Changes and a Challenge!

As you remember, last week we were learning about buildings. We wrapped up our learning on different buildings and the materials they are made out of with a fun art project! Each student got to choose one building they wanted to focus on. They each drew their building first and then labeled the materials that it is made out of. Finally, they got to paint it! It was so much fun! There was a great variety of buildings from a house, to a school, to even the Eiffel Tower!

Eiffel Tower - metal

School- brick, glass, concrete

Castle- gold, stone, iron, metal, emerald, diamond

Leaning Tower of Pisa- Marble

Now that we are done learning about buildings we have begun learning about communities in nature. Animals live in a community too! The place where they live is a habitat. In science we have already been studying how animals survive different environments so we are able to make lots  of connections! For the next few weeks our science lessons will be focusing on how animals survive a cold environment. To get us started we wrote about our favorite animal that lives in the snow or ice. Don't worry, we didn't forget to tell why!

"Dear Class, my favorite animal that lives in the snow or ice is a penguin because it slides into the water."

"My favorite animal that lives in snow is a snow owl and they have heart on their face."

"My favorite animal in snow or ice is a penguin because they walk funny."

A few weeks ago we learned about different ways to pronounce the -ed endings. EVERYTIME a kid finds a word with -ed at the end they get SO excited and always rush over to show it to me. So this week, we introduced the -ing ending. Now whenever someone finds an -ing word we now have a place to record it!

In math this week we have been continuing with learning about the relationship between addition and subtraction. One game that we play in class is choosing three numbers and then finding all the related facts that contain those numbers. For example: 2, 5, 7. The related facts with these numbers are 2+5=7, 5+2=7, 7-2=5, 7-5=2. The kids are really great at it! And this is even a game that you can easily play at home. You can make it MORE challenging by having your child choose the three numbers themselves, and then see if they can make related facts with them.

There have been a couple of changes to our classroom this week. For starters, we have instituted the pencil challenge! I numbered a set of pencils. One pencil for each student. Each student has a designated number and therefore a designated pencil. Every morning the class takes their pencil from the challenge cup and at the end of the day returns it. The challenge is... Who can keep their pencil the longest without losing it! The final winner will get a totally awesome prize!

This week we also rearranged the desks in our classroom. We were ready for a change! Most of the kids now sit in groups of three. Now that we have learned to effectively communicate to our partners we are going to focus on becoming effective communicators within a group of three!

In other news, the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) was offered free space at the Joann Williams 32nd Annual Christmas Fair at the King Kamehameha Hotel. They will be selling trucker hats and some baked goods. If you would like to help supervise the booth or donate baked goods, please let our Vice Principal Janice Blaber know. Her direct number is 895-6671. The dates for the event are Friday, November 28th and Saturday, November 29th. Supervision times run for 3 hours a piece (i.e. 9am-12pm, 12pm-3pm) for each day.

Finally, a great big mahalo to the Ahuna family for donating paper grocery bags for our special Thanksgiving project! We are still collecting bags until Nov 25th (or until we have a complete class set).

We all had a fun-filled week of learning this week in P2. Hope your kids enjoy a well deserved, restful weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Kawai

What would you build your house out of?

Aloha everyone!

This week we hads our very first field trip of the year. On Monday we left first thing in th morning and went down to the Aloha Theater. There the Honolulu Theater for Youth put on a great performance! It is called "Grinds".

Through song, dance, and some great story telling we learned about the story of food in Hawaii. We started all the way back to the very beginning when the islands were formed all the way until now. They even included audience participation and one of the keiki from our class got to go on stage! It was a great time!

Our theme for this week was about buildings that we know and what they are made out of. We also read the story of "The Three Little Pigs" and how each pig chose their own material to build their house. 

Thursday was another "Thinker Thursday" this week. Everyone had to write about what they would build their house out of, just like the three little pigs! The kids came up with a great list of possible materials. We had everything from wood to ice to diamonds!

Well, that is it for this week. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Kawai 

Happy Halloween!!!

Aloha friends and families of our P2 Ohana!

