The middle of WEEK TWO. I am just amazed at how fast things are moving already!  We continue to get into a routine. We are getting really good at unpacking, writers' workshop and Daily 5!  However, we continue to work on STAMINA...after lunch we have quite a few that try to "check out"!  But I have seen a big improvement over the first couple of days!  Be sure to talk with your child about the word stamina. We use that in our daily conversations!

Today we switched up our reading mini lesson! WOW the kids noticed right away that we were NOT reading for fun today!  I read My Five Senses.  They noticed that I did not have my "silly lips" on...I was reading more slowly, and I was EVEN taking notes on things I really wanted to remember.  We reviewed what reading for FUN sounded like and then we brainstormed what my purpose for reading might have been today!  It sure didn't take long for one of the pups to come up with "TO LEARN"! 

Our writing continues to improve! Look at these multiple sentences! I love the way Jacob experimented with talking in his writing! 

Funny story, I picked the kids up in the cafeteria this morning...Emily was first in line and the ENTIRE way to the classroom she told me all about her adventure to"Mr. Gade"!  We came into the classroom and it was time to write!  Emily came up to me and said, "I don't have anything to write about!"  That made me laugh!  Sweet Emily is rarely without words! 

Today was the FIRST day Ms. Woodard and I were able to sit down and do small math groups! YIPPEEE this means that math stations are starting to run smoothly!  I am SOO proud of all the kids...It definitely is NOT quiet in here but there is A LOT of learning going on!  Yesterday, our mini lesson focused on ordinal numbers.  In our small group today the students were asked when they might need to use ordinal numbers:  the days in a month, the way we finish a race and what grade we are in were all GREAT answers...We then cut out the ordinal number WORDS and glued them in our math journal in "grade" order.  One of my friends noticed kindergarten didn't have one...So we decided we would call them ZERO the HEROES!  After gluing them in we talked about what number we thought about when we heard or read the word first.  Everyone knew it was 1, but we didn't think 1 grade sounded good so we need to add the "st"!  We moved on to 2nd and 3rd...it was not long before everyone caught on we needed to add the last two letters from the word to the end of the number! HOT DIGGITY DOG we are some smart PUPPIES! Here is an EXCELLENT example of what our finished journal entry looked like today...(Thanks Sam)

Reminders: Tomorrow is Curriculum Night!  We will meet in POD 1 at 7:00.  We will sign up for Oct. 10th parent/teacher conferences! We have a power point presentation and then we will take questions! (I just hope I have some answers...please be nice!)

Have a wonderful evening! Thank you for your continued support and for sharing your little one with US!  

Good Afternoon!
I would like to welcom Miss Anna R. to our classroom. She helped balance out numbers and comes to us from Mrs. C. Williams!  We look forward to having a new friend!

Well...The past two days our purpose for reading  has been for FUN!  We  have noticed some things about "how" we read when we are reading just for fun!  Our voice sometimes changes, we may get louder or softer, the speed of our reading also changes!  We also have observed when we use EXPRESSION to read for fun our audience often giggles, interacts and enjoys the story! We have been reading King Bidgood's in the Bathtub  by Audrey Wood. 

We have been having a lot of FUN!  It has a repeating phrase which allows us all to participate!   "King Bidgood's in the bathtub, and he won't get out!  Oh, who knows what to do?" Today when I read the book I read very monotone.  The students noticed right away that there were  NO GIGGLES and the book was not very fun...because I wasn't using "funny voices"!  So...we talked about quotation marks and how I need to make my voice different when I see those! We practiced by reading the following:  (maybe your family can take a part and practice too!)

"Help! Help!" cried the girl when the dinner was served. "King Dan's in the bathroom, and won't come out.  I don't know what to do!"

"Don't worry," cried the Prince when the lights were low. "Hey, Dad, it's time to eat."

"No worries my son, I'm on my way." "I don't want dinner in the tub!"

After our mini lesson I saw many students applying this new focus in their own reading!  I heard some reading with expression... (I really hope this video works!!!)

Not only did I hear some expression today but I also had several friends start to notice speech bubbles and talking marks in the books that they were reading!  Boy is it going to be fun to add those to our writing as well!

As promised I took some pictures of the writing station today!  We are writing our First Grade Favorites. I will share a couple...Parents, do you know your child?

Who wrote this?

Is this your child?

Anna is busy writing "tortulene" as her favorite food!

After lunch it was math and science time!  We introduced some new math stations today. 

Clear the Board.

Data Collection and Organization

Clear the Board: We start with 5 cubes and place them anywhere on our board. Then we take turn rolling two dice or die ( never get that right!) We have to add the two together...IF we have a cube on that number we can take it off! If not it's OKAY and the next person's turn!  This goes on until someone clears their board!
Data Collection and Organization: We have several questions to answer...collect the data (tallies) then organize that data on our graph and complete some statements about our graph! 

Here is a quick overview of math time!

After math we watched a power point about Science Journal EXPECTATIONS.  We are all so excited to start Science...COMING SOON...

