Thursday, December 19, 2013
2013 Happy Holidays!
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Learning about listening and Gingerbread Glistening
We had a visitor this week! Mrs. Goldstein, our school psychologist, came in to teach us about whole body listening.
She taught us that we do our best learning when we are using our whole body. Ask your child which parts of their body are on a which are off when they are demonstrating whole body listening. Hint: green is on and red is off.
Writer's Workshop
We are learning more and more of the author's craft! This week we focused on bringing our stories to life by unfreezing our characters. We do this by making our characters move and talk.
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| We also learned about speech bubbles and quotation marks |
Literature Connection
Over the next few weeks we will be reading a variety of Gingerbread stories. As we read them we are comparing story elements including character traits, setting, and endings.
During our art center we made our own gingerbread person by following directions on a glyph. During work on writing time each child chose a gingerbread person ( other than themselves) and wrote what they learned about that person from their gingerbread glyph. It was a great learning experience!
In January we will be collaborating with Mrs. Groden and creating our own gingerbread adventure, which we will then share with another class somewhere in the U.S! It's called The Global Gingerbread Family Collaborative. Stay tuned for more info on this in early 2014!
Poems
Mystery Reader!
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| A cute take on a little girl just looking for something to do with a host of friendly neighbors |
Sharing!
Raz kids
This a fantastic home/school reading connection. If you have not already registered please use the link below to do so. Your child will be able to visit a personalized virtual book room with books that are at their personal reading level. They will get to listen to, read, record reading, and take comprehension quizzes using books that are at their independent level. Most of the time they will be able to choose freely from the book room, but at times they will have an assignment from me. Be sure to check the "messages" and happy reading!!
Friday, December 6, 2013
Survey Says
DECEMBER!! Can you believe we have been in school for 60+ days? How did that happen?? Well, there's certainly no slowing down this month. We kicked off December in high gear. Here's what we've been up to this week...
Writer's Workshop
We did something very special this week! We celebrated our growth as writers by having a "Writer's Museum." Each child chose one piece of writing they were particularly proud of and put it on display.
Then, we walked around reading each other stories. It's one thing when your teacher compliments your story, it's another thing all together though when your peers do!
Sharing!
Working with Words
This week we are continuing to work with h-pals (ch, sh, th, wh) and also learning about short e and short e spelling patterns.
This week we are continuing to work with h-pals (ch, sh, th, wh) and also learning about short e and short e spelling patterns.
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| Building -ed pattern and -ent pattern words with magnet letters |
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| Stamping h-pal words |
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| Playing h-pal lotto |
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| Reading words with h-pals |
Writer's Workshop
We did something very special this week! We celebrated our growth as writers by having a "Writer's Museum." Each child chose one piece of writing they were particularly proud of and put it on display.
Then, we walked around reading each other stories. It's one thing when your teacher compliments your story, it's another thing all together though when your peers do!
Math
This week we are learning how to collect data on survey questions, represent data in various ways, and then discuss our findings. We even created our own survey questions to ask our classmates.
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| Some of the survey questions asked included would you rather be a horse or a tiger.... |
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| Are you 6 or 7..... |
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| Would you rather eat cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza? |
Sharing!
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| Our resident astronomer taught us all about planets, space stations and black holes! |
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| We also learned about Daisy meetings and costume making! |
Mystery Readers!
This week was holiday themed....
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| A silly story by a local author about a retired Santa |
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| And a holiday classic about the first gift of Christmas |
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Word Play
It was a loooooong week! I think we are all ready for a little Thanksgiving break. Energy levels for my kiddos were high this week, but who could blame them?? We all have turkey, pie, and family on the brain. Even with all that to distract us, room 27 was hard at work as always. Here are some highlights from the week:
Phonics
This week we are learning about h-pals! The H-pals all have names and stories;
Shaun-very studious pal who is trying to get his work done so he keeps telling people sh!
Theo-naughty pal who sticks his tongue out at people making the th sound
Charlie- loves trains and wants to be a conductor. He goes around saying ch ch ch like a train
Whitney- wants to whistle, but can't so he goes around saying wh wh wh
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| We used the Document Camera to display magnet letters and build words that start and end with h-pals |
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We recorded the words we built. We sorted by words that start and end with sh Working With Words
This is another element of the Daily 5. Each day children have the opportunity to build spelling words with a variety of manipulatives such as....
