First Grade Superstars

Reading

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Rhymes

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Writing and Reading in our class

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December

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Thanksgiving

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Veteran's Day 2011

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October 2011

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Presidential Speech

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Fall 2011

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Pictures from March 2011

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Look at what we have been doing in first grade!

Mira lo que hemos estado haciendo en el primer grado!

Measurement in February and March

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We are learning about measuring how LONG and how HEAVY things are. Here are some games we played to practice these skills:

How long is it?

Longer or shorter?

More Longer or shorter...

Which tool?

Heavier or lighter?

Make it balance

We Love Writing!

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Poetry Center

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Number Sentence Stories

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End of December

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We have been learning more strategy games to help us plan ahead, build stamina, and figure out what is a challenge (not too easy and not too hard). The goal is to transfer these skills into all areas of school: reading, writing, math, science, PE, music, art, library, and into other areas like solving problems with our friends and family.

In reading we have been learning to make self to text connections with the books we read, especially understanding how the characters feel. This will help us understand the story better and good readers understand what they are reading and can explain it to someone else.

In writing we have been working on using punctuation (.!?) in our sentences. We have also been trying to fill up the lines on every page with long sentences.

In math we have been studying the number pairs that add up to ten and making up and solving story problems to go with number sentences when one number is missing. For example: 6 + ? = 10, I had six books in my backpack. I put in some more and now I have ten books in my backpack. How many more did I put in?

We are making some special presents for our families in the last few days before winter break. Pictures of those activities will be posted soon! Please remember there is early dismissal (1:25 pm) on Wednesday, December 23 and then no school until Monday, January 3.
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Hemos estado aprendiendo más juegos de estrategia que nos ayude a planificar el futuro, construir la resistencia, y averiguar lo que es un reto (no demasiado fácil y no demasiado duro). El objetivo es transferir estas habilidades en todos los ámbitos de la escuela: lectura, escritura, matemáticas, ciencias, educación física, música, arte, biblioteca, y en otras áreas como la solución de problemas con nuestros amigos y familiares.

En la lectura que hemos estado aprendiendo a hacer uno mismo a las conexiones de texto con los libros que leemos, sobre todo la comprensión de cómo los personajes sienten. Esto nos ayudará a entender mejor la historia y los buenos lectores entienden lo que están leyendo y lo puedo explicar a otra persona.

En la escritura que hemos estado trabajando sobre el uso de (.!?) puntuacion en nuestras oraciones. También hemos estado tratando de llenar las líneas en cada página con largas condenas.

En matemáticas hemos estado estudiando los pares de números que suman diez y que constituyen la historia y solución de problemas para ir con penas de número cuando el número uno se encuentra. Por ejemplo: 6 +? = 10, que tenía seis libros en la mochila. Puse en un poco más y ahora tengo diez libros en mi mochila. ¿Cuántos más lo puse en?

Estamos haciendo algunos regalos especiales para nuestras familias en los últimos días antes de las vacaciones de invierno. Imágenes de las actividades será publicado pronto! Por favor, recuerde que hay salida temprana (1:25 pm) el miércoles, 23 de diciembre y entonces no hay clases hasta el lunes, 3 de enero.

early December

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I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated the blog! We have been very busy these past few weeks. We are learning how to solve problems by playing logic games in the Strategies Lab which help us to think ahead and build stamina when faced with a challenge. We are learning about punctuation (.!?) in both reading and writing. We are learning about schema (what we already know about something) and making self to text connections to help us better understand what we are reading. We are also learning the addition facts to ten (1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5) and about fractions (1/2, 1/3, 1/4). Finally we have been studying solids, liquids and gases. As winter break approaches we will learn about different holidays our families celebrate this time of year.

