Science and Math Update

Isabella Bird Community School

Annie Smith

Apr 26, 2023 10:43 AM MDT

Science and Math Update

Hi Parents,

I hope you have been enjoying the beautiful (ish) spring weather.

Here is a quick classroom update from science and math.

Annie's Class

We have had so much fun in learning about earth conservation. To kick off our environment study, students learned the names of our 7 continents and the 5 oceans. This week and next, we will dive into how we can all do our part to better protect our planet and what some culprits are of why our mother earth is in such a sad state. We will discover more about climate change and global warming, what fossil fuels are and how we can use less, deforestation, and coral bleaching.

In order to take action, we will explore all the ways we can do our part at home to help conserve our natural resources. So, heads up, they may call you out at home. They may ask you to turn the lights off when you aren't using them, or don't leave your car running if you aren't driving, use both sides or less paper, and which waste goes in recycling. These little activists are ready to make a change! Looking forward to hearing how it's going for you all!

Weston's Class

Greetings Parents, Families, and Caregivers!

Your children are absolutely rocking math class! Over the past three months, we have focused intensely on place value (base 10), addition/subtraction strategies, and number fluency. We completed an assessment last week to check student progress, and I was ASTOUNDED at our growth in first grade!

Specific to PLACE VALUE, your child can:

Write Triple Digit Numbers
Understands Digits vs. Value (digit is a symbol, the value depends on its placement in a number)
Identify Values of Digits w/ hundreds, tens, and ones (the value of the digit in the tens place in 435 is 30)
Regrouping (10 ones = 1 ten, 10 tens = 1 hundred)
Addition and Subtraction Strategies
- They learned TWO Methods - drawing Base 10 blocks or expanding to add/subtract values.
Adding or Subtracting by Tens Mentally (15 + 10, 73 - 10)
Extensions included time conversion and learning how to regroup into different base systems. Students were also given riddles to solve, which was incredibly challenging!

For the rest of the year, we will focus on MONEY (coins), TIME (analog clocks), and GEOMETRY.

MONEY - Students will IDENTIFY and COUNT like values amongst coins. They need to identify the coins without looking (just touching), without touching (just looking) and should be able to identify the values of each coin. We are focused on pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. If your child already has these standards, they will count mixed coins for a challenge!

TO HELP: Practice identifying and counting coins at home!

TIME - First graders should be able to identify the hour/minute hand and read analog clocks by hours and half hours.

TO HELP: Children often mistake hour/minute hands. You can support this by practicing reading the clock and making paper clocks at home!

GEOMETRY - Students will identify and describe 2-D shapes, including triangles, rectangles, circles, squares, rhombuses, hexagons, and trapezoids. We will also briefly review 3-D shapes. Students will also learn to divide shapes into halves and quarters and understand geometry terms, including lines (intersecting/parallel/perpendicular), corners (vertices), sides, and symmetry.

TO HELP: Have your child identify shapes when you are driving or walking around town!

FLUENCY - First-grade students should be able to add and subtract within 10 fluently using quick and efficient strategies. Many of the strategies we’ve already reviewed, so we will spend the rest of the year practicing these skills to set a solid foundation for 2nd grade. If your child has mastered fluency, they will work on fluency within 20/100.

Please be on the lookout for a copy of your child’s assessment from our BASE 10/PLACE VALUE unit. Please review this with your child and celebrate all of the fantastic work they have done this semester!

Hope you are all having a great week and as always, thanks for all of your support!

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