Week 4 (a month already?!)

It seems impossible that we've been in class together for a month, but when I look at all the great work happening in room 108, I know it must be so.

The Falcons are now independently going through all of the introduced steps of readers' workshop, including partner reading.  Here are the steps for reading with a partner:

1.  Make the partner sign to find a partner ready to read

2. Sit elbow to elbow and knee to knee

3. Hold the book in the middle and read!

We have already finished unit 1 of Everyday Math!  Students took their first assessment this week.  We are now on to unit 2 where we will learn about compliments of 10, practice using number grids and unit labels for numbers, start telling time on analog clocks, count pennies and nickels, and learn more about addition and subtraction number models!  Students will be bringing home all of their homework from unit 1.  You will see a check mark in the upper right hand corner.  This lets you know that I have reviewed it.

*When doing homework with your children (or looking over it) each night, please encourage them to face their numbers in the correct direction.  If you see a reversal, have your child fix it!  It will help cement in their memory the correct orientation and make handwriting much easier for them in the long run!

As an enrichment activity to compliment our science unit on recycling and composting, Erik Street from Yarmouth Public Works visited the first graders to talk about recycling on Tuesday.  We learned about all kinds of materials that can be recycled like batteries, light bulbs, and old cars, along with the classics like paper, plastic, glass, and metal.

 We've been keeping close tabs on the work our red wigglers are doing in the compost bin! Students observe the contents of the bin and record how many worms they see, whether or not the moisture looks okay, and how much food has been turned into compost soil. 

Have a great end-of-September weekend, everyone!

Week 3!

Week 3 came and went in the blink of an eye!  It was a week full of field trips, experiments, and the start of some great routines.

On Monday, we visited the school garden at YES.  Students saw all of the healthy plants that benefit from nutrient-rich soil (like that being made by our worms!), helped harvest sunflower seeds, toured the hoop house, and harvested carrots!

In science, we got up close and personal with our red wigglers.  Students used a magnifying glass to notice details about the worms' bodies.

We have our first spelling words up on the word wall!

Students have been practicing making text-to-self connections during read alouds!  On Friday, each student  completed a sheet just like this one after they read an independent level book during readers' workshop.

In writers' workshop, we've added revising to our steps of writing a story!  When a student finishes thinking, planning, and writing a small moments story, she rereads her story to see if she can add more to make the story better.

Week 2

Our first full week of school!    Here are a few of the highlights from our week in room 108!

We've been playing lots of math games that include counting forward and backward on the number line, and making tally marks:

We've been building our independent reading stamina.  So far, we're up to 10 minutes 40 seconds as a class!

We've started our writers' workshop!  Students are writing small moments stories.  Our process is to think, plan, then write.

We've started our first science unit: Recycling and Composting.  Students brainstormed what they knew about recycling (they know so much!) first.  We then moved on to vermi-composting.  On Friday, we put our worm bin together.  We're always taking donations of newspaper to help keep our worms happy and healthy.

Until next week!

Week One!

We had a great first week of school getting to know each other and building our classroom community!
We played name games, learned some new songs, wrote about our summer vacations, explored some of our math tools, brainstormed our meeting rules, and wrote and illustrated our hopes and dreams for first grade.

On Friday, we brainstormed possible names for the class.  There were some great contenders: The Froggies, The Berries, The Rainbow Friends. After a very democratic voting process, our new name is:

The Falcons!

Stay tuned for more next week!