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!