Friday, October 10, 2014
Classroom news:
No School, October 17, 2014
What a great time we have been having in first grade. The children continue to work hard, pushing their thinking every day. They are looking more and more like first graders every day.
We continue to work on the basics of our social thinking curriculum. We continue to talk about what is expected/unexpected behaviors. Last week we earned our goal of 60 green thoughts for the week! We had an extra recess to celebrate. We have been working on what is safe on the playground. Keeping our hands and feet to ourselves and keeping our bodies safe at all times. If you could reinforce this with your child that would be great.
Last week we worked on acceptance using read alouds. This week we worked on safe as our focus. We read books about why it is so important to be safe. Two books that we have read that deal with safety are:
Listen Buddy, by Helen Lester
Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen, by Howard Binkow
Math Focus:
How do mathematicians represent their thinking?
We have been working on two different types of story problems, Solving for the sum(4+3=_) Children need to write an equation, represent their thinking and label their problem. A Combination problem(_+_=8, _+_=8). We need to figure out which problem is which and solve. The children continue to "listen to understand" when their partner or teammate explains their thinking and testing each others ideas.
We have started Math Facts! The children absolutely love this time of math. This is a 15minute time period where the children are practicing their math facts in a variety of ways. First graders need to know and be fluent in addition and subtraction up to 10. They practice this with math worksheets, quiz each other with flash cards, and play math games. Make sure you ask them about this!
Have a Great Weekend!
First Days of School!
Classroom News:
Delayed Start, September 17, 2014
Book Orders are due, September 19, 2014
What a great first few days of school! The children have been working hard on learning our routines and expectations, getting to know each other, and what it means to be a first grader. I am looking forward to next week!
Our P.E. days are Tuesday and Wednesday, don't forget to send your child with gym shoes.
Literacy/Social Thinking Focus:
The past two weeks of school, we have spent a lot of time reviewing the basics of our social thinking curriculum. We've been talking about expected/unexpected behaviors, setting green thought goals each day, and are creating social behavior maps of different parts of our day. We have also been earning stars for JFK behavior (S-Striving for Excellence, T-Thoughtful, A-Accepting, R-Responsible, S-Safe.
We also have been working on creating our classroom culture. This means we need to become a team that works and learns together. The Charron Team! Learning involves trust. You have to feel comfortable to make mistakes and push your thinking. This trust develops as we get to know each other. The children and I are sharing information about ourselves, what we like, things we do, etc. This will continue the next few weeks.
We have also been working on acceptance. Acceptance , is also important in building a classroom that celebrates learning. We read books about what makes each of us special-that we are all different! Three books that we have read that deal with acceptance are:
Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes
Two Eyes, a Nose, and a Mouth, by Roberta Grobal Intrater
The Monster who lost his Mean, by Tiffany Strelitz Haber
Math Focus:
How do mathematicians organize collections in order to quickly count?
How do mathematicians write equations and represent their thinking?
This is a HUGE concept. We have been counting collections, or large groups of objects. The mathematicians need to figure out a way to organize the objects in order to count them accurately and efficiently. We have figured out that we can group the objects by 5's and 10's to make it easier for us. The children have been trying their best to "listen to understand" when a partner or teammate explains their thinking and testing out each other's ideas.
Please remember that are classroom is a peanut, nut, and egg free classroom.
Thank you to any one that has supplied our classroom with food and materials!
