Hi Everyone!
We have kicked off writing and math centers in our classroom. In the next month, we will be starting reading centers. I'd love to purchase some materials for our classroom centers. If you'd like to contribute or want to spread the word by sharing, please follow this link!
Hello First Grade Families,
We have had a busy couple of weeks! I cannot believe it is already the end of October. We have been in school for 41 days. It is amazing how much the students have grown in their independence, stamina, and confidence. Our days are busy, busy, busy and full of fun and learning! Here are some updates about what we're learning!
Writing
We have been learning about sentences. We learned that sentences are a complete thought. Sentences have a naming part and a telling part. We also learned about 5 star sentences: capital at the beginning, punctuation at the end, spaces between words, a complete thought, and neat handwriting. We have also started writing centers. Writing centers have been a hit with the students. During this time, students have a chance to work on different writing tasks. Here are some pictures of writing centers in action. On Fridays, we do "fix it up Friday" with a mixed up sentence and then "Free Write Friday" in our journals.
We are still working on our Word Detectives Unit. We have practiced reading with partners. We have been learning how we can use words we know to help us read new words (i.e., if you can read "can" then you can read "fan"). In word work, we learned about "bonus letters" (-ll, -ff, -ss) at the end of words (i.e., class, puff). We have also been learning about digraphs (sh, th, ch). We have been practicing reading and writing words with these sounds. We have also been continuing our daily phonemic awareness lessons. They are a lot of fun and the kids are doing really well!
Math
We have been working on writing number sentences to go with addition and subtraction number stories. We have also started learning about number stories with unknowns (i.e., ?+3=7). This is not a skill we expect first graders to master at this time, but we are practicing! We also started math centers. This week we practiced counting, played a game, explored math manipulatives, and wrote number sentences. Next week, we will have new centers and when our routines are established, I will be able to start pulling a group for enrichment or extra practice.
Theme Work
We have been learning about pumpkins. We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin and the different parts of a pumpkin. This week we learned about nocturnal animals. We will learn more about nocturnal animals next week!
Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.
Reading partners in action!
Dear First Grade Families,
I cannot believe we've wrapped up our 6th week of school! It was a busy four day week in our classroom. Next week will be a five day week and it will also be busy, busy, busy!
This week in Reading..
-We started our Word Detectives Unit. This unit focuses on comprehension strategies and decoding strategies. This week, students learned to be STOP when they notice a problem and try to solve it! We also talked about looking closely at words from start to end. The students each got a magnifying glass from the Word Detectives to keep in their book bin. We have continued our daily phonemic awareness lessons. This week in phonics, we focused on reading and writing words with the short e sound. Short e is the TRICKIEST vowel around because it can be confused with a/i. I have also been working with two groups of students per day during reading workshop.
This week in Writing..
-We practiced stretching out words by counting the sounds in words and spelling each sound. We also worked on writing sentences. Next week we will learn more about writing a complete sentence and the features of a sentences (i.e., capital at the beginning, spaces between words, and punctuation). We also did some handwriting. Next week, we will start writing centers. I hope the students will enjoy them!
This week in Math..
-We continued learning about addition and subtraction strategies. We practiced solving number stories by drawing pictures and writing number sentences. We also worked on combinations of 10. Next week, we will learn about "change to more" and "change to less" number stories. We have also been practicing writing our numbers. This class does a GREAT job with formation and orientation of numbers. If you see backwards letters/numbers, don't panic! Did you know that reversals are common in children in kindergarten, first, and second grade? If you notice reversals, you can ask your child, "Does that look right?" We are trying to learn strategies, such as backwards 3 looks like an E and a lot of students notice that backwards 9 looks like a P.
On Tuesday, we had a visit from Claire Handy from the Kittery Land Trust. Students learned about leaves and needles on trees. We also went for a "nature walk" on a path in our classroom. It was a lot of fun and the weather was absolutely beautiful!
I sent home a Scholastic Book Order. If you'd like to order, please place your order by October 22. Due to supply chain issues, the book orders are taking extra long to ship. Thank you for your patience! Your book orders help earn FREE books for our classroom!
Reminders
-Please check your child's folder each day and take out any papers!
-Please send your child to school with an extra mask! We have some extras in the classroom, but extras are helpful in the event that your child sneezes, loses their mask, or it gets dirty. Thank you!
-If your child has headphones that we could use at school on Tuesday and Thursday next week that would be AMAZING! Please send them in a ziploc bag with their name. If you do not have headphones, then we will find some at school to use!
Here are some pictures from the week. The students are STILL loving the playground!
We had a great trip to Fort Foster today. The weather was PERFECT! It was such a busy day. We went to Fort Foster from 9-11, then we had r...
