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BANYAN NEWS DECEMBER 4, 2009

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Retelling

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How do we retell a story?

WHAT IS YOUR STORY ABOUT?

Music Class

Banyan students got ready for Special Friend’s and Grandparent’s Day with Connie. We are now working hard to get ready for the Solstice concert! First Graders need to wear brown and green on December 10th and 11th.

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We started discussions about retelling. Why do we retell? We retell to help us understand the story.

We talked about a few elements of a good retelling: •naming the setting •naming the characters

•balancing the details Today, we discussed how tricky it is to balance the details. We need to determine what is important to retell and what is not relevant to the plot of the story.

•telling the events in order

Social Studies

Characteristics of a good friend: We read many friendship stories. We focused on the book, George and Martha. We learned a lot from these two friends.

•being honest, telling the truth •being helpful and supportive •doing things for each other even when it is hard •understanding each other’s feelings

•thinking about how someone else might feel •giving each other advice •giving each other space •being considerate

Math: Subtraction We began a unit on subtraction. The children are solving story problems that involve subtraction. We have also learned how to play Roll and Record and Five In A Row using subtraction. The Banyan students are using two different dice: number dice 7-12 and dot dice. We started quick images with squares. We introduced a new activity called, Today’s Number. The students asked yes and no questions to figure out what number we were thinking about. Ask your child about this game. This is a fun game to play in the car!

Writing Workshop

Banyan writers focused on the difference between sketching and drawing when you are working on a rough draft. They also began adding details to their pieces. We used red pens to add describing words to each page. We shared our pieces before and after our changes to hear the difference. Adding details makes our stories more interesting to our readers and helps make a clear picture of the story in the reader’s mind. Most of the writers have two or three small moments completed! On Tuesday, December 15th, Cathy Miranker, a bookmaking specialist, will work with all first graders. We will be making books and creating art work for our covers. Please look for an email asking for parent volunteers.