Research has shown that fluency and expression when reading are the keys to comprehension, and comprehension is the goal for all reading activities. This trimester Grade 1 has been working hard on increasing fluency by doing choral reading and readers’ theatre.

The students also made a class list of the clues an author gives the reader on how the story should be read. These include all kinds of punctuation ( ! ? , .), capital letters, speech marks, bold or italicized words, and pictures. The students have also learnt the importance of keeping track of how the characters in the story are feeling, because this is an important clue for how to read too.

We have been having fun reading ‘Mr Putter and Tabby Drop the Ball,’ as well as ‘Click, Clack, Moo,’ and ‘Is Your Mamma a Llama?’

 

This activity was a lot of fun and the students could easily explain that some beaks were better adapted to certain foods than others.

They identified

•  spear beaks – good for fish and frogs
• spoon beaks – good for scooping
• straw beaks – good for sipping nectar
• tong beaks – good for many types of food
• strong, short beaks – good for cracking nuts and seeds

They should know the adaptation means a way of acting or a body part that helps a living thing survive.

 

 

Students have fun and gain reading fluency by retelling or performing favorite stories. They also learn and practice technology skills by designing and making the puppets.

 

 

 

 

 

Grade 1 have been learning about light. We know that to make a shadow you need a light source and an opaque object to block the light.

Different materials have different properties. Some are transparent, they let light through, (like this plastic bag). Some are opaque, they block light, and some are translucent and let some light through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shadows don’t show colors but they do change depending on where the light source is. We can use the sun as a light source to make shadows.

Grade 1 have been investigating sound. We have learnt that sound is made when objects vibrate. You can make an object vibrate by  striking, plucking or dropping it. If you stop the vibration the sound also stops.

 

Ms. May and Lucas bought in a toy boat that they purchased on their recent holiday in Greece.

The children were fascinated by how it worked using water and heat to produce steam.

Thanks Lucas and Ms. May.

Grade 1 know a lot about toys and games from the past and how they have changed.

Here is a game Grade 1 like to play. You just need a regular deck of cards. Take out the tens and up so that you just have a deck with Aces to Nines.

Deal out the cards into nine piles in a three by three pattern and then turn the top card in each pile face up.

Take it in turns to pick two (or more) cards that add up to nine.

The player with the most cards at the end wins.