Research Papers

The practicum student that is visiting our classroom was shocked to learn that 1st graders are expected write research papers. The answer is....YES!!!

We are currently working on writing research papers about animals. Students were put into 7 different groups and given a specific animal to research. Over the next two weeks, we will be researching the animals using a website called "Pebble Go".  They will bring writing their papers and creating a power point presentation to go along with their topic. Students will also be painting an illustration on the computer to include in their power point. We are very excited about this project!!!! :)

Also, we will not be working with our literature circle groups as much over the next two weeks. Our main focus is going to be our research papers, and we will be spending a lot of time in the computer lab.

I will let everyone know how they turn out! :)

Spelling Words Feb. 21-24

Penguins: heard, third, dirt, blurt, shirt, squirt, skirt, desert, alert, turn
Seals: again, want, any, under, both, bare, water, tall, old, between
Walruses: about, teacher, arms, seven, put, because, part, body, saw, warn
Polar Bears: person, draw, tiny, eight, carry butter, happy, always, ready, were

Here are your words for next week! A few of the kids were very worried about not having their spelling words over a 3 day weekend. They are too funny! :)

Spelling Words: February 13-17

Penguins:near, shout, climb, door, wall, forest, soon, cow, there, been
Seals: dirt, heard, third, blurt, shirt, squirt, skirt, desert, alert, turn
Walruses: better, spider, earlier, power, younger, slower, faster, longer, shorter, bigger
Polar Bears: about, teacher, arms, seven, put, because, part, body, saw, warn

(I haven't been the best at updating it on the blog. I will try to do better!!)

New Spelling Requirements

Since we are more than halfway through our school year, we are starting a new writing component with our spelling tests. We have focused a lot of time on capitalization and punctuation, and now students will be responsible for doing this on the test. Each week, I will dictate a sentence for students to write on their test. They are responsible for 5 parts of the sentence:

1 point- Capitalization (first letter in each sentence)
1 point- Spelling the spelling word only correct (they can miss other words in the sentence, but not their spelling word)
1 point- Punctuation (it must be correct punctuation)
1- All words are in the sentence (they cannot leave out any words that I say to them)
1- Spacing (spaces between all of their words)

Example:

I said, "I want to wear a blue dress."
Student wrote, "i to wear a blu dress." Their score would be a 3/5 for writing. The did not capitalize the first word and left out a word in the sentence. You may notice that the word "blue" is spelling incorrectly. They are not counted off for this because their spelled the spelling word correct--they are allowed to miss other words in the sentence (this gives them practice sounding out words).

Our goal is to create better writers! Your child will have a chance to practice this new skill each week if they chose to write their spelling words in a sentence or write a letter to someone. :)