Siento que ha pasado tanto tiempo que no actualizo el blog! Hemos estado muy ocupado estas últimas semanas. Estamos aprendiendo cómo resolver los problemas al jugar juegos de lógica en el Laboratorio de estrategias que nos ayudan a pensar en el futuro y construir la resistencia cuando se enfrentan a un reto. Estamos aprendiendo sobre (.!?) puntuacion en la lectura y la escritura. Estamos aprendiendo acerca del esquema (lo que ya sabemos acerca de algo) y lo mismo a las conexiones de texto para ayudarnos a entender mejor lo que estamos leyendo. También estamos aprendiendo de los hechos además de los diez (un 9, 2 8 3 7 4 6 5 de 5) y de fracciones (1 / 2, 1 / 3, 1 / 4). Por último hemos estado estudiando los sólidos, líquidos y gases. En vacaciones de invierno se acerca vamos a aprender acerca de las diferentes fiestas nuestras familias celebran en esta época del año.

Mid November

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Here are pictures of our web chat with a Veteran on Veteran's Day and our families visiting school for Thanksgiving lunch.

Over Thanksgiving break please make sure your student is reading the books from school for at least ten minutes every day. I will be sending home some writing paper to write a story for homework, too. Your child needs to read over his/her writing to make sure it makes sense.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Aquí están las fotos de nuestra web, chatear con un veterano en el Día de los Veteranos y las familias que visitan nuestra escuela para el almuerzo de Acción de Gracias.

Durante las vacaciones de Acción de Gracias por favor, asegúrese de que su hijo está leyendo los libros de la escuela por lo menos diez minutos cada día. Yo mandaré un poco de papel de escritura para escribir una historia para hacer la tarea, también. Su hijo necesita leer más de su escrito para asegurarse de que tiene sentido.

Disfrute de unas vacaciones seguras y felices!

Veteran's Day

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Ramona the Brave

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Counting by 2s, 5s and 10s video

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Late October, 2010

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We had Fall Fun Day this week! Had a beautiful fall afternoon to go outside and rotate through different stations that each had a game the students have been learning to play in PE. Ask your child to explain the games you see pictured here.

We have been working on reading on our own for 7 or more minutes and writing on our own for 15 minutes. The books your child brings home in a Ziploc bag are books they have practiced at school and should read to you or on their own every night. Please help your child remember to bring the books back to school every day.

In math we started studying ordinal positions (first, second, third...) and counting by fives. We are playing this counting game and using unifix cubes to help us practice.

This week we will cut open a pumpkin and count how many seeds are inside! On Wednesday students are invited to wear red to support the Red Ribbon stay healthy and drug free program. Thursday is dress like your favorite book character day. More pictures coming soon.

Tuvimos Otoño día de diversión de esta semana! Tenía una hermosa tarde de otoño para salir a la calle y girar a través de diferentes estaciones que cada uno había un juego que los estudiantes han estado aprendiendo a jugar en el PE. Pídale a su niño para explicar los juegos que ves en la imagen.

Hemos estado trabajando en la lectura por nuestra cuenta durante 7 minutos o más y por escrito por nuestra cuenta durante 15 minutos. Los libros que su hijo trae a casa en una bolsa Ziploc son libros que han practicado en la escuela y debe decir a usted o por su cuenta todas las noches. Por favor, ayudar a su niño a recordar para traer los libros a la escuela todos los días.

En matemáticas hemos empezado a estudiar las posiciones ordinales (primero, segundo, tercero ...) y contando de cinco en cinco. Estamos jugando a este juego de contar y el uso de cubos Unifix para ayudarnos a la práctica.

Esta semana vamos a abrir una calabaza y contar cuántas semillas hay dentro! El Miércoles estudiantes están invitados a vestirse de rojo para apoyar la Cinta Roja programa de estancia saludable y libre de drogas. El jueves es el día vestido como personaje favorito de libro. Más fotos en breve.

October 15, 2010

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This week we took a nature walk outside to use our sense of sight, touch, hearing, and smell to experience signs of fall. We saw leaves changing color, felt the smooth wood on trees, heard leaves bring crunched under feet and crickets chirping, and we smelled the dirt. Then we used all 5 senses to experience popcorn popping, we even got to taste some! We didn't have butter or salt so most students said the popcorn tasted like "nothing."

