Math Strategies, Read to Self Stamina, and an Exciting Project!

What does it really mean to be a mathematician? Math is all about thinking and mathematicians think about and solve problems in the most efficient way. In first grade we spend a lot of time talking math! Sharing and learning from each other is a key element in our math program. I'm always so impressed at the math thinking I see, even in October! Here are 2 examples of how a first grader might go about solving an addition problem.











Building stamina is all about being able to do something longer and better. Building reading stamina is all about becoming a better reader. Independent reading or "Read to Self" is an important daily routine in first grade. Ask your child the 3 ways they can read a book.

Answer:

After brainstorming and modeling correct, (and incorrect read to self behaviors-think very silly and lots of first grade laughter!),we were ready to start building our reading stamina. We started with just 3 minutes. Each day we'll add 1 minute until we reach our goal of 15 minutes of sustained independent reading. We can do it!!

Very Special Project!!
Thanks to the generosity of  Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP  and Christopher Kido (Addie's Dad) our class has been given the funding for an incredible project. Within the next few weeks we will be receiving an Epson Document Camera. This tool will bring instruction to life and can be used to enhance curriculum in countless ways. One of our first projects with the document camera will be to dive into the world on non-fiction text. I will keep you all updated as the project progresses. Stay tuned but in the meanwhile check out the link below.

Give 1st Graders A Birds Eye View with A Document Camera

Extra! Extra!

Thanks to our very first mystery reader, who came with a wonderful selection of books that the children loved!

Another addition to the library pumpkin patch

Sharing her American Girl Doll, the accompanying book and.........

matching hairdos!!! 

Sharing a special stuffed shark straight from the aquarium

Open Mic Friday Reader's:

Meaningful Math and Peer Editing

A short week won't slow us down! 4 days is just enough time to dive into some meaningful math work, learn about -ck word patterns, become editors, and start a new routine; sharing!

Children are participating in a math routine called Quick Images.  They view a dot image on the smartboard, (think several dice), record it, then discuss the patterns that helped them remember the combo. These quick activities are meant to reinforce fluent math thinking.

Highlighting ick and ack patterns on the whiteboard. We learned -ck comes at the end of short vowel, 1 syllable words like quack & quick

Deep in concentration as he edits a story for his writing partner. Editors are looking for best spelling, finger spaces, and the use of a sentence frame :)

Read All About it!!

Group reading Chester by Melanie Watt. I absolutely love when children reach for books that I've read aloud to them. This has become a fan favorite!! 

Selecting stories for independent reading from our Fairy tale and Folktale bucket

Using a retelling tool called a Story Grammar Marker. This helps us talk and think about certain parts of a story like characters, setting, kick off, and main events.

Drumroll please.......kicking off sharing

A Giant Shell

A Remote Control Helicopter

Getting into the Halloween Spirit

Pumpkin Heads!! Scary....happy...silly ones too!

An AWESOME addition to Mrs. Groden's Pumkin Patch in the library! Can you guess the character??
Pippi Longstocking, of course!

Be sure to check out our new Google Doc calendars; one for mystery reader and the other for reader's workshop volunteers! Also I am starting to implement a new independent reading routine. Although we do independent reading every day, this new method really focuses on the independent aspect of reading including book choice. Here is where I need YOU! Please think of our classroom when and if you clean out your children's bookshelves. I am looking to increase my classroom library and would greatly appreciate any and all donations to this cause!! 

Bucket List and So Much More!

Monday morning I saw a sea of green! I love that so many of my kiddos were part of the 3V3 and wore their green shirts with pride. It was too cute not to include!

Yay team spirit!!

Where to start....this week was all about buckets, folkales, and TAG. Read on to find out what I'm talking about.

Folktales

What is a folktale? Ask your first grader and see what they say! Answer-a story or legend that has been handed down from generation to generation and often includes some exaggerations. We learned about the legend of Johnny Appleseed this week. We brainstormed what we thought we knew, then after reading a few stories we revisited our brainstorm to add or remove some of our ideas. Children then drew pictures of one of Johnny's adventures and shared them with a peer. 

The many adventures of Johnny Appleseed

Comparing drawings of Johnny Appleseed's adventures

Bucket List

Did anyone order this book from the September Scholastic? It was a fabulous read! We used it as a platform to brainstorm how to treat one and other. In our class our new motto has become "let's fill not spill our buckets."

TAG!
We do a ton of  "pair sharing" in first grade, especially during writer's workshop. In order to help partners focus I use an acronym that guides discussion:

Tell 1 thing you remember

Ask 1 question

Give 1 compliment

Writing partners at work sharing some of their fabulous writing with each other

Open Mic Fridays

Here are some EXTRAS to round off our week:

Everyone needs a brain break! Here we are doing some "ocean" breathing to regroup and re-energize

Our version of a working lunch: a working snack!

Don't forget book orders are due. I plan on submitting the order Sunday night. I'm still trying to figure out the whole shared calendar. It's updated until the start of January. If you'd like a date please email me and I'll plug you in. Also check out the link below. Mrs. Groden and the library staff are working on growing a pumpkin patch and you can help!

Storybook Pumpkin Patch

Sentence frames & Math games

How do you frame a picture? With a frame! And how do you frame a sentence? With a sentence frame of course! You'll see this little picture on many of your children's papers. It's a visual reminder that you frame a sentence by starting with a capital letter and ending with a period (aka stop sign). Now you know what that funny looking symbol is on those weekend updates :)

Sentence frame being put to use on the smartboard

The math word of the week is EQUATION! We have been playing games that encourage combining numbers and then recording an EQUATION. We have also started story problems. The "show how you know" part is always trickiest. Here is what I'm looking for....pictures, numbers, or words to describe their thinking. It's never too early to promote these math habits!

A game of Heads and Tails

Here's what else is happening in the world of your first grader:

Writer's Workshop

Working on finger spaces

Pair Share....celebrating work in progress

Word Play

Brainstorming in and it family words on the smartboard

Sorting in and it words on a whiteboard

Using magnet letters to build words at the reading table

Comprehension

An anchor chart we created as we start to explore character traits

Working on our own character traits

Extra! Extra!

We had our first Get Along Gathering on Friday. The theme was respect and manners. Duck and Moose made their annual debut! We also participated in the Global Read Aloud thanks to Mrs. Groden, our fabulous librarian. Starting this week all around the world classrooms are participating in the GRA by reading texts by Eric Carle. You can go to The Global Read Aloud to find out more.

Finally, our class is in need of volunteers for library. You can volunteer as little as once a month during our library time (every other Friday from 10:20-11). The volunteers make the process of checking out books so much smoother for the children. If you are interested you can email Donna Knot at dknott@medfield.mec.edu.  Thank you!

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!