Behavior Chart

We've had some questions about our behavior chart/colors/consquences and rewards!

I thought I would address that today!

All of you have (or should have seen) your child's behavior calendar.  All of first grade uses a color system.  Every child starts on green each morning and green is equal to 5 WOW bucks.  If your child has repeated an undesirable behavior after several warnings he/she will be asked to move their clip to purple.  Purple is a warning and is equal to 4 WOW bucks.  If your child continues with this behavior or another he/she will move clip to blue.  Blue is equal to 3 WOW bucks...Green, Purple and Blue are all within the "normal" first grade behavior continuum...However, once they start getting to Yellow, Orange or Red...the behaviors have become too frequent or severe.  Yellow is 2 WOW bucks, Orange is 1 WOW buck and unfortunately if your child ends his or her day on Red there will be 0 WOW bucks for that day.  In the behavior folder you can also see that there are consequences for each color. We try very hard to make our classroom a positive one!  We realize that there are students that may NEVER have to move their clip...and some that may move it daily! In first grade we do not allow students to "earn" a color back.  However, we do not want a child to feel DEFEATED if they have moved it!  And we also want those who never move it to be rewarded as well. Therefore, this year we have gone to the "punch card" when we see your child doing something GREAT we award them a punch.  These are recorded as + however many punches they got that day in their behavior folder. (When a child fills his/her punch card he or she will recieve 20 WOW bucks) So...all those pluses you see in your child's folder are a GOOD THING!  We will have a WOW BUCKS SUPER STORE 1-2 Fridays a month. The other Fridays will be BANK days (your child will need to count bucks and "trade them in for the least amount of bills) Look at the math!!!

Have a wonderful evening! As always...if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me! I absolutely love our 45 puppies!!! We are off to a WONDERFUL start!

Good afternoon! Starting the 2nd week of school ALREADY...Hard to believe!  I'm sorry I never added any pictures from "Fun Friday" last weekend but the weekend just went by way to fast!!

Inside recess...small block play!

LEGOS...always a big hit!

Free drawing!

Computer time!

Big block play!

Building together!

Mr. Creative!

How tall can we get it!

Free draw!

Look, Miss Guy...We built a WALL!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Today we introduced all FIVE of  our language workstations!  Your child will be going to 5 stations each day (or almost each day)...They will work at independent levels in the Read-to-self library, read-to-partner poetry or big books, writing, word work and listening!

Word Work: using the word wall to practice our K
word wall words.  Stamping and white boards.

Listening: CDs and nook.

IPad 2!

Read with a Partner: poetry

Read to Self in the Doghouse!

I will be sure to take pictures of writing tomorrow! 

This afternoon we worked in math workstations and built on what we were doing last week! 

We are comparing/ ordering and looking at place value!

Reminders: Flash Drives and T-shirt money!

We would like to welcome Anna R. to our classroom.  She is joining us from Mrs. C. Williams room in order to balance out numbers! 

Have a great evening! 

Well…today not only was I tired but the puppies were tired as well! I think it’s beginning to hit everyone that we are back to school! We do seem to still be having a lot of fun overall though!


This morning…can you believe it??? Our writing is STILL improving! I had several friends write MORE than one good sentence! When I helped put punctuation in the right spots their little eyes were so big! It’s so amazing to see that light bulb go on! (the reason I LOVE this job so much) We had several people share. It’s not easy to find anyone that HASN’T included the setting, their characters and an event! YIPPEEE!

Today we read Officer Buckle and Gloria. A little background…Since day one I have been talking about our classroom being a safe place much like a family. We don’t have to be best friends but we have to look out for one another. Well…if you’ve ever read Officer Buckle and Gloria at the end Tip number 101 is Stick with your buddy (help them out…look out for them)…So, I asked, “What do you think Tip number 101 might be? Always look out for….?” And one little one shouted BANANAS! And sure enough another one said, “Yeah the peels so you don’t slip!” Well…needless to say GREAT answer…not quite the one we were looking for but it made our day!

We had to watch the bus evacuation video today and will have our drill on Sept. 6. We all enjoy practicing the backdoor exit!

We introduced two new math stations today! Build a number and show me how many! Math time can get a bit loud but Ms. Woodard and I are extremely proud of how well everyone is staying on task!

 

We continued setting up our science notebook today. We added the definition of a scientist to our picture of ourselves as a scientist! And then WOW it was already specials time!

Don’t forget tomorrow is SPIRIT FRIDAY…if your child has a Robertson shirt BE SURE TO WEAR IT! If he or she does not there are lots for sale in the main office!

We are over the first hump! Another good day in 405-406! Our day started with a little writing! We continue to focus on characters, settings and event! I really am enjoying watching the kids apply our mini lessons to their individual work! What great learners! After writing we had an opportunity to share our writing! So…now we are learning that we are writing for an audience. It is very important that we make sure our sentence matches our picture, we use our very best handwriting and we include all important elements of our sentence!

I like you too, Thatcher! 

I love the invented spelling! Great job on scavenger!
Look at the detail in this picture.  She is holding a "magnifying
glass so that I can see the ants more clearly!"