We started working on making two digit numbers with unifix cubes so we can really understand how big those numbers are. We also explored math tools like measuring tape during free choice time. We sorted lower case and upper case letters, and we talked about how letters are related to words (they can make words and sometimes even be a word like a and I).

In the classroom library we are reading to the stuffed animals or using them to act out stories. We even read books to our class fish! Next week students will start bringing home books from school to practice reading at home. Just like we have been practicing at school, students can read to themselves, read to a family member, and read to their own toys and pets.

Esta semana dimos un paseo por la naturaleza exterior a usar nuestro sentido de la vista, el tacto, el oído y el olfato para experimentar signos de caída. Hemos visto las hojas cambian de color, se sintió la madera suave en los árboles, las hojas oído traer crujía bajo los pies y canto de los grillos, y olía la tierra. Luego usamos los 5 sentidos para experimentar palomitas de maíz, que incluso llegó a probar algunos! No teníamos la mantequilla o la sal para la mayoría de los estudiantes dijo que las palomitas de maíz sabor a "nada".

Comenzamos a trabajar en la fabricación de números de dos dígitos con cubos Unifix por lo que realmente puede entender lo grande que esos números son. También exploramos las herramientas matemáticas como la cinta de medir en el tiempo libre elección. Estamos ordenados minúsculas y mayúsculas, y hablamos de cómo las letras están relacionadas con las palabras (que pueden hacer que las palabras ya veces hasta ser una palabra como una y yo).

En la biblioteca de aula que estamos leyendo a los animales de peluche o su utilización para representar historias. Incluso leer libros para nuestros peces clase! La próxima semana los estudiantes se empiezan a traer a casa los libros de la escuela para practicar la lectura en casa. Al igual que hemos estado practicando en la escuela, los estudiantes pueden leer a sí mismos, de lectura a un miembro de la familia, y para leer sus propios juguetes y mascotas.

Beginning of October

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This week we opened our classroom library! We have been looking at our library books one basket at a time, and now it’s very exciting to be able to browse through ALL of them during reading time. The students enjoyed reading to our class fish and acting out some of the stories with the stuffed animals. We also learned where to record things we wonder about the class fish, like why does he have such big bubbles under his eyes? We have started our independent writing time using pens, which allow me to see all the ideas a student comes up with (not just the ones that don’t get erased). We are writing about real things that we have seen or done before, and many students are choosing to write nonfiction books about animals. In math we are continuing to work with numbers 1-100 so we can learn their names and where they are on a 100 chart. We opened the Smartboard center with the math game linked on the right called “100 chart game (park the spaceship).” We have also been enjoying some free play time at the end of the day that students earn by being quiet and polite during lunch in the cafeteria. Enjoy the beautiful sunshine this weekend!

Esta semana abrimos nuestra biblioteca! Hemos estado buscando en nuestros libros de la colección de la misma canasta en un momento, y ahora es muy emocionante para poder navegar a través de todos ellos durante el tiempo de lectura. Los estudiantes disfrutaron de la lectura para nuestros peces clase y calidad de algunos de los cuentos con los animales de peluche. También aprendimos que para grabar cosas nos preguntamos acerca de la clase de peces, como por qué tiene él como grandes burbujas en los ojos? Hemos comenzado nuestro tiempo escribiendo independiente con plumas, que me permiten ver todas las ideas que un estudiante se le ocurre (no sólo los que no se borran). Estamos escribiendo sobre las cosas reales que hemos visto o hecho antes, y muchos estudiantes optan por escribir libros de no ficción acerca de los animales. En matemáticas se sigue trabajando con los números 1-100 para que podamos aprender sus nombres y dónde están en un gráfico de 100.Abrimos el centro Smartboard con el juego de matemáticas vinculados a la derecha llamado "100 juego gráfico (parque de la nave espacial)." También hemos podido disfrutar de algún tiempo libre juego al final del día que los estudiantes ganan por ser tranquilo y amable durante el almuerzo en la cafetería. Disfrute del sol hermoso este fin de semana!

