Week 32

While we should celebrate and take care of the Earth everyday, we celebrated Earth day on Friday by reading one of my all time favorites, The Lorax, and cleaning up the Stephenson playground and walkways. The first graders truly took the Lorax's words to heart "unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not."

In math we started exploring fractions. The first graders did an amazing job dividing up their whole sandwiches (paper squares) into equal parts to share with friends. Next time you have sandwiches, pie or cake with your kids ask them how you can cut it so that each person will get the same amount!

In Junior achievement, Ms. Karla taught the kiddos all about the difference between wants and needs. Although toys and candy might sometimes seem like needs, the first graders did a great job distinguishing the difference :)

Reminders:

All Week -- Foundation USED Book Sale - All week!  @ 2:15 - 6:00pm - WET ROOM
4/26 -- Visit from the Humane Society
4/27 -- Young Audiences Clay Project @ 12:00 - 1:30
4/29 -- Mother/Son Kickball @ 6:30 - 8:30pm - GYM

Here are some photos of some first grade writers and readers sharing their work...

Week 31

Here are some highlights from the week...

The week started and ended with a performance! On Tuesday, the Missoula teachers came into our classroom and taught the first graders a mini-musical. On Friday we had the Missoula Children's Theater performance of Rumpelstiltskin. It is amazing to see the quality performances after just one week of practice!

We started our new math unit: Geometry. The first graders have been exploring the different shapes, their attributes and their relationships to each other. It is exciting to see the mathematicians build and create!

A HUGE thank you to Karla Tovar (Emma L's mom) for teaching Jr. Achievement! Her first lesson focused on family and community, and encouraged the first graders to think about all of the similarities and differences in families and neighborhoods. They came up with many thoughtful responses. We have a pretty great Room 112 family :)

Reminders:

4/20 -- Late Opening & Mix Match Day

Here are some photos from the week...

Week 30

Here are some highlights from the week...
 
This month, the first grade classes get the main hallway bulletin board real estate! For the bulletin board project we read one of my favorite stories, "Something Beautiful." The author describes "something beautiful" as something that makes your heart happy, so we took a trip around the school to find our "something beautiful" at Stephenson. Their beautiful work is on display on the bulletin boards!

This week we introduced our final job in Daily 5... Read to Someone! Partner reading allows for more time to practice strategies, helping to build fluency, check for understanding, hear their own voice and time to share in this learning community. It also increases reading involvement, attention and collaboration. The first graders are loving partner reading and readily participate with IPICK books of their choosing.

Reminders:
4/11 - 4/15 -- Missoula Children's Theater
4/15 -- Missoula Performance @ 12:45pm & 7:00pm

Here are some photos from the week...