First Grade Week #4

Dear First Grade Families,

We’ve wrapped up another busy, fun-filled week in first grade!

Reading

-When good readers come to a tricky word, they check the picture and get their lips ready to read the word! We met two Beanie Babies this week that help us remember these strategies:  Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish!

-We learned that good readers look at all parts of the word! Our friend Stretchy Snake helps us remember this!

-We learned that good readers think about what looks right and makes sense in the story!

Writing

-We learned how to bring our stories to life by making our characters think, feel, talk, and move!

-We also practiced telling our stories in “itsy bitsy” steps and using transition words like “first, next, then, last.”

Math

-We wrapped up Unit 1 and took our first math assessment.

-We started Unit 2, which will focus on addition strategies.

-We learned about the “turn around rule” or the commutative property.

-We practiced counting on.

-We practiced navigating the 120s chart.

-We learned some new games:  Roll and Total and Rolling for 50.

Science

-We continued learning about apples and the apple life cycle this week.

-We learned about Johnny Appleseed.

 -We did an apple taste test on Friday.  The students sampled Macintosh, Honey Crisp, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith.  The class favorite was Golden Delicious and the runner up was Honey Crisp!

Our poem of the week was “Johnny Appleseed” – Ask your child to sing it to you!

Some reminders

-Picture day is October 3^rd

-No school October 5^th (Staff Development Day)

-No school October 8^th (Columbus Day)

-Book bags will start coming home shortly!

-Please return Federal Aid forms ASAP!!

Donors Choose

*The students LOVE the Hokki Stools in our classroom! I have posted some projects on Donors Choose to get additional stools for our classroom.  I have posted them as several small projects so that they have a better chance of getting funded.  Please consider sharing these projects with friends and family! Getting the word out truly helps! These stools are AWESOME for helping students get the movement they need! Donors choose has helped us get many of the flexible seating options we have available in our classroom!

Wiggle While We Work Part 3 <--Click here to view the project!!! 

And as always....some pictures!

Federal Aid Forms

Dear First Grade Families,
Please remember to return your Federal Aid forms as soon as possible!
Please return them even if you are not a military connected family!
Thank you!
-Kristen Greene

Weekly Update #3

We had another busy week in first grade! The students have continued getting to know each other, practicing our classroom routines, and diving into first grade academics.  We had a busy, fun week! Some of the highlights this week were:  2 fire drills, the super rainy day, seeing squirrels in the garden, and who can forget when the water didn't work for a couple of hours in the middle of the day! What an adventure!

This week in Reading...

• We continued learning about building good reading habits.  We talked about how good readers read MORE and MORE and keep track, good readers set goals, and good readers reread to see more! We practiced this habit using the book Goodnight Moon.  Can you believe that we never noticed the mouse on each page and that the book had rhyming words? I encouraged the students to use this strategy in the books in their book bins.  We've really been practicing setting up our reading mats, setting a goal and keeping track, and staying on task during reading workshop.  Next week, we will pick our reading spots!
• Next week we will start discussing good habits for solving hard words.  I am excited to introduce these strategies to students!

This week in Math...

• We practiced tracking data and putting it into tally charts.  We graphed animals with wings/no wings, what type of bottoms students were wearing (shorts, pants, skirts), and we also practiced making tally charts playing Rock, Paper, Scissors!
• The students had a math exploration lesson where they explored base-10 blocks, geoboards, pattern blocks, and took a math assessment in small groups.
• We played math games today!

This week in Writing...

• We discussed the steps of writing small moment stories.
• We discussed the difference between a watermelon story and a "seed" story.  For example, "our day so far at school" is a watermelon story, but playing ZAP! with a friend is a seed story.
• The students completed a writing prompt for a beginning of the year writing assessment.  (Lots of assessments this week!)
• We talked about strategies for spelling tricky words (i.e., stretch out the sounds, use words you know to help you).
• We started trying out different writing spots in the classroom (i.e., lap desks, wobble stools)

Below are some pictures of students in action and some of our anchor charts.  I hope you enjoy!

Here are the steps to writing a small moment story.  Think, plan, write.  

Here is the first anchor chart for our reading.  We're working on building good habits to grow our reading muscles!

We reviewed rhyming.  Students were each given a picture and had to find the person who's picture rhymed with their picture.  We also generated more rhyming words.

Here is our poem of the week.  This week, we searched our poem for "snap" words (sight words), punctuation, and worked on reading it smoothly.  

Here is our schedule for wiggle stools (Hokki stools).  The students LOVE them and look forward to their day!

Writing workshop!

Using the lap desks.

Using the floor table.

We're learning about apples.  We made a diagram of an apple tree.

The students spent a few minutes browsing the books in our library and using our "reading buddies." We also practiced putting books away in the correct bin!

Some reminders:

• Picture Day - October 3rd
• I will send out a Sign Up Genius link in the near future for parent-teacher conference sign ups

As always, please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or concerns!

Have a great weekend!

Second Week of School

C sharing his Market Basket truck.

Building good reading habits together!

Taking a "sneak peek."

Partner reading.

Taking our beginning of the year spelling assessment.  First time using the privacy folders!

"Doodle" time on our whiteboards or "slates"

Play Top-It

Penny Dice

MagnaTiles