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| Wikki sticks |
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| and Magnet letters |
Writer's Workshop
This week we learned that sometimes writer's take off their writing hat and put on their reading glasses :)
Writer's reread their own work and do some of the same things they do during reading time such as point to the words, look at the pictures, reread, and go back and fix anything that doesn't make sense. We partnered up and did some editing as readers!
Sharing
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| During work on writing time, this proud author wrote a wonderful story about a girl named Ella who was a giant who loved to draw. She used the document camera to share it with the class. |
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| Our Mystery Reader shared some of her family favorites as well as a silly Thanksgiving story about a lady who swallowed a pie...uh oh! |
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| A sparkly crystal rock from the Museum of Natural History. The document camera lets us see all of the detail up close! |
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| We also met Smudge! So cute! |
Sunday, November 17, 2013
The Way We Write
In first grade we celebrate writing in many ways! With each writing experience a child grows in his or her ability to craft a story, sequence events, revise with details, and apply mechanics. All in all we are promoting a writerly life with authentic writing practice. Here are some of the different writing routines that your child has on a weekly basis.
Weekend Update happens every Monday. We start by sharing some of the things we did over the weekend. This is a bit like planning.
Writer's Workshop occurs 4 times a week on most weeks. Writer's workshop begins with a whole group mini lesson focused on the craft of writing. This week children are learning about writing partners. Writing partners plan, write, and revise together. They also sit together on the rug during the mini lesson and while they are writing.
Weekend Update
During the weekend update I am closely monitoring mechanics (capitalization, punctuation), semantics, legibility, and spelling. I will often ask children to revise by rereading and focusing on a particular area such as spacing, periods, or proper letter formation.
Some of my favorite writing happens during weekend update! It's always so fun to hear what a first grader considers a highlight from their weekend :)
Writer's Workshop
This week we are using our writing partners to help us add details to our stories.
Work on Writing
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| Work on writing choices may include writing lists..... |
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| letters... |
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| or story writing |
This is a new writing focus that we've just began. During work on writing the focus is on choice, creativity, and building writing stamina. Work on writing happens during our center time. Right now children can make several writing choices during this time such as lists, letters, cards, fictional writing, or to continue narratives from writer's workshop.
Finished work from work on writing time may come home unrevised. The goal during this time is to offer children a variety of choices that serve as an outlet for creativity.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Cooperate, Compare, and Count
What a BUSY week! So much cooperative learning. This week we focused on the importance of Veteran's Day and had an assembly highlighting the armed forces and ALL we can thank them for! We continued reading tall tales, which proved to be a HIT!! We emulated some of our mentor authors in writer's workshop and zoomed in on topics instead if writing about everything. Math was all about strategies, counting larger numbers, and double checking!! Here's a few highlights from the week.
This weeks mystery reader shared stories with some of our favorite characters.
ATTENTION! After the Veteran's Day Assembly children wrote a memory page highlighting some of what they learned. There was talk of music, bootcamp, and cadets. Ask your child to tell you the 5 branches of military??
Answer: Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force
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| Veteran's Day Memory Page writing |
Writer's Workshop
The last 2 weeks we have been learning about how authors choose their topics, (by picking something they do or something that has happened to them and choosing 1 time to tell about), plan their story, (touch each page before they write and think about what happened first, next, and next), and revise ( reread their story and think if they've included details answering who, what, when, where, how.)
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| 2 writers exemplifying the writing process. We usually turn the lights down during writer's workshop to reinforce that it is a thoughtful quiet time. The lights are key in reinforcing this expectation! |
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| We are working on covering and counting with larger numbers. Children traced of their feet and then determined area by filling in the outline with various manipulatives such as bean counters.... |
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| .....and buttons. The goal is to accurately count these larger quantities (40-50) and then double check. |
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| The class is working on more quick images. This time they are drawing combinations of squares. This helps children quickly determine number quantities. The more fluent they are, the more efficient they are with their math facts |
Technology, Word Play, and Literature Connections
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| This week we are practicing short u words. Here a group of kiddos are reading a short u poem on the smartboard. This poem will later go in their poem notebook |
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| After reading several tall tales children work in groups to compare and contrast characters. 2 of our favorite characters are Clever Beatrice who outsmarts a giant and Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett who is the strongest woman pioneer around! |
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| Our completed character comparison chart on the smartboard |
Sharing this week......
A cuddly red squirrel
A baseball from Fenway Park bought during the World Series!!
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