Week 10

Here are some highlights from the short week...

 This week in Reader's Workshop, we introduced Partner Reading! Partner reading allows for more time to practice strategies, build fluency, check for understanding, hear their own voice and time to share in this learning community. It also increases reading involvement, attention and collaboration.

They practiced the three different ways to read to a partner:
  • Echo read (take turns reading the same thing)
  • See-Saw read (take turns reading different things)
  • Choral read (read the same thing at the same time)

When you are reading with your first grader at home, I encourage you to practice these different ways of reading together!

 In writing this week, we focused on sentence structure. We talked about how to make a complete sentence (subject and predicate) and how to make a STRONG complete sentence. To support our sentence structure and strengthening, we did a "sentence extension" activity. Students made paper fans and started with a simple sentence (Ex. I ran). On the next section of the fan, we added a "when" to our sentence. (Ex. Yesterday I ran), next we added "where" (Ex. Yesterday I ran at Tryon Creek), finally we added "how" (Ex. Yesterday I ran at Tryon Creek through the shadows of the trees). You can try this at home to help your writer's elaborate!

On Halloween we had a day filled with art, science, buddies and some magic! The first grade artists created silhouette spooky trees with paper, watercolors and sharpie. After, we had our buddies join us for some mystery science. In this mini-lesson, students learn about the structure and function of their skulls. In the activity, My Paper Skull, students combine science with art as they examine their own heads and make discoveries about their skull. Using their observations, they create a mask that shares characteristics with their own skull. 

 Finally, one of my favorite education professors from University of Oregon - Go Ducks :) came to visit room 112 and brought along some magic "tricks" as a little treat! It was truly special to have a teacher that meant so much to me, get to meet the kiddos that I am lucky enough to teach!

 Reminders:
November 1: Teacher Planning Day, NO School for Students 
November 4: LOCK OUT Drill, 10:05am




















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 25

Image
Here are some highlights from the week... We wrapped up our non-fiction reading & writing units this week. As a culmination check-in, the first graders had an hour to plan, write and revise an informational piece of writing - and wow, was I amazed! They were so focused, some of their pencils never even left the page! Their passion, knowledge and research on their topics has been incredible to see! They are becoming such strong writers, readers and teachers! In math this week, we began to use our understanding of place value to compare and change numbers. The first graders built and wrote numbers and saw how they changed when you add 10 and take away 10. Our goal in first grade is to mentally be able to add and take away 10 from any number. We have been working on adding two digit numbers. We use "quick ten" drawings to make this concept concrete and visual. If you are practicing adding 2 digit numbers at home, I encourage you to ask your first grader to "prove it!...
Read more

Week 24

Image
Here are some highlights from the week... Our research and writing has been going strong! The first graders are developing their note taking skills and creating incredible non-fiction books. W e have been focusing on the importance of an introduction and conclusion in our non-fiction books. We discussed different ways that we can introduce our topic, and chapters, to hook our reader and draw them in. This will be a strategy we continue to build on as we develop our writing! I encourage you to ask your first grader about the topic they are studying and you can even participate in some shared research :) In math, we are continuing to build our number sense and beginning our new unit on place value. The mathematicians are building on their understanding of the way numbers can be broken into parts. Here is an activity you can do at home to help support your kiddo's number sense: Guess My Number  (use a hundreds chart or a number line) –To play, ask one player to choose a number...
Read more

Week 26

Image
We ended our non-fiction reading unit and started our new reading unit! This unit focuses on "Being the boss of your reading!" The first graders will be adding and practicing fluency and comprehension strategies to become stronger and stronger readers! The first grade readers are understanding the power and control they have over their reading :) In writing, w e are beginning our opinion writing unit. First graders can be very opinionated :). This unit helps them develop their opinions and plan/write their reasons to support them! To kick off our opinion writing we started with "Stephenson is the best school." Then, we had a VERY generous 3rd grade donation of girl scout cookies (thank you Leona!) The first graders got to try 2 of the cookies and write about which one they liked better and why! It was a delicious way to kick off our new unit.  In math, we have been building on our place value understanding by comparing and adding bigger numbers. Not only are we ...
Read more