End of September

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We have been looking for leaves changing colors and other signs of fall. We have been learning to play new math games with each other and how to use new materials in the classroom. We are also learning how to take care of each other and everything at school. We are learning to type in the computer lab two times a week. We have been learning about writing on our own: sounding out words we don't know or can't find, staying quiet so everyone can concentrate, and writing what we know about. We will be using pens for writing this year, which show me all of the students' thinking since they can't erase their mistakes. This can be frustrating for some students and is a big adjustment. We are focusing on nonfiction (real, fact books) right now.

Hemos estado buscando hojas cambian de color y otros signos de caída. Hemos estado aprendiendo a jugar nuevos juegos de matemáticas entre sí y cómo utilizar los nuevos materiales en el aula. También estamos aprendiendo a cuidar el uno del otro y todo lo que en la escuela.Estamos aprendiendo a escribir en el laboratorio de computación dos veces a la semana. Hemos estado aprendiendo sobre la escritura en nuestra propia: la pronunciación de palabras que no saben o no pueden encontrar, permanecer tranquilo para que todos puedan concentrarse y escribir lo que sabemos.Nosotros vamos a usar plumas para escribir este año, que me muestre todo el pensamiento de los estudiantes, ya que no puede borrar sus errores. Esto puede ser frustrante para algunos estudiantes y es un gran ajuste. Nos estamos centrando en no ficción (real, los libros de hecho) en este momento.

September 13 - 17

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We have been learning each other's names and the rules of school this week. We have also been exploring the different books and materials in our classroom. We took a walk outside to collect leaves and then made leaf pictures by rubbing them with crayons. We went to the computer lab and learned how to get on the computers and start a typing game. We went to the library and got to check out four books! We have library on Tuesdays so please return books on Mondays or Tuesdays.

Hemos estado aprendiendo de los demás nombres y las reglas de la escuela esta semana. También hemos estado estudiando los diferentes libros y materiales en nuestro salón de clases. Tomamos un paseo para recoger hojas y luego hizo fotos de la hoja frotándolos con lápices de colores. Fuimos al laboratorio de computación y como hacerle para que en los equipos y comenzar un juego que mecanografía.Fuimos a la biblioteca y se puso a cuatro echa un vistazo a los libros! Tenemos la colección de los martes así que por favor devolver los libros los lunes o martes.

Happy New School Year!

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We started the year off with a lot of excitement this past week as we brought in our new school supplies, made new friends, and learned about a few things that make first grade different than kindergarten. This year I am going to use Google Translate to make web posts in both English and Spanish for the families of my students. Please let me know if any of the translations don't make sense. Enjoy these pictures of the students and our tour of the school!

Empezamos el año con mucho entusiasmo la semana pasada como hemos traído nuestros útiles escolares nuevos, hice nuevos amigos, y se informó sobre algunas cosas que hacer primero diferentes grados de jardín de infantes. Este año voy a utilizar Google Translate para hacer puestos de web en Inglés y Español para las familias de mis alumnos. Por favor, hágamelo saber si alguna de las traducciones no tienen sentido. Disfruta de estas imágenes de los estudiantes y nuestro recorrido por la escuela:

End of the year!

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It's hard to believe that summer is here. We have learned so much this year. I hope you continue to use this website over the summer to practice reading and writing skills. Enjoy these pictures from the last two weeks of school. School starts back on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7!

Subtraction Stories

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More pictures from the Nature Center

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Thanks to the parent volunteer who helped chaperone and shared these great pictures from our field trip a few weeks ago!

May 17 - 21

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We went to see Knuffle Bunny the musical on Friday!!