I played with my army guys!  We learned that guys is JUST like
Miss "GUY"!  (and it's on the wall)

We continue talking about books that fit just right! I introduced the I pick good fit books strategy!!! I look at a book, Purpose, Interest, Comprehend, Know most of the words! We reviewed the 3 ways to read books and then discussed what the students in Read to Self should look like and sound like as well as what the teacher should be doing! Then all 44 of us practiced read to self and the I pick strategy! We did a pretty good job!!! After reading it was time to go to the cafeteria (for practice), recess and lunch!

During math today we had our FIRST LOST TOOTH. Jackson was able to add the first tally of the year and got to take home the tooth fairy bag. What an exciting time! We continued to practice workstations. Today we introduced a matching game and added that into the rotation. We had to stop workstations a couple of times to go over what station time would sound like but once we reviewed we were good to go!

The students are reflecting on the different ways numbers
were represented in our memory game. 

Today in science we drew ourselves as scientist in our science journal! And believe it or not…it was then time to pack up, eat snack and go to specials! We went to ART today!

A few reminders: 1. Flash Drives due ASAP 2. Field trip t-shirt money 8.00 due ASAP (Safety Town is coming up!) 3. Google Doc forms due! I will resend these this weekend to those I have not received them from!

I hope your children are enjoying school as much as I am! This is a FUN group of kids! I am looking forward to spending the next 170 plus days with them! Thanks again for sharing them with me!

First Grade is "DOGGONE" fun!
front: M. Willams, Woodard, C.Williams
back: Boor, Guy, Corley, Davis

I am one tired first grade teacher! The second day is always a lot more tiring than that first day for some reason! J However it was another great day. Ms. Woodard and I are SO lucky to have your little ones with us each day!  They all have such fun personalities and are sweethearts.

Today almost everyone arrived in the cafeteria ready to come to the classroom by 7:40! We unpacked our bags and got started on our writing!  I was super impressed by the second day writing!  Everyone added a little bit more detail to their pictures and their writing! For our mini lesson I modeled drawing my picture: (Miss Weinke and I having DINNER at Rafael’s…not drinks as some of my friends were quick to shout out! LOL) I modeled details in my picture…the kids noticed I put curly hair on myself and straight hair for Ms. Weinke.  They noticed the curtains in the windows and that Ms. Weinke and I were wearing clothes! (hopefully, tomorrow I will notice much of the same detail in their drawings).  I then modeled writing a sentence.  We talked about the setting: Where Rafael’s when last night…the characters: Ms. Weinke and Miss Guy…and the event: eating dinner.  How do we put all of that into a sentence that makes sense?  We came up with: Last night Ms. Weinke and I ate dinr at Rafael’s.  A few friends told me I misspelled dinner! We then talked about writing the sounds we hear so that WE can read our writing! No one is perfect and our classroom is a safe place where mistakes are OKAY!!! Tomorrow we will share some of our BEST writing! J

Where would these shoes "fit"?

Our reading mini lesson was to introduce reading for a purpose and picking books that are the right fit! I brought in several shoes. We talked about where these shoes might be worn. We decided I shouldn’t put my UGGS on for a walk down the beach.  Nor would flip flops be good for playing in the snow.  When asked when I should where my cowboy boots this is what I heard, “Well, when you ride the bulls at the rodeo of course.”  Miss Woodard and I had to take a moment to compose ourselves!  I don’t think Miss Guy on a BULL is anything anyone will ever see! Anyway, we were able to see that shoes have specific purposes just like the things we read have purposes!  We brainstormed some reasons for reading and came up with: To learn, for entertainment or enjoyment and to find information.  Tomorrow we will talk more about picking “just the right books”!

For word work this week we are working on learning the names of our classmates. Today I handed out name cards and the students grouped themselves according to the first letter of their names. AHHH it wasn’t long before someone noticed that they were putting themselves into alphabetical order!

It was then time for lunch practice, recess (HOT again) and Lunch (rushed yet again)!  It will get cooler (I keep telling myself that) and getting through the lunch line will get faster!

A tree map!

Math today was setting up our math journal, creating a workstations tree map (looks like, sounds like and feels like).  We decided that if you were to watch our workstations you would see everyone working, in one spot, staying on task, and following directions.  You would hear quiet, happy voices and the students would feel happy working together.  We then got out the unifix cubes and played race to 20 (remember this week is setting up procedures and expectations for the future)! 

After math we watched a “What is a Scientist” power point.  As soon as the slide of the scientist working in space came on EVERYONE wanted to be a scientist! J

Please be aware that we eat snack in the afternoon. Please if you do send a snack in…it should be “healthy” and only water to drink in the classroom!  Water bottles are ALWAYS welcomed in our classroom…if you send these in it is preferred they have a “sport top” not so much spilling!!! And then we were off to P.E.  I didn’t hear “the day went so fast…” today! But I think all in all we had a WONDERFUL day!  Thank you for sharing your little one with us!!! They are precious!