This week when we went to the library we got to visit the book fair! There are so many awesome books  available! The book fair will continue to be open all next week. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already!

This week we took our math test on Subtraction Strategies. While kids took the test in small groups everyone else worked on sorting true and false subtraction sentences.

First they got to color...

Then cut, sort and paste.

They did a really fantastic job and were so self-directed during their work time!

We were able to do a really fun art project this week. ( I can't take full credit. This was a Pinterest find!)

Using a white crayon we each drew an owl on a piece of black construction paper.

Then we colored in our pictures with chalk. This part we did outside so we didn't get chalk bits all over the classroom!

We all had a great time sitting on the lawn under a tree working on our art.

As we finished our projects we hung them all around the classroom. Some on our desks...

Some on the shelves...

And some on the doors.

This was such a fun project that even I did one!

We didn't just draw owls this week. We also learned about them! This week we concluded our month long study on nocturnal animals.

On Halloween Day we had such a fun time at our Halloween Parade. We all got to march around in our costumes and see what everyone chose to be for Halloween. Even the teachers dressed up!

When we returned to class we got to do a fun Halloween themed ABC Order. 

First we colored and cut...

After that we glued them in alphabetical order. Everyone did such a great job! (Once again... They were SUPER self-directed!)

This Monday is our field trip. Everyone is so excited! Please make sure that your child arrives to school early as we will be departing for the Aloha Theater shortly after the 8am bell. All students must wear closed toe shoes on the field trip and bring a home lunch.

Please have a safe and fun Halloween. Happy trick-or-treating!

Mrs. Kawai

Earning a Living in First Grade

Aloha All!
What an incredible week we have had. We learned so much!!!

In math we continued to learn, discuss, and practice using addition to solve subtraction. Everyone is getting better at it every day! This week we also learned a new subtraction strategy: Make a ten to subtract... That might sound strange, it might even sound difficult, but let me tell you... these kids did so GREAT! I have to say that I was extremely impressed! The strategy goes a little something like this...

Looks a little confusing doesn't it... but like I said, they ALL did really well! (This will be in next week's homework, so feel free to use this as a resource!)

In language arts this week we have been discussing what are the important jobs in a community. We even had the word "occupation" as one of our vocabulary words this week! We read, learned and even wrote about librarians, construction workers, bus drivers, veterinarians, firefighters and so many more!

This week we started learning about "realistic fiction". These are stories with made up characters, but the events could really happen (so no talking animals or monsters!) As a class we created our own realistic fiction story. We brainstormed a few different jobs for our character to have. We then voted to see who our story would be about.

Together we created a beginning, a middle, and an end for our story... (please excuse my handwriting! I can never seem to write in a straight line!)

This week we had "Thinker Thursday" which is a day we write an opinion piece. (This happens about twice a month) The prompt for this week was "What is the best occupation?" The kids came up with some great occupations and some really great reasons to support their thinking!

The BEST occupation is a nurse. It is the best because you have to take care. They have to feel better. They also need medicine. That is why a nurse is the best occupation. 

The BEST occupation is a shave ice man. It is the best because free shave ice. Also free ice cream. Also it's frozen. That is why shave ice man is the best occupation. 

The best occupation is a police officer. It is the best because they save lives. And keep people safe. Also stop people when they steal. 

The best occupation is a helicopter pilot. It is the best because you can see lava. They can fly a helicopter. They also see mountains. That is why helicopter pilot is the best occupation. 

In science we continued our month log study on nocturnal animals. We started to learn about owls and watched a great video about owls in their natural habitat. One of our classmates was our "narrator" and read the text that went along with the video. Here is the video to see for yourself (and maybe learn something new about owls!)

Starting this quarter (and until the end of the year) we now have a class store! It is great opportunity for all the kids to learn to count money. Each student earns money through their behavior calendar. If they stay on green for the whole day that is worth 2 cents, if they go to yellow it is 1cent and if they go to red it is 0 cents. I even added a "Star Student" placement which is worth 3 cents! This is if someone goes above and beyond what everyone else is doing in order to make good decisions, solve problems, and show respect.