We have also been studying coins and learning coin songs this week!

May 10 - 14

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What an exciting week! We went to a local nature center where we learned about how tadpoles change into frogs and more about the parts of a seed. We even got to plant a seed and release a ladybug into the woods.

We reviewed reading a bar graph and measuring length. We practiced making number stories based on a number sentence and comparing coin values.

We also wrote and talked a lot about showing self-control this week. Here are some strategies the class came up with to help you calm down when you are upset:

take deep breaths (like you are blowing bubbles)
blow your nose
count (by 1s, 2s, 5s...)
lay down
wipe your eyes
drink some water
be by yourself
rock in the rocking chair

May 3 - 7

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We had a wonderful Mother's Day concert on Thursday! Thanks to all the family members who came to support our singers and readers. I don't think I got a picture of everyone who attended but many are in this week's slide show. Check out the short video of the performance and some practice in the classroom while making Mother's Day cards and flowers.

Most students are able to read to themselves independently for ten minutes each morning. We are trying to build up our stamina so we will be ready to read to ourselves independently for twenty minutes in second grade! We worked on retelling what we can remember from nonfiction books to a buddy. We also worked on making self-to-text connections and text-to-text connections:

We are very excited about our field trip next week to a local nature center where we will learn more about seeds and insects.

April 26 - 30

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We took this picture for the yearbook. This week we got to go bowling in PE! We also learned about how seeds change when they get wet and about the parts of a seed. We are making good progress on our typing skills in the computer lab. We are learning how to tell subtraction stories and how to show data in different ways in math. We are working on retelling books we have read to include details like characters names and the setting. We also watched a Mo Willems video on how to draw Cat the Cat! That book inspired some writers to create similar books this week.

We wrote a poem about Moms to read on the Mother's Day Tea on Thursday, May 6 at 9:30 AM in the cafeteria. All family members are welcome to attend!

How Seeds Travel Video

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The first time we watched this the narration was lost to many a "Whoah...." and "Did you see that?!? What is that?!?" but students were still able to recall many facts:

We will watch it again, just like we reread a book, to learn more. We will also drop some maple seeds ("helicopters") to learn how seeds can travel in the wind.

April 19 - 23

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This week we have been reviewing the months of the year and the days of the week. We have been challenging each other with questions using the words before and after.

We have also been working on being a more independent writer. Students have been exploring writing nonfiction, fiction, narratives, instructions and poetry. Next we will focus on the different steps of the writing process and self-monitoring which step we are on:

Picking an idea and planning
Writing a draft
Revising a draft (making it longer, more interesting, or make more sense)
Editing a draft (checking for space between words, capitals, punctuation, and spelling)
Publishing a final draft (sharing with an audience)

We have been doing a lot of seed research in science, including starting a class garden. We worked in partners to sort out a group of small items into what we thought was a seed or was not a seed. We planted one of each and will see what grows. If it grows, it is a seed. If it does not grow, it is probably not a seed. We have observed some seeds falling outside our window, too. We also did an Earth Day activity in which we simulated polluting a river. Look for the picture of the yucky final result!

April 12-16

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Welcome back! We have been working on remembering all of the rules and routines of our classroom this week. We took a test to see which students already know the order of the days of the week and the months of the year. Most students knew a song that helped them remember the days of the week but we will be learning the months of the year over the next few weeks!

We have also been working on retelling what we learned in nonfiction books and the parts of a nonfiction book to really pay attention to like bold words and picture charts/graphs.

We started studying the value of coins and played a few new math games on the Smartboard: Whack a Mole and Funky Mummy. We also played a spelling game that has many levels.

We are starting to edit our writing for Capital Letters and so far we have three rules for when to use them: Names, Beginning of a sentence, and the word I.

End of March

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This last week before spring break we went to the computer lab and played two math games: Save The Whale and Shark Numbers. Both were a big hit and helped us practice important skills of finding numbers that add up to ten and understanding the place value in two and three digit numbers. We also practiced our typing skills.

