Mark You Calendar for Upcoming Inquiry Presentations: November 29, 2007

Animal Inquiry Presentations on December 5
The students are putting the finishing touches on their PowerPoint presentations.  They are excited about sharing their research projects with you on Wednesday, December 5.  We look forward to seeing you on the 5th  from 12:45-1:45 pm.

Stormy Day
Mother Nature provided us with quite an amazing thunder and lightning show yesterday.  The energy of the storm outside certainly transferred inside. We watched out our classroom windows as the lightning flashed and torrential rain poured down, and listened as the thunder boomed overhead.  The students enjoyed counting the seconds between lightning flash and clap of thunder to track the storm passing by.  As the time between flash and boom increased, we figured the storm was moving further away.  The photos below show the students in their "storm safety zones." 

First Grade Math
If you walk into our classroom in the middle of class, you will certainly hear a lot of counting and see a lot of number writing.  Our focus this week has been on developing strategies for accurately counting a set of objects.  The students are practicing the oral counting sequence, writing the sequence of numbers, and identifying and using patterns in the sequence of numbers.  Yesterday we investigated the different sizes of our feet by tracing them and then finding out how many square tiles fit inside the outline (the area).  We then created a graph to represent the data.  The students found out the area of their feet using different manipulatives such as small cubes, checkers, and unifix cubes.  The class is coming up with great strategies to keep track of numbers while counting by ones, twos, fives, tens, and twenties.

Thank You
Thank you to SY for donating the following books to our classroom library:  Andy Shane and the Pumpkin Trick, Diary of a Fly, The Amazing Turkey Rescue, and The Big Book of Animals.  Thank you to MM for bringing in Christmas decorations to make our classroom festive for the holiday season!  Thank you to EM for having her Aunty Beth come and read to our class.  Her aunty was visiting from San Diego; we love meeting relatives when they come to Hawaii to visit!

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Happy Thanksgiving! November 21, 2007

Dear Room 11 Families,

I am so thankful for all of you and your children!  Every morning I wake up excited to come to school and see the children's smiling faces and listen to their thoughtful questions and comments.  This morning the elementary school gathered in the dining room for assembly. At the end, the children from preschool through 5th grade sang and danced to "What a Wonderful World."  In moments like those, I realize just how lucky we all are to be part of the MPI community; it is you and your children who help make this school such a wonderful place.  After the assembly, all the students embarked on our trek around the campus for the Diabetes Walk.  We have a class of athletes!  Running and walking around campus was a blast! 

Enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend with your family! 

Love,
Ms. Field

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Way to Go, Box Top Collectors! November 15, 2007

Box Top Champions!

In case you missed the flier sent home in the Thursday packet last week, our class collected 535 box tops!  We collected the highest number in the school!  Thank you to all the families who are purchasing items with box tops, clipping the tops and sending them to school.  Keep those box tops coming...the next redemption date will be at the end of February 2008.

First Grade Math
The first graders are working on some challenging story problems in math.  We have been solving both addition and subtraction story problems and practicing the following steps while solving each problem:

1. Read the problem carefully.
2. Is it an addition problem or subtraction problem?  (Will you end up with more or less than the amount you started with?)
3. Draw a simple picture.
4. Write an equation.
5. Write a sentence answering the question that you are solving.

Ask your child to explain some of the story problems they are solving for homework; they are doing a great job!

PowerPoint Presentations
The animal groups are typing away and creating PowerPoint presentations for the different animals they are studying.  This week, some of the groups began importing pictures and sounds to enhance the audio and visual elements of their research.

Mark Your Calendar for Upcoming Events

• Wednesday, November 21, 9:00-10:00 am - Walk for Diabetes.  Please have children wear covered shoes.
• Thursday, November 22, and Friday, November 23 - No School.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!
• Friday, December 7 - No school for students.  Teachers will be preparing for parent-student-teacher conferences.
• Thursday, December 13 and Friday, December 14 - No school for children.  Check your assigned time for parent-student-teacher conference in today's packet.
• Wednesday, December 19 - MPI Elementary Christmas Program at 6:00 pm.
• Thursday, December 20 through Monday, January 7 - Winter Break for students.  Happy Holidays!
• Tuesday, January 8, 2008 - Students return to school! 
  

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Animals in Art, Stories and Inquiry: November 8, 2007

Visiting Artist from Honolulu Academy of Arts
As a follow up to our excursion to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Ms. Marcia Kemble, an artist from the Honolulu Academy of Arts Education program, returned to our classroom with some of the pieces of artwork that she shared with us two weeks ago.  The students discussed and reflected on the stories they learned about why people made pieces of art.  Ms. Kemble was amazed at all the stories the children remembered!  A student in our class also said, "I liked the Art Academy so much that I went there again with my family last weekend."  Needless to say, Ms. Kemble was quite pleased with that comment.  Ms. Kemble led the students through an art lesson in which each student used oil pastels to experiment with color.  The students started with the 3 primary colors (blue, red, yellow) and then blended these colors to create new shades.  After the free exploration time, the students applied the artistic techniques introduced by Ms. Kemble to create their own animal art.













"Diary" Stories
Let the illustrating begin!  After typing the final drafts of their "Diary of an (animal)" stories, the students are busy illustrating their published pieces.  The children can't wait to share their stories with you!

Animal Inquiry - Putting Together Powerpoint Presentation
Our Animal Explorers began working on their group presentations this week.  Each group decided to present their research using a slide show on the computer.  The students are typing the questions they had about the animal group they researched (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates) and the answers to their questions.   The students are also finding pictures and graphics to support the information in their presentation.  We have a class full of computer-literate children...they type and click away with ease!  (If you click on over to our classroom photo gallery, you will see more photographs of the students in action.)



