Another couple of weeks have zoomed by!

Literacy:
We have been working really hard on partner reading.  They are practicing giving their books an introduction, talking about their favorite part and asking questions.  Next week I will be introducing a partner read cards with prompts to help the children have more conversations with their partners.


Math:
"Froggy on the Number line" was our focus in math this week  We used the number line to represent out thinking in addition and subtraction.  The number line papers helped the children see the parts and the whole numbers when they add or subtract.




On Wednesday and Thursday, we did a few fun Halloween themed activities.  We read, "Shake them Bones", and  learned a little about our own bones.  We drew and labeled our own skeleton diagrams.  We built skeletons using Q-tips.  We even got to hold and touch real sheep bones!  We played a Monster Mash adding and some of use started a Halloween math packet.  We also made editable spiders for snack!

Dates to remember:

*November 13- PTO Meeting
*November 15- All School Morning Meeting 8:15
*November 21-22- Early Dismissal 11:00, No student activities; Parent/Teacher Conferences
*November 25-29- No School for Thanksgiving Break

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Literacy:

During readers workshop students continued building stamina with readers to myself.  We also practiced reading with partners.  The children also practiced this skill while kids took turns meeting with me for conferencing.

Math:

In math we started working on addition and subtraction story problems.  As mathematicians we had to think about what was happening in the story to know if we were going to put the numbers togerther(add) or take the numbers apart(subtract).  The children are working on writing an equation and representing our thinking in an organized way.

Story Teller/Author:

We were able to see the amazing storyteller/author Bill Jameson last Monday. He told us a a story about a unicorn king. The kids and adults enjoyed every minute of his story.

JFK Heart Ambassador

At the whole school morning meeting on Friday, students from every class, K-5, were chosen to receive the JFK Heart Ambassador award. Congratulations to Jayden ans Nylah!

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We learned about germs and how to do proper hand washing with Nurse Liz!  We are germ busters!

Dates to remember:

*October 24 - Picture Retake Day

*October 24 & 25 - Early Dismissal 11:00 (activities available with prior sign-up)

*November 13 - PTO Meeting

*November 15 - All School Morning Meeting 8:15

*November 17 - PTO Craft Fair

*November 21- Early Dismissal; No student activities; Parent/Teacher     Conferences 12-8

*November 22- Early Dismissal; No student activities; Parent/Teacher Conferences 12-3

*November 25 - 29 - No School for Thanksgiving Break

Well the first six weeks of school was a huge success.  We focused on learning routines and expectations.  We will continue to work on these skills throughout the year.

Literacy:
This week we read another one of my favorite books:  One by Kathryn Otoshi.  This a a book about about bullying and how we need to stand up for ourselves and showing that everyone counts!  After reading the book, we watched a video of the author reading the story and kids acting out the book.  Then we acted it out ourselves.  We had a blast!

The students continued to choosing "just right" books and increase the amount of independent and partner reading.  We also practiced what it looks like and sounds like during reader's workshop.

Math:
In math we continued comparing numbers and started making representations on paper to show our thinking.  We ended the week with some work with story problems.  We worked on sharing our thinking with our partners.

Important Dates:
October 8 - No School
October 16 - PTO Meeting
October 18- All School Morning Meeting
October 24 - Picture Retake Day
October 24 - Early Dismissal
October 25 - Early Dismissal

Reading

It's been another great week in first grade!  We read a few of my favorite books.  We read Jump Jabari, which is a book about a boy who is trying to overcome his fears of jumping off a high dive.  We reread Not Yet, and made power bracelets.  We ended the week with The Big Orange Splot, a story about being yourself and expressing who you are.  The children made their own houses to express who they are as an individual.  These stories really tied into our writing about our hopes and dreams.  We each wrote an academic goal.  Next week we will work on a social goal.  We will then display them in the classroom.

Math
We have been exploring the math concept of "How do mathematicians count things?"  We have been working on showing on representation on paper in an organized way.  The push this week was to represent in groups of tens.