We celebrated the writing we have been doing this year with a special celebration, too! Thanks to all the families who came to hear our authors read their work. We also enjoyed two birthdays this week!

In reading we continue to work on retelling what we have learned in nonfiction books and building up our stamina to read independently for ten minutes. In science we have been observing our bulbs growing and went outside to inspect crocus and daffodil bulbs planted in the ground. We have also been learning about how the seasons are based on the tilt of the Earth towards/away from the sun. We even learned about the perspective that makes it look like the sun is rising/setting up/down even though the Earth is revolving horizontally.

Have a great break! Regular school resumes on Tuesday, April 13.

The most recent pictures have been added to the slideshow in the last post:

late March

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This month we have been working on retelling a story we have read without looking at the pictures in the book. Students took home a reading strategies card that had sequencing words like "first, next, then, finally..." on them to help them practice at home. We are just starting to use this strategy to organize the events/information in a book to help us remember what we have read in nonfiction books now.

Students have also been using laptops in the library to find information through online databases like go.grolier.com We have also been making comments about what we are learning in science and practicing reading our writing on this voicethread when we go to the computer lab:

March

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We are studying light in science right now. Here are some links to websites we used this week:

What produces light?

Light and shadows:

Earth, sun and moon:

February

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What a crazy month with many, many snow days and still snow on the ground! We celebrated the 100th day of school and learned a lot about retelling a story using details and telling things in order from the beginning to the end. We have also been learning a lot about shapes and weight.

I Heart Writing Day has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 25th. Families are invited to school that morning for coffee in the Parent Center and then a chance to hear their student read a story/poem they have been writing in the classroom. Invitations and reminders will go home soon.

Enjoy all the pictures of students who lost teeth, experiments with water, reading and math centers, and even the snow on the playground!

January 25 - 29

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We started this week off with a power outage! We were still able to start our day normally and went into the hall where we read books to a Kindergarten class and we talked a lot about what needs/doesn't need power. Later in the week we read a book about electricity.

In reading we have been talking about having mental images when we read, and how students may have different mental images because they have different schema or background knowledge. We also talked about how our mental images may change as we read because we get more information from the story and new ideas. Next month we will focus on retelling a story with a beginning, middle, and end. It can be hard for some first graders to distinguish between the main events to retell, versus every detail they can remember.

In writing we have been working on writing instructions for how to log on/off the computers in our computer lab so that other first graders who have never used the computers will know what to do. Having that audience in mind really helped students give more detailed steps. We have also begun to prepare for our school-wide writing day in mid February when we will share a piece of our writing with families and a buddy class!

In math we set aside some measurement activities and have been busy counting all the coins that families have sent in for the Haiti fundraiser. So far we have counted $37.75 and there are many more pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters more to go! Thank you for your generosity. We divided the pennies up into groups of ten to make the counting go faster. You can see many of them in the slideshow. Next week we will be using scales to compare weights and we will celebrate the 100th day of school on February 4th.

Here are some students working with Spanish/English puzzle vocabulary cards at a reading center:

January 18 - 22

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Hear students reading this poem! (recorded independently during reading centers)

This week in reading we focused on looking at the end of words, especially finding endings like "s," "ing" and "ed." We practiced changing word wall words with these endings (play, plays, playing, played) and finding these word endings in poems and books. We also studied these word chunks: ug (rug, hug, bug), et (pet, jet, set), and ip (ship, lip, flip). We also did an assessment to see how many of the 100 first grade words students could read and write on their own.

We wrote directions for how to play a board game from the Strategies Lab and lists of what we noticed are on the coins at each table and our new name plates. We also received our new agendas for 2010 and wrote directions for what to do with them each morning when we come in the classroom.

In math we reviewed working with numbers 1-100 by making puzzles out of a 10x10 number grid, coloring in a number grid by 2s and 3s, and playing more than/less than number games. We also reviewed coin values and features, and worked on measuring length with nonstandard units (cubes, tiles, dominoes...).

