It was great meeting so many of you at PIN! I love being able to share all we do with you. I hope you found it all informative. I've really enjoyed reading your "You're the Expert" papers. It's great to gain the insights only you as parents have. If you haven't filled one out yet-please do!

This week it feels as if we have really begun to settle into routines. I keep telling my kiddos they are "knocking my socks off!" I am so impressed with how well they are working together. It makes for a wonderful learning environment. Speaking of learning....we did a lot of that this week too!

Reader's workshop is up and running! I have some highlights of children hard at work at literacy centers below. Writer's workshop has taken off as well. Thank you for sending in those topic lists! In math we are starting to combine numbers (adding) as we play some number games and solve some simple story problems. During Open Circle this week we talked about "DDD" or "triple D" behaviors. The D's stand for dangerous, destructive, or disrespectful. Ask your child what to do if they see a DDD behavior. Answer-tell a teacher right away!!

Working hard in her writing journal. Each week children pick a sentence starter and complete the sentence in their journal.

The art center takes place on Fridays. Here a group is working on a fall  leaf collage.
 

At the listening center this week children are focusing on their favorite part.

Open Mic Fridays!!! 

Partners playing Roll and Record. A math game that involves rolling two dice and adding them together.

Hard at work recording equations in their math workbook

Word Wall Words and Spelling Patterns

I introduced the word wall this week. I started off by saying it was going to be a place for some of the most important words in our class. Words we need to know how to read and write quickly. I asked my kiddos if they knew what words would be the first up there. One of my cuties raised his hand and said "community." Love this!! It means all of that talk about building a community, working together, and being respectful of each other is working. Yay!!

What I was really getting at though were names. We put our names on the word wall and used them at some of our centers this week like the stamping center, the I Like You poem, and our Brown Bear book. Now that they are experts at reading each other's names it's time to expand our repertoire!

We spend a lot of time in first grade working on recognizing spelling patterns or "word families." These spelling patterns help children read and write words quickly and more efficiently. Each week we'll learn a new spelling pattern or phonics rule and reinforce it through word study centers. All of their center work, including a spelling card with that weeks word list, will come home stapled together on Thursdays.
Here are some of the highlights of the week....

The start of something special....our word wall!

A close up view. The word wall is a major resource so it's front and center of our classroom.

A center group using the word wall to complete a Read Around the Room activity.

Rainbow words....another way to practice reading and writing word wall (aka High Frequency) words.

Our first word family brainstorm list. We practiced coming up with  -at and -ap words.

Working on "ap" family words at a word study center. This center is called Build, Mix, Fix. Children work with letter tiles to build a spelling word, mix up the letters, and then rebuild or "fix" the word

I just loved this moment :)

I am looking forward to meeting many of you on PIN. I'll have sign up sheets for volunteering opportunities and fall conferences. Also, check out my "wish list." We are always very appreciative of any donations to the class. 

First Week Hooray

First full week of First Grade.....check! And what a week it was! In just 5 short days we accomplished so much. We created rules and a classroom pledge, kicked off writer's workshop and our first "Open Mic Friday," worked cooperatively in math groups, and even had some time for a little word play with vowels! Boy did we work hard! Check out some of the highlights below

After reading How Do Dinosaurs Go to School by Jane Yolen we created this pledge to make sure we don't behave like some of the dinosaurs in the story :)

The top poster illustrates the differences between Independent and Partner reading. Ask  your child what EEKK stands for (sitting elbow to elbow, knee to knee). The bottom poster is a set of rules we created to help us be better learners during discussion times.

Working hard on our first ever Writer's Workshop stories. We learned that authors write "what they know."

Our first "Open Mic Friday."  This is a chance for children to share aloud one of the writer's workshop stories they have written. It was a HUGE hit!

Working cooperatively to build "staircases" during math. They are working on counting and sequencing.

Math partners work together to count and record objects in a mystery box. Here we are working on 1-1 to matching while counting, counting accurately, and double checking.

We learned that every word has to have a vowel. We call our vowels "star letters." We even did a little vowel song and dance. Ask your child to perform it!! Then join in :)

A few quick reminders....Our schedule has changed so please refer to the newest schedule posted here under "specials schedule." Please help your child remember sneakers on gym days (Mondays & Wednesdays.) We haven't needed smocks yet in art, but it's never too early to send them in. Remember to please send your child's smock to school in a labeled plastic bag. September Scholastic orders are due in by the 16th. You can link to scholastic right from this blog. It's never been easier to order! Finally, your child should have brought home their Poem Notebook on Thursday. This is your child's first homework assignment!Please make sure to send them back by Mondays. I think that about covers it!

Hopefully your child has come home happy (albeit tired) this week. It can be quite a transition, especially for those used to half day K. I am so proud of them though and you should be too. What a great group of Firsties, which makes for one very lucky First Grade teacher!

First Day Highlights

Wow! What a great first few days! I love my new kiddos. They are super sweet, full of energy, and ready to learn. We've already accomplished so much in just a few short days. The first weeks are all about establishing a classroom community, getting to know each other, and learning expectations. Check out some of the highlights below! Also, check out our specials calendar as it has been updated with some changes.

Mrs. Zappula read us a story to help us better understand how to be allergy aware in and around our classroom.

We start our day with a message called News and Announcements. It sets the tone for the day and gives my little first graders a chance to "share" the pen with me as they fill in any missing letters or words.

We use the smartboard to enhance our morning meeting. Here we're building a September calendar.

Exploring math manipulatives. We focus on how to use these materials cooperatively.

Names! We make a name chart at the beginning of the year to help us recognize and read each others names. Later, their names will become the first words on our word wall.