Writer's Workshop

It feels like a bit of a novelty to finally have a full week of school! As much I enjoyed my February vacation (and I hope you did too...) it is nice to be able to plan for 5 days of school! This week we have been especially busy with our writer's workshop unit. We are just beginning our 3rd and final round of writing nonfiction chapter books. But before we got started on this latest book, we had to celebrate the work we had already accomplished with an Author's Share!

Author's Share
Children read over their chapters and chose 1 or 2 of the chapters that they were most proud of to share with a small group. They read to each other, listened to their friends read, and learned from each other. It was such a collaborative effort! After sharing with small groups we put their chapter books on display in a class bucket. Now they can read each others "published pieces" whenever they want!

Nonfiction Writing cont....

Now we are ready for our final chapter writing effort! This time around, children are going to be working much more independently and at a quicker rate. At first I was a little worried that it would be hard to get them motivated to increase their writing with another chapter book...I was SO wrong! They are more excited than ever!! The topics came easily...the writing is flowing...they are completely engaged and even more independent than I was giving them credit for! Their excitement is so energizing!

This time around we are relying on all we know, plus a variety of nonfiction authors and books to mentor and inspire us along the way. During our read aloud time we are pouring over nonfiction texts and noticing what kinds of things the authors do to teach us all about their topic.  We are noticing fun facts, vocabulary words, diagrams and labels, maps and how to's. We are adding all of these craft moves to an anchor chart that children keep referring to. I know we've only just begun, but I really CAN'T WAIT to share these with you!!

Here are some children hard at work getting their nonfiction writing groove on :))))

This child is working on a "how to" page...he's writing all about games and he's teaching us how to play a game called "Pickle." It already sounds fun!

Writing is getting longer and longer. These children are also gaining inspiration from some pictures that were brought in from home! We learned writer's do research!

This WHOLE table is hard at work! 

Sketching can help children with planning. This child is going to teach us
all about frogs!

Re-reading her work to edit as she goes. Writer's take special care to make sure
their work is legible and makes sense for their readers!

Using chapter titles and headings to break a big topic up into subtopics to teach about.
We learned that writer's can be creative with their headings!

Sharing fun facts!

Next week is the official start of conference season...I am looking forward to meeting with you and sharing your child's progress. Just as a reminder progress reports won't come out until the end of March (after conferences). Next week is also Read Across America here at Memorial! Check out this link for more information about daily events.

Read Across America

What a Day!

It might just have been the busiest day of the year...at least  here in First Grade! Our festivities began with 100th day centers run by some very willing parent volunteers. Next, during recess we exchanged our heartfelt Valentine's. And finally, the long awaited Valentine's party!! So much fun....so little time! Here are just a few highlights from our fun filled day!


100th Day Centers
At the building center children had to work as a group to create a structure using 100 mini cups. Their finished products were pretty impressive!

At the game center children had to roll 2 dice, add them together to find the sum, then color that many spaces on their 100's board. They were all winners!

At the 100 steps center, children had to predict how far they's get with 100 steps. Then they tested out their predictions to see how far they really got. Off they go!

Valentine Exchange and Party
And finally, we exchanged Valentine's and had another amazing party! The children were ecstatic to get and receive notes and little goodies from each other. What a sweet and thoughtful bunch of first graders!

The Game : A relay race with a twist...carry the heart pillow with no hands! What a way to get a party started!

The Craft: Super cute heart shaped glasses. They loved showing them off!

The Snack: Frosting, sprinkles, and Rice Krispie Treats....what more is there to say?

Have a wonderful vacation, whether you are some place warm and sunny or surrounded by snow, like me. Enjoy time with your family, I know I will!!

Math Workshop Sneak Peak

These short works are NO BUENO! A full week of school would do us good, but of course a little fun in the snow was a must these last 2 weeks.  It goes without saying that even one missed day can through off routines. It's taking us a bit, but we are catching up :)

Here is what we have been working on...
Math Workshop
We are wrapping up our unit on Story Problems and Number Games this week. Children have been playing various math games that involve adding and subtracting. They have been solving story problems and using efficient strategies, including an equation to match the problem, and a label that answers the questions. We are also using a Math Workshop model 2-3 times a week. This is a great way to ensure that children rotate through activities and games, and more importantly, it allows me a chance to meet with small groups and differentiate instruction. We have also been including technology into our center rotation...which is of course a HUGE hit!

Fact work activities this week included, Domino Turn around Facts, sorting facts into 3 categories, <10,  >10,  and =10, as well as deciding if equations were true or false. Fact work centers are meant to give children extra practice with addition and subtraction work, missing numbers, counting, and overall number sense.

Math writing and Math by myself were story problems from their math book or in their math journal. Children solve the problem, show their thinking with pictures, numbers, or words, and then make sure to include a label. Many of these problems are missing addend story problems, which can be solved flexibly. I am encouraging students at this point to use strategies such as counting on or back, number lines, and tens facts.

Math With Someone  was a choice of several adding and subtracting games from the unit including 5-in-a-Row, Roll and Record Subtraction, and Dot Addition. Most of these games come directly from the Investigations math curriculum and support the work that children are doing throughout the unit.

Math Technology includes games on the computer and apps on the IPad. This week children are using Sushi Monster and Todo Math. I am excited to get some more technology ideas to incorporate into the classroom at our district wide Digital Learning Day this Friday. I will keep you all posted!

Next up is Place Value for math.....stay tuned!


A few up coming reminders.....

We will be having a Valentine's Day party on Friday, February 13th. Thank you in advance to our room parents who always do a great job coordinating our parties! I will be putting together another Sign Up Genius for "spring" conferences. Look for that in your inbox before vacation.  No school this Friday for teacher professional development. Also, our 100th day of school is coming up on Thursday, February 12th (that is of course if we have no more snow days!!) I will be sending out an email shortly asking for 3-4 volunteers to help run some 100th day centers. Be on the look out.

And finally....Congratulations to our New England Patriots on a job well done!! #SB49  :)