When we went to the library students used laptops to access the Grolier online database. See hand-out sent home on Friday for student login information. Enjoy these pictures from the week!

Please remember there is no school on Monday, February 1. Thank you!

January 11 - 16

2010-01-18T19:31:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year! We spent this week playing many word wall games and reviewing what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like when we read to ourselves. We also made snowpeople by reading and following specific directions (like drawing an odd/even number of snowflakes depending on if our first name has an odd/even number of letters in it).

In math we reviewed how to make 2D and 3D shapes using mini marshmallows and toothpicks. We reviewed the 100s grid by making puzzles out of a 100 grid copied onto cardstock, and we practiced counting by 2s and 5s, then looking for numbers that are 2 more or 2 less than a certain number. We also solved some story problems and practiced making a number sentence (equation) to represent our ideas.

In writing we finished mini books about pets that we had started before the winter break and we started learning about how to write instructions. We wrote directions for how to play a puzzle game from the Strategies Lab and we will continue to write more about other things we know how to do. We went to the computer lab and worked on typing comments for the pictures taken in late December.

On Friday we read two books about Martin Luther King Jr. and students wrote and drew about their dreams for the future. Here are some excerpts, edited for spelling: "I dreamed there were no more twisters." "I hope everybody will be friendly and be friends and they care about each other." "I wish no earthquakes." "I wish everybody was safe." "I wish everybody was nice." "I wish the city was clean."

We got a new fish this week and voted on what to name him. The winning name was Mike, which complements our other fish, Michael. Before putting him in his home I showed students how to change the water in the fishtank and how the filter works.

Next week we will complete the mid-year word wall reading and writing assessments and we will be focusing on looking at the end of a word when reading. We will also work on measuring length both with a ruler and with nonstandard units (hands, cubes, etc).

Digital Storytelling Class

2010-01-06T07:59:00.005-05:00

This week during intersession I am working with first and second graders on making a version of the Three Little Pigs Story on the computer. To learn more and see their work please visit:

http://wewrotethesestories.blogspot.com

December 2009 Activities

2010-01-04T20:11:00.003-05:00

We will add our comments when we return to our classroom next week. You are welcome to add your comments anytime (it's free to join voicethread, all you need is an email address)!

December 14 - 18

2009-12-19T16:32:00.013-05:00

This week we reviewed looking for chunks (groups of letters we knew the sound of, like "sh" and "ing" or small words, like "an" and "it") in our guided reading books. We also reviewed making a text-to-self connection (finding something in a book that reminds you of something in your own life). We are defining "text" as any kinds of words you read, not just in a book but on a sign, in a letter, on a computer, etc. We then learned how to make text-to-text connections (finding something in a book that reminds you of a part in another book). Students caught on to both of these concepts very quickly and enjoyed sharing their examples with the class. Here are some videos of students' text-to-text connections:

In writing we practiced adding details to both our words and our pictures. Some students are still struggling to keep their pencil moving on their paper for the entire 15-20 minutes of independent writing time. Many students are finding great resources to look up words they need to spell like their guided reading books, their word rings, and signs around the room. We wrote about what we like to do in different seasons (especially in the snow!), we wrote about pets after the tragic loss of two of our fish, and we wrote lists about a variety of topics from games we like to play, to candy we like to eat, to how to walk in line in the hall, to gymnastics moves we know. Some students were confused about the difference between a story that needs complete sentences and a list that can have individual ideas or phrases, so we will review those formats more next month. We will also look at how to write directions or instructions, which requires writers to think about their audience and to be very clear and specific in their vocabulary and illustrations.

