, phonics and reading, so if you wish to receive that support please pop in on the Mondays or email me.

Sunny daffodils!

Congratulations on all those who check into Epic and Freckle! I assign many books and videos in Epic so be sure to check assignments. Some of the assignments are links to books and sites we used in the Meetings. Epic says we have finished 800 books and 400 videos- wow!! 

Let's hope the sun and warm weather return this weekend, and meanwhile enjoy the long weekend everyone!
Mrs. Dagley

We are Big Kids now!

Once Upon A Time...

School has been given a whole new identity with our current online learning model. This little toy classroom is not what we are experiencing now! Instead this is the new student of 2020:

Remote learning

On my own!

Thank you everyone!

This past week has introduced new learning platforms such as Google Classroom,  Google Meet, and links to everything under the sun. The tangled web of logging on, getting connected, and navigating the sites has presented a fair amount of challenges for everyone, myself included! I personally want to thank every one of the kids and every one of the parents for all the hard work and engagement with the learning content. It must be a logistical nightmare if you are trying to work at home and also juggle your children's online Meetings and classwork. I do appreciate your efforts! 

Chalk message!

Fun family time

Science lesson; A camouflaged octopus

Everyone who has had a chance to meet online as a class has really loved seeing their classmates and listening to them as we practice words, sing, listen to read-alouds, and share our writing. It has been a nice way to connect with friends and keep our first grade classroom unity!

Our class online meetings are Mon.-Fri. at 10:30 AM. The link to join is posted on our google classroom each morning. 
We did just find out that the specialists have their meeting for 1st graders every Monday from 9-10, so the 1st grade teachers will make our own Monday meet an informal chance to pop in if you have a question, need help, or want to chat with us. This might allow the chance to attend the specialist meet without spending 2 hours on meets! Tues. -Fri. will follow our typical class meet routines.

Although most google classroom work has been submitted through google classroom, some assignments involved drawing. One was related to learning about animal parents and their young, and changes that occur as a baby animals grows. The kids drew themselves as a baby, child, and what they thought they'd look like as an adult. Take a look:

Look how I've grown

Ivy claims she will still have blue eyes but will cut her long hair when she is an adult. Gwen thinks her blonde hair will become light brown!

Lots of changes

                                                    James predicts he will be 6 ft tall and that he will like looking at things high up!

Look at those muscles!

Nice work everyone on Google classroom for the math pages of telling time and identifying attributes of 3-D shapes. Our online sites of Freckle and Epic have been getting a lot of use- somehow our class has read or listened to 616 books so far- wow! Book and video topics have had links to our social studies focus on land forms, continents, and maps, and science books and videos have focused on animal camouflage and habitats. Freckle math practice and ELA activities are zooming along as well. I love reading your writing turned in on google classroom. We now have a tab where some of the samples are there for you to enjoy. It's been fun to comment on your work and to receive your comments too! Please email if there are any questions or drop in on the Monday informal Q&A Meeting. Any feedback or suggestions are always welcome! Enjoy your weekend! Mrs. Dagley

Friday Fun!

So pretty!

Look at these beautiful robin's eggs!! Spring time surrounds us with new life- baby birds and animals are born, new flowers and greener grass spring up, and insects of all kinds follow soon after. I hope this weekend you have a chance to explore the outdoors. Look for signs of spring, for birds that are returning, for frogs, worms, and little critters. Have you seen a chipmunk yet? 

It's been a busy week and I am proud of all the time and energy you have spent on learning. Next week we will log on to our new Google Classroom to see assignments and check in with each other. I will make sure you have your log in information, class code, and password. We will also have a daily virtual meeting, tentatively at 10:30 each day but more information will follow. 

Once we are in google classroom, it will be easier to upload some of the hard work you are doing or to answer questions or math problems on that site as well. Save your How-To writing that you are finishing today- I'd love to read about what you are an expert in!

Try playing 'How Many?' with the lizard key chains below.

How Many?

I see 24 of something- can you guess? I also see 16 of something else. What do you think I was counting? How many of something do you see?!

Which one doesn't belong?

Here's another observational challenge: Which one doesn't belong? All of these figures are from Toy Story. Maybe the dog doesn't belong because it's the only one that is an animal? Which one would you choose not to belong, and why? 














Have you seen the video of all of the teachers? 
You can see how much we miss talking 
with you and teaching you!
Finally here is a picture when we were in school!

Love all around!

Have a fun Friday and a wonderful weekend,
Mrs. Dagley

Thursday Home learning

Can you spot the owl?

You will love watching the Mystery Science camouflage video today. You will see a polar bear, lizard, moth, and tiger in habitats that completely hide them. You have to look carefully! Their camouflage protects them from predators and helps them hide when looking for prey. Their fur, scales, or feathers blend in almost perfectly with nature around them!

Don't climb on to that branch!

After watching the video on animal camouflage, try out the activity of drawing a moth, coloring it to look like a background in your house, and taping it on. Will anyone in your family notice it?!

In math today you will do part 2 of solving the story problems with unknowns. You can use the double ten frame or number line to help. The paper gives two equations to choose from. Only one equation matches the story. 
    Practice our 3 Read steps to solve:
1. Read the story to decide what it is about.
2. Read it again to determine what the question is asking.
3. Read a third time to  look for the information that is given.
Even if you don't have all the information, you can solve the problem with what you do know. That's where the number line or double 10 frame may help you. I saw Matthew's math page yesterday - he rocked it! Good luck today everyone!

Birds love bird feeders!

In writing today you will watch a video on writing a great introduction for a How-To paper. You will include a sentence that will 'hook' your reader, state your topic, and tell materials needed. Today is just the introduction. Tomorrow you can write the steps! Here is an example:

Do you love to see birds up close? Then let me tell you how to put a bird feeder in your yard! You will need a bird feeder from a store (or you could even make one!), bird seed, and a tree that has a low branch. 

That's it! Try writing an introduction to get us excited about something you know how to do. 

Have a fun day today and keep up the great work!
Mrs. Dagley





 

Wednesday (dare I say April Fool's Day?) home learning

City/urban- Florence Italy

 Today after watching the video on the scholastic site, you will learn about the different types of communities that people live in. Many people live in cities- an urban environment, many live in smaller towns- suburban environments, and some live out in the countryside- a rural environment. Often there are farms in rural areas, and you will read about one today. Think about the different places you have lived or visited. Have you been to our own capital city of Boston? Remember when we made our model of the world, continents, countries, states, city/towns, neighborhoods? Today you are focusing in on the city/town parts of the world.

Countryside/rural- P.E.I.

Town/suburban- Rockport

In our math links today, you will watch a video on missing parts and have a chance to solve some problems of your own using tape diagrams. This is an important skill to practice, and I know you will do a great job! Did you know on our Freckle account, our class answered 600 math fact practice questions and 420 other types of math questions? WOW!! You have been hard at work! 

Our phonics/word study link today will bring you to Freckle (where our class read 21 articles and stories last week!). Today you will look under the teacher tab to do some word study work. 

Speaking of awesome work, our class has read 344 books on Epic since we started remote learning!  

Do you want to know a wacky Wednesday fact?! Look below at this kangaroo! 




It's so hard not to be in class together, but you are showing how much you love learning and I am very proud of you all! For those of you with younger brothers and sisters, I bet your family is grateful that you are helping to keep the little ones entertained. Look at our friend here so cozy with her little sister!

Aww, so very cute and lots of love!!

Take pity on your parents today and don't April Fool's them 24/7!! (A few jokes might be fun!!) 
Be a math expert today!

Mrs. Dagley