New Zealand~Guest Speakers!

Beth, one of Ponderosa's community helpers and her husband, Dave, came to teach all of the first graders about New Zealand today!  Thank you Beth and Dave for donating your time and talents and sharing your knowledge and expertise with the Ponderosa First Graders!

The children came up with 2 Learning Targets for the day.

Learning Target:  I can state 3 facts about New Zealand.

                           I can tell the 2 landmasses of New Zealand.  

New Zealand Flag

New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.  The country geographically comprises of two main landmasses-that of the North and South Islands-and numerous smaller islands.

The silver fern flag is any flag design that incorporates a silver fern, and is usually a white-silver fern on a black background.  The silver fern motif is associated with New Zealand, and a silver fern flag may be used as an unofficial flag of New Zealand.  The silver fern itself is a quasi-national emblem, being used for various official symbols, including the coat of arms of New Zealand and the New Zealand one dollar coin.  A number of New Zealand sports teams, such as the Cricket team, the Silver Ferns, and the All Blacks use similar silver fern flags as a part of their official merchandise.    

Those who venture into the mountain to go hiking in New Zealand will know about the Kea Parrot!  Their raucous cries of "keeaa" often give away the presence of these highly social and inquisitive birds.  If one leaves their shoes out overnight-shoelaces may be missing from your shoes in the morning.  These birds are known to humans as having mischievous behavior.

The Haka is a traditional ancestral war dance or challenge from the Maori people of New Zealand.  It is a posture dance performed by a group with vigorous movements and stomping of the feet with rhythmic chanting.  The New Zealand rugby team named the All Blacks who practice performing the Haka before their matches which has made this dance widely know around the world.  The hope of the dance is that it will frighten the opponent!  

Random Acts of Kindness

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

~Aesop

Baby Ryan got out of the hospital February 26, 2013.

This last week  Ponderosa First Graders ventured outside of performing Random Acts of Kindness at Ponderosa and reached as far away as Denver, Colorado .  Your amazing children made cards for Ryan Eng (Mrs. Bonawitz's new great nephew born with gastroschisis.  Gastroschisis is a birth defect in which an infant's intestines stick out of the body through a defect on one side of the umbilical cord) and other children who are in the NICU at Children's Hospital in Denver.  The first graders were  passionate about constructing cards and composing messages that would help children and families to feel cared for during their difficult days at the hospital.  Compassion is a leadership quality your children are building on daily!  You Ponderosa parents are raising such kind-hearted children!     

Here is a message sent by Jenn Eng after she heard of Ponderosa's  Random Act of Kindness:

I want to say hello to the 1st graders at Ponderosa Elementary School in Loveland!  I heard that you have been following Ryan's story and made cards for Ryan and the other babies in the NICU today.   Thank you for your kindness-it will really brighten the day for so many of the families with babies in the NICU.  You guys rock!
  
Here is her message after having the cards in her hands to read:

My mom left a stack of cards last night that the 1st graders at Ponderosa made for both Ryan and the rest of the kids in the NICU.  I was utterly astounded by how many cards there were and I sat and read every single one of them today!  The kids had such heartfelt sentiments "I hope you feel better"  "Smile all the while"  "You're awesome" and "You ROCK"!  They drew pictures of flowers and smiley faces of hospitals and panda bears (their mascot!)  I was so delighted!  I gave the general cards to our nurse Mary and asked her to make sure they got distributed to all of the babies in the NICU-there are 53 of them!  There were enough cards that she may even send some of them downstairs to the PICU!  What a beautiful ray of sunshine those cards will be for those kids and their families!  Thank you 1st graders!
   

Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness.  Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.    ~Scott Adams~

Common Core Standards

Fact Families

Fact Family  

Web definitions A fact family is a group of numbers that are related to each other.  The numbers can be combined to create 4 number of equations. These would be the equations that can be made when using the above triangle. 9 + 3 = 12     When adding the answer is called the sum. 3 + 9 = 12 12 - 3 = 9      When subtracting the answer is called the difference. 12 - 9 = 3 When working on fact family triangles  the largest number is always at the top of the triangle.  The two smaller numbers can be in either of the lower corners.  The triangle helps children to visualize the possible equations that can be created using these 3 related numbers.   Consider this word problem: Susan had 9 pencils. Her grandmother gave her more pencils for her collection. Susan now has 12 pencils. How many pencils did Susan’s grandmother give her? If a student has an understanding of fact family concept, he/she could rebuild the family. You know that Susan started out with 9 pencils and ended up with 12 pencils. Thus, you know two of the family members. They are 9 and 12. In math language that translates, 9 pencils + ____ more pencils = 12 pencils or 9 + ? = 12 9 + ? = 12 ? + 9 = 12 12 - 9 = ? 12 - ? = 9 Learning Target:            I can use a fact family triangle with 3 related numbers                      and write 2 addition and subtraction equations.            I can use my fact families to help solve story problems.

Presidents Song

In today's I CAN READ NOTEBOOK are the words that go along with the above song from YouTube!  Your child loves to sing this song!  Have him/her sing along while reading the words!  What a great way to learn new vocabulary words, read new words, and spell new words! 

Learning Target:
     I can tell three facts about Abraham Lincoln.
     I can tell three facts about George Washington.
     I can state 3 notable leader qualities about Abraham Lincoln and 
        cite my evidence from the text.
     I can state 3 notable leader qualities about George Washington 
        and cite my evidence from the text.
      

Even Numbers/Odd Numbers

Even Numbers

We learned about even and odd numbers this week!  Have your child share these great songs from YouTube with you!

Odd Numbers

Have your child show you all of the odd and even numbers on the following hundreds chart!  Have your child explain to you how to tell if a number is odd or even.  

        Learning Target:  I can show my parents which numbers on

                           the 100's Chart are odd and which ones are even.

Compound Words

Parent Tip:

Have your child sing the Compound Word Boogie from YouTube for extra practice with compound words.  Your child should be able to use compound words in a "perfect" sentence. (A perfect sentence starts with a capital letter, ends with proper punctuation, and has all of the rest of the letters lowercase unless a capital is necessary)  A perfect sentence is a Common Core Standard.    In class we picked 3 compound words and created sentences using all 3 compound words.  Have your child continue practicing this skill at home.

Retelling A Story

Retelling a story is a very important skill in First Grade.  The above video is from YouTube.  It is a young girl retelling the story of The Three Little Pigs.  We challenged the Ponderosa Pandas to be able to retell a story with all of the important story elements just like she did! The kids are very excited and ready to take on the challenge!  Start having your child retell stories at home too!  At the end of each Guided Reading Level DRA II test that your child takes at school, he/she is expected to retell the story that  he/she just read aloud.  If your child is reading a year above grade level-he/she is even expected to write the retell of a story.  So building writing STAMINA is of utmost importance! 

Research indicates that retelling a story increases the quantity and the quality of what is comprehended after the reading of a story.

In retelling a story your child should be able to retell the story from the beginning of the story with the book closed.  A retell should  include:

characters' names

setting

sequence of events from beginning, middle, and ending

details

vocabulary

dialogue

expression

problem in the story 

solution/how the problem is solved

any personal connections

 and be understandable and make sense

  

Contractions

"Two words crash together

a letter (or letters) float away!

An apostrophe comes in to save the day!"

Contractions are very common in Level 12 DRA reading level books and level G Guided Reading books. (First Grade level reading-right now in the school year!) Contractions will be read often in reading in all of the reading levels after these!  It is very important for children to be able to read contractions.  Children also need to be able to know the two words that "crashed" together to make the new word!  Reading and writing contractions at this point are grade level expectations! You ROCK! 

Adjectives

Adjectives describe a noun.  The adjective usually comes before the noun.  As we are expanding our First Grade writing skills we are working on adding adjectives to what we write to  add sparkle, shine, pizzazz,  and excitement!  Adjectives help us to visualize what we are writing by making a clear picture in our heads.  Have your child practice adding adjectives to his/her writing at home! Enjoy these adjective songs from YouTube!  YouTube is a great way to reinforce skills!  None of the songs on our blog have been written by us-ALL ARE FROM YOUTUBE!