Garbage, Recycling, Compost
Jaycie Putilitz came into our classroom to teach us ways that we can take care of our earth.  She taught us about what items go into the garage verses the recycling bin.  After she finished teaching us she went into our garage bins and recycling bin to fix our mistakes.  I believe we passed the test.  Now we are experts!

Picture Day was a success!

 Celebration!
We filled out heart jar for the second time.  We celebrated with some good old arts and crafts and building legos.

Dates to Remember: 
September 27th- All School Morning Meeting
October 2nd- Walk to School Day.  Meet at the Rite Aid
October 8th- NO SCHOOL
October 24th- Picture Retake Day

Welcome Back!

Welcome to first grade.

The the first few days of school, we have been focusing on community building, classroom and school wide routines, and develop our class room and individual goals. We've had a great start getting to know each other, beginning with some fun projects, and learning more and more about one another.

We have have read a lot of books already this year, while practicing expected read aloud expectations. The entire first grade read the book, One Light, One Sun, by Raffi and did a project to go along with the book. The children decorated a sun of what they like. We then hang all the suns in the shape of the earth outside our classroom. Make sure to take a look and see if you can find your child's. We also read the book, Not Yet, which is a book about growth mindset. The little girl in this books models for children that they have purpose and worth even if they make mistakes. This book encourages children to dream big.

In math we are beginning to learn some routines about playing games, taking turns, having private reasoning time, and turn and talk to share ideas with our partners. We have focused on favorite numbers and A LOT of counting! We learned how to play two games, In the Doghouse and plus 1. We also starting experiencing with math manipulatives. The children rotated in groups to four different stations, snap cubes, Geo blocks, pattern blocks, and tiles.

We have library every Thursday. This year the first graders get to take out 2 books!

We had an unexpected fire drill Friday afternoon. The children were amazing!

Our Daily Schedule:
8:00-8:45- Arrival, breakfast, and Morning Meeting
Readers Workshop- 8:45-9:45
Read Aloud: 9:45-10:00
Writers Workshop- 10:00-10:35
Recess-10:40-11:05
Lunch- 11:10-11:32
FUNdations- 11:35-12:00
Math- 12:00-1:00
Snack- 1:00-1:15
Specials- 1:15-2:00
Monday-Guidance
Tuesday-P.E
Wednesday-Art
Thursday-P.E
Friday- Music

Welcome Back!

March 10th

We had a very nice and busy first week back from break this week, even though the weather was too cold to go out for recess everyday except for today.    We ended the week with an all-school celebration entitled "Mix-and-Match day."  


Literacy~
We finished up our non-fiction unit by sharing our new learning from one of our favorite non-fiction books, to Ms. Bushy's Kindergarten class.  They did such a great job!

Math~
We finished up our math unit, measurement, and started a new math unit, place value.  We are looking at how mathematicians break apart two-digit numbers.  This week,we focused mainly on teen numbers.  We used tens frames and cubes to come to the generalization that teen numbers are "10 plus a number."

Science~
We have had fun learning about sound!  We have watched videos that showed vibration, we've made kazoos's and finally finished our unit with creating our own instruments.  The children were grouped into bands and each band performed by playing their instruments and singing a song.  They all did a great job.

Important Dates~
March 13th- Early dismissal, 12:15
March 15th- Fun Fair, 4:30-6:30

January 13, 2019

Literacy-

We have just started a new unit of study around non-fiction.  We kicked off this unit by sorting non-fiction and fiction test.  We asked the question; Why are they different?

Math-

We finished up our math test.  The children did a great job.  We celebrated all their hard work with games on the IPAD.  They had a blast!  Next week will be starting a new unit on Measurement.

 

Natalie Kinsey-Warnock

This week we have started a six week session with author Natalie Kinsey-Warnock. She was an amazing speaker! The kids and I have been so engaged listening to her this week. So far, we have learned about the importance of family stories and the history of photography.

She shared stories about her grandma, great grandma, and other relatives. She has 10 dogs and 17 cats! She then showed us how she used these family stories to write some of her famous books.

Ask your children if they remember what the name of the camera Natalie is holding.

We earned another celebration! Hot Chocolate and "Wild Kratts!"

NO SCHOOL- Monday, January 21st

Have a great weekend and stay warm!