Week 5

Wow! I cannot believe the first month of school is already over! Time flies in first grade...

Second week of homework done and they all are continuing to do a great job! It was great checking all of their homework and seeing the variety and creativity. I am impressed by the number of students that are challenging themselves and I also loved reading some of the stories they have written! The homework will be coming back home in their Green Go Home Folders along with their homework for this week and info about Run For the Arts.

Our focus for writing this week was understanding, identifying and writing complete sentences. We discussed the 4 things you need for a complete sentence: uppercase at the beginning, period at the end, who/what (subject) and action (predicate). We color coded each of the 4 parts of a complete sentence and ended up with some rainbow sentences! Thank goodness we have the first grade period police, they helped solve some serious incomplete sentence crimes this week :)

In math we focused a lot on story problems. We discussed the importance of figuring out what the problem is asking before trying to figure out the answer. The main focus has been addition and subtraction. After working through these story problems as a class, the students also completed their first independent math check in. These check-ins allow me to better understand the students' thinking and number sense and gauge my instruction and individual support.  I am extremely proud of the Room 112 mathematicians and excited to keep developing their strategies for solving addition and subtraction!

Reminders:

9/29 -- Dough for Dollars @ Pizzacato
9/30 -- Run for the Arts pledge forms DUE
10/2 -- Run for the Arts @ 10:15am
*Info will be going home tomorrow, but Room 112 will be wearing blue shirts (any shade) on the day of the run.

Here are some photos from the week....

Week 4

Here are some highlights from the week...

On Wednesday, we got to meet our 4th grade buddies in Mr.Graham's class! The first and fourth graders interviewed each other and filled out a sheet with information about their buddy. We are excited to work, play and learn with our 4th grade buddies this year :)

In reading this week we introduced our next Daily 5 job - Listen to Reading! We have six IPads in the classroom that the students have been using to listen to different stories to continue their exposure to different texts and build their fluency and comprehension. They absolutely love the new Daily 5 job and have been very understanding that it is a job that they might not get to do everyday.

Just like in reading, in math we are also working on our fluency. The students took their first timed addition check-in. It is more for the students to assess their own understanding and for them to be able to see their growth in a couple of weeks. We will be doing these throughout the year to build their math fluency and to make sure they are "basic math fact masters" - try to say that 3 times fast :).
We are also working on different strategies to use when adding and subtracting (number line, using their fingers, friendly numbers, etc). The more strategies (or tools) that they have in their tool belt the more comfortable and successful they will be when they get into more advanced math!

Picture day was on Friday and wow do these first graders clean up good! They all looked so adorable and I can't wait to see their big smiles!

It was great seeing you all at Back to School Night - thanks so much for coming!

For those of you who weren't able to attend Back to School Night the conference sign up is posted outside my door and I will also post a picture of the sign up this week and you can email me to set up a conference time. 

Here are some photos from the week...

Week 3

It was a short, but busy week!

This week we started our literacy block rounds as part of Daily 5. We have now introduced two choices out of a total of five. The two jobs are: Work on Writing and Read to Self. As we introduce new literacy jobs, we continue to practice and focus on the Daily 5 expectations (Stay in one spot, work quietly, work the whole time, start right away, and build stamina). Some of you may have received some Work on Writing evidence...they have been very excited about writing letters and notes :)

In math, we have been practicing our basic addition and using visuals to help us write number sentences. Our community of mathematicians has also been working on identifying and building patterns. They are already beginning to use mathematical language "I know this is true because..." "I agree with ____ because..." Being able to talk about mathematical thinking and being able to show it is something we will continue to build on a daily basis.

Looking forward to another great week in Room 112!

Reminders:

9/14 -- First homework folder sent home (Due back on Friday 9/18)

9/14 -- Library check out
**We will be doing library check-out during our media time while we wait for the library position to be filled. Please make sure if your first grader wants to check out a book that they bring their books in to return on Monday.

9/16 -- Late Opening @ 10am

9/17 -- Back to School Night @ 6pm - Hope to see you all there!

9/18 -- Picture day

Week 2

It was a busy week in Room 112!

At the beginning of the week I read the book "How Full is your Bucket." This book highlights the power of kindness and connects with our Room 112 bucket that is added to when we work together and get compliments and recognition from Stephenson Staff and adults. We also created a class promise and all signed it as a commitment to our classroom community!

We have continued to practice Read to Self and have been building on our literacy block expectations: Stay in one spot, work quietly, work the whole time, start right away, and build stamina.  We will continue to build and develop these skills as we practice this independent learning and work time. I am already seeing their stamina grow!

Our writers workshop is off to a great start. We discussed and acted out what a writers workshop looks and sounds like. It was a great discussion followed by some great writing. We also talked about how we share our writing. I was very impressed by their bravery and the respect of the first grade audience! I believe sharing work is incredibly empowering and rewarding and we are going to be doing a lot of it this year :)

This week we also transitioned from exploring the math manipulatives, to using them as tools for math. It is pretty incredible to see their creativity when working with the math manipulatives. Students are recognizing and building patterns, identifying shapes, counting and adding.

Hope everyone had a wonderful, long weekend!

Reminders:

9/11 -- Ms. Soulas out of town (Sub day)