A Little of this A Little of That

So Sorry for the lapse in blog post! Conference season can really mix up our regular routines! That said I LOVE sharing all of your children's successes with you. I know you are just as proud of their progress as I am! We are molding independent readers, efficient mathematicians, and thoughtful citizens!

Writer's Workshop

We started our week with an Author's Celebration! Children got to share their published stories with the rest of the class. It was magic!

As children read each others stories they signed the author's keepsake paper. The author's  were just so proud!! I hope you got to enjoy their take home stories too!

Science
We've started a new unit in science where children will learn all about solids and liquids. So far this week children have hypothesized about what they think makes something a solid. Lots of great ideas to start the process. Over the next few weeks children will explore a set of solids and learn about their properties.  Today we learned about color and shape. 

Math
Our new unit in math is all about collecting and representing data. We'll also practice how to sort and classify shapes and objects based on attributes, which ties in really nicely with our science! To start the unit children looked at a set of power polygon shapes.

Polygons are 2-dimensional shapes. They are made of straight lines, and the shape is "closed" (all the lines connect up).

We then sorted the shapes by attributes that the class came up with including shape, color, size, and number of sides. We've also begun a new routine called 'Quick Surveys." Children will respond to a survey question, such as did you drink milk today? We'll represent their answers using pictures, numbers, words.... then analyze the results. This is great critical thinking with a focus on math talk!


Learning about attributes....

Sorting by shape

Sorting by color

Sorting by size

Thanksgiving

I truly can't believe that Thanksgiving is 1 week away!! Next week is such a short week....the focus will be on the holiday. So far we've read a few stories that helped us compare Thanksgiving long ago and today. We located the Mayflower on our class timeline and learned it was actually Abraham Lincoln who declared the third Thursday of November as Thanksgiving. 

Next Tuesday we also get a special treat.. our class will be part of the audience at Mrs. Paget's annual Thanksgiving play, where we learn even more about the Pilgrim's voyage to New England!

Children drew pictures to compare the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving celebration with their own. No
cranberry sauce back then :) 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family both near and far! Enjoy the time with loved ones and especially all the yummy foods!

Routines, Counting Strips, and Revisions

I love the month of November.....grey as it may be! I love the slight chill in the air, the holidays that are right around the corner, and the fact that we are a solid 45+ days in and the kiddos are gaining SUCH independence with routines like Daily 3, math workshop, and writer's workshop. Hopefully, parents who have been in as literacy volunteers can attest to this!!  The fact that routines are established and more independent paves the way for successful learning.

So with that... Another BIG week of learning! In math we worked on counting and writing higher numbers. The benchmark for the end of first grade is 120.  During writer's workshop we've begun the revision process for our first author's celebration, which means you can look forward to a take home folder of your child's writing very soon! During social studies we read and learned about Paul Bunyun, focusing on words to describe his character. 

Calendar Routines
One of our well established routines is our morning meeting routine. Our calendar time is very interactive. As we progress through the calendar pages on our smart board children use whiteboards to answer questions often with a mathematical focus. This routine gets there math brains going first thing in the a.m as they solve for missing addends, determine whether equations are true or false, make tally marks, and use coins to show the value of our day. Each week I have 1 child who is the "calendar kid." The calendar kid helps run the meeting. It's a pretty big responsibility!

Math highlights
This week children worked on covering and counting the area of their foot print. They used inch tiles and lima beans. These manipulatives allow children to practice accurate counting with numbers up to and past 50 and to practice tracking strategies. They also started an activity called counting strips, where they were asked to practice rote number writing. This activity calls for students to address common errors and misconception including reversing their teen numbers and decades (for example; 21 for 12 and 04 for 40).

Writer's Workshop
The revision process started with children choosing the piece from their writing folders that they were most excited to share with the world. This was a very thoughtful process, which included children spreading out around the room and pouring over the stories in their folders.

Then children worked with their writing partners. They read aloud pages in their book, while their partners asked them questions to help with details.

A few more reminders....

Our first week of BOOKTIME has finally arrived! The children were excited to choose their just right books and bring them home to read. Please consider booktime another essential piece of first grade reading homework. Booktime books, poem notebook reading, and RAZ kids will all help your child with their reading success. Booktime books come home Mondays, please help your child return the folder to school on Fridays.

Picture retakes, for those interested, are scheduled for Monday, November 17th. Please read the Thursday Packet for updated information.

If  you have further questions you can contact LifeTouch directly at 800-697-4451. 

Finally, I look forward to sharing your child's progress with you at our upcoming conferences. Please refer to our SignUp Genius for your selected date an time. You should also be receiving a reminder from the site. 

Have a wonderful weekend!