First Grade Math
We continue to love solving addition story problems!  The first grade mathematicians are using a variety of strategies to solve addition story problems: counting all, counting on and using number combinations.  The students are recording their solutions to math problems clearly so that someone else who looks at their work can understand how they were thinking about the problem.  Next week, our class will begin developing strategies for subtraction story problems.  

Reflecting on Learning
As the students finish illustrating their "Diary" stories, they are reflecting on their story, the process they used to reach the final draft and setting goals for their next cycle of writing.  Reflection is ongoing in our classroom and the students are continually using the mindmaps "What Good Readers Do," "What Good Writers Do," "What Good Mathematicians Do," "What Good Researchers Do," and "What Good Team Members Do" to think about what they do well and what they want to get better at doing.  The students are selecting work samples for reading, writing, inquiry and math that represent how they are growing over time as a learner. 

Book Orders
If you would like to order books this month, please complete and return form(s) with a check by Thursday, November 15.  Thank you to Laura Adams who continues to help our class with the book orders!

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November, Here We Come: November 1, 2007

Spooktivity
The children's costumes were fabulous!  We had a collection of animals: dolphin trainers, cats, a monkey, a shark, a lion, a human (mammal), a bat, and more.  First and second grade parents, thank you so much for all the work you put into organizing and executing Spooktivity for the Elementary School.  From the decorations in the dining room to the intricate designs on the "Treat Street" houses, our campus was Halloween to the extreme.

Pumpkin Carving
Talk about intricate designs...our pumpkin carvers could win any pumpkin-carving contest.  The best part about the carving was that the children actually did a lot of the carving themselves!  Before carving their pumpkins, the students estimated the circumference, weight, number of vertical lines, and number of seeds for their pumpkin. Next, they took measurements and compared their predictions to the actual circumference, weight, number of lines, and total number of seeds. The students and parents carved away and created amazingly detailed jack-o'-lanterns!  Thank you to all the families who donated pumpkins: Kim, L. Wong, Jung, Hersh, Mento, You, Loo, Ramirez, and Handa.  Thank you to all the parents who helped us carve pumpkins: Tracy McConnell, Theresa Kuo, Wendy Handa, Jill Cullinan, David Ramirez, Torry Montes, Ann Loo, Cliff Cheng,

and Steve Adams.

First Grade Math - Unit 3 - Addition, Subtraction, and the Number System
The first grade mathematicians finished up their final assessment tasks for Unit 2.  The assessment focused on decomposing shapes in different ways and sorting shapes based on their attributes.  In the first problem, students used pattern blocks to fill a shape with as many blocks as possible.  In the second problem, students filled the same shape with as few blocks as possible.  For the third problem, students sorted shape cards into groups and described what attributes they used to sort the shapes.  Now that students have reflected on their math from Unit 2, we are working on solving story problems in Unit 3. 

In Unit 3, we have been focusing on finding as many 2-addend combinations of a number as possible.  Today the students solved the following story problem: “I have 10 toys.  Some are blocks.  Some are marbles.  How many of each could I have?  Find as many combinations as you can.”  The students came up with all the possible solutions! 

Museum in a Box
The Academy of Arts Ambassador Program brought its Museum in a Box "Animals in Art" unit to our classroom. An artist explained how different cultures at different periods in history represented animals in art. We learned about the different beliefs, stories, and special powers and gifts that are associated with various animals in art. The children described what they saw and then touched the different pieces and discussed the texture of the artwork.  The artist discussed the following animals: pig from New Guinea, Imperial Dragon, fish from the Philippines, frog from Indonesia, cat from Egypt, Sari Monarch bird from the Philippines, frog mask from Indonesia, ducks from Korea, horse from Sweden, elephants from Africa and Asia, snake and rabbit from Mexico, fish and donkey from Thailand, cow from Switzerland, sheep from New Zeland, rooster from Mexico, monkeys from Indonesia, crocodile from New Guinea, and fish from South America.

Tomorrow we will take a field trip to the Honolulu Academy of Arts to see more animals in various exhibits. An artist will then return to our classroom next week to lead the children in an art activity.

Field Trip to Art Academy
On Friday, November 2, we will visit the Honolulu Academy of Arts for a docent tour of "Animals In Art" in the galleries.  All of the multiage 1-2 classes are going on the field trip. While two classes are taking the tour, the other two classes will be eating lunch at Thomas Square Park across from the Honolulu Academy of Arts.  On Friday, please send home lunch with your child to school.  Since we will be carrying the lunches with us and eating at the park, please label your child’s lunch and pack an “easy-to-eat” lunch in a disposable bag.  No lunch boxes or plastic containers - we will throw away everything after lunch.  Please send a snack with your child as usual.  As always, please have your child wear covered shoes and their MPI Polo shirt.  The class consistently looks great when they wear their MPI Polo shirt...very put-together, sharp and professional!

Thank You
Thank you to all the second grade parents for throwing an awesome Halloween party for our class last Saturday!  The numerous Halloween activities for the children were great: caramel apple station, noodle crafts, balloon ghosts, "dirt" worm desert, and of course, Professor Fun.  I left the party with sore abdominal muscles from laughing so hard during Professor Fun's performance, entertainment for both the children and the parents!  Thank you, everyone, for such a great party!

Thank you to KJ for being a super-scientist and bringing in tadpoles for our class to observe!  It was perfect timing as we begin discussing the life cycles of various animals.  Thank you to TC for bringing in cookies to share with our class!  Thank you to JH for the yummy Rice Krispies treats!  Thank you to JC and KM for the Halloween treats.  While reading a collection of Halloween stories, our class enjoyed eating pumpkin seeds cooked by Wendy Handa and Tracy McConnell. 

Thank you to all the parents and children for your constant generosity and support!  You are all wonderful, and I appreciate everything you do for our class!

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