On Mondays we look at our calendars and everyone has to calculate how much money they earned the previous week. (It's a great opportunity to do some multiple addend mental math!) If a student can add it all correctly on their own they earn an extra cent! There are many things they can buy with their earnings.

And each student has their own little bank (it's just a plastic soap container!) so that they can save up their change!

Don't forget, starting Monday, Oct 27th until Friday, Nov 7th every day will be an early release day (1:05pm) due to parent teacher conferences. This Monday is also picture retakes if your child missed picture day or needs to retake their photos.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and look forward to seeing you at our parent teacher conference!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Kawai

New Beginnings For a New Quarter!

Aloha family and friends of P2!

This week we instituted class helpers, also known as "Classroom Contributors." The kids each got to create their own name card, which were then pulled at random to fulfill the different roles.  Roles are kept for a whole week and then new cards are drawn!

Monday was"Discoverer's Day" also known as "Columbus Day". We read in our weekly Scholastic News" reader about a man who believes that he has found the sunken Santa Maria!

This week in writing we wrote about how our body moves when we do different activities. The kids got to act them out first and had a lot of fun! We got to see how our arms and legs move in different ways depending on what we are doing. Then we wrote about it!

"I am spinning.

My arms are up.

My legs are twisting."

"I running.

My arms make a circle.

My legs run fast."

We finished our "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle" book before break. So this week we started a new chapter book for our daily read aloud! It's the story of a little girl named Ramona, who is a six year old girl about to start first grade. 

In math this week we started learning aout strategies that we can use to help us solve subtraction. We learned that we can "think addition" to solve subtraction. 

For example to solve 10 -6, I can think 6 + __ =10.

One way we practiced this is by having 6 volunteers write an addition fact on the board. Then 6 more volunteers came up to write a related subtraction fact. They did so awesome!

On Monday the first quarter winners of the Million Miles Campaign were announced. And guess what... We won for first grade! As a class we collected over 600 tickets, which equals more than 80 miles! Way to go P2!

In other news, the school has updated its website and it looks awesome! You can check it out at www.kealakehe.k12.us Be sure to click on "Student's Websites" on the right hand side to check out lots of great kid-friendly games and educational sites!

Hope you all stay this weekend. Please stay tuned to the news for any further school closers. 

See you next week!

Mrs. Kawai

Sea Otters and Math Spiders

This week we continued our study of how organisms survive underwater by learning about the sea otter. Did you know that sea otters hold hands while they sleep to keep them from getting separated? Isn't that so adorable!?!

We then learned some fun facts about sea otters and how they survive living in the northern Pacific coastal regions.

Sea otters are the only animals other than primates that use tools. In order to survive on their diet of abalone, mussels, clams, etc they use rocks or other objects to break open their food. This is another video we watched that shows how these clever animals get their food!

After several weeks we finally finished our math chapter on addition strategies. To celebrate all our hard work and finishing a REALLY hard math test we all got to make math spiders! 

A new reading station was added to our rotation this week. We are working on words with /r/ and /s/ blends (i.e. br, cr, gr, st, sp, sn, etc.). At this station we need to use the tiles to build words, which we then write down in our notebook. It is super fun! 

This week we celebrated all the kids who won an award for being a "Community Contributor" last month. We can continue to be community contributors ALL year through our first grade service project. Kids can bring in the fronts of greetings cards, which will get mailed to St. Jude's Ranch for Children. They will then recycle the cards to make new cards which they will sell to gain funding for their program. Here is a video we watched in class to learn more about St. Jude's Ranch...

Next week, during our Fall Break, is Fire Prevention Week. Over the break you and your family can learn more about fire prevention through our latest Scholastic New magazine.

You also have access to all our Scholastic News magazines online. In addition, you and your family can watch videos and play games that correspond to each edition! Just visit www.scholastic.com/sn1
At the student sign in use our classroom code: fanwave560

That is all for this week. Hope you all have a fantastic fall break! I will see you all on Monday, October 13th!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Kawai