In math we are reviewing numbers that add up to ten and doubles (2+2, 3+3...) to help us solve other addition problems. If you know 5+5=10 then it will be easier to solve 5+4 and 5+6. We are also reviewing story problems, including important words that tell you if you need to add or subtract like "all together" and "leftover." We are using many different problem solving strategies and practicing explaining our thinking so other people can understand what we did in our brain. Some examples of strategies students are using include drawing a picture, counting up or back, using tally marks, and using fingers. Look for pictures of story problems we have solved together on the Smartboard in this slideshow from the past two weeks:

NO SCHOOL DECEMBER 20-23! Have a safe and relaxing winter break!

December 7 - 11

2009-12-11T14:33:00.003-05:00

This week we looked for word chunks and words within words when we read. The students were very adept at finding chunks like "sh," "ing," and "ch." We also found many of our sight words (an, day, to, he, me, my...) inside larger words. We have talked a lot about how practicing something hard makes you better at it. We are now re-reading our guided reading books independently for 10 straight minutes every day. Please remind your students to take 10-20 minutes each night to practice reading, and remind them of the importance of re-reading books again and again!

In writing we wrote about what we like to do in the snow and then in the other seasons of the year. We discussed what makes each season different than the others and what acitivites we like to do depending on the weather, and what we like to do no matter what the weather is like. Students are using many resources to remember how to spell unknown words: making their best guess based on what sounds they hear, looking at their word rings, finding words around the room, and remembering words they have read in their guided reading books.

This week in math we measured the length of many things around the room using nonstandard units (dominos, dice, our hands...). We also continued to study the penny and nickel, make the largest two digit number possible (reviewing place value), use tally marks, make up equations based on story problems, and find pairs of numbers that add up to ten. We also looked for patterns in addition and practiced adding doubles (5+5) to help us solve harder problems (if you know 5+5 it will be easier to figure out 5+6 or 5+4).

I have begun filling out second quarter progress reports which will go home at the end of the month. Please let me know if you would like to meet in January to discuss your child's academic and social achievement.

Dates to remember:

12/23/09 Dismissal at 1:20
12/24/09 - 1/1/10 No School
1/4/09 - 1/8/09 Optional Intersession (contact office for enrollment inquiries)

November 30 - December 4

2009-12-07T19:10:00.006-05:00

This week we got to go to the Strategies Lab and learn two new games: Safari Rush Hour (which is slightly harder than Rush Hour Jr as more parts move in more directions) and Hoppers Jr (in which you start with various frog arrangements and after hopping over them, you try to leave only 1 frog remaining on the board). Both games require thinking ahead a few steps and considering the consequences of your actions - universal skills! The students came up with the following new universal problem solving strategies that help them play these games and do other hard things: concentrate, stay calm, be in control, and relax.

We started learning about coins this week with our new math specialist. He taught us about what is pictured on each side of both the penny and the nickel, and we noticed many other interesting details on the coins. He also taught the students several new games: number line squeeze (using terms like "greater than" and "less than"), penny and nickel trading (learning that 5 pennies = 1 nickel and then practicing counting by 5s and 1s to see how much money you have at the end), and two digit top-it (making the largest two digit number with number cards and keeping track of your score with tally marks). We are also reviewing number pairs that add up to make ten through a variety of games.

In reading we reviewed getting our mouth ready to say the first letter(s) of an unkown word to help us make a good guess about what would make sense. Students are learning to notice consonant blends (sw, sp, sm...) and digraphs (th, ch, sh...) to help them figure out unknown words instead of just using the first letter alone. We are also starting to look for work chunks and little words we recognize inside big words (see photo where we found "an" in many words and names).

Students are learning the foundations of typing when we go to the computer lab twice a week. They also have opportunities to make Voicethread comments and play the games linked on this site when they go to the computer with a partner during reading and math centers.

Thank you so much to the families who contributed books from the book fair to our classroom! I really appreciate your generosity and the students loved reading the new stories. We have enjoyed Stick Man, I Don't Like To Read and next week we will read The Coin Counting Book.

November 23 - 25

2009-11-23T11:39:00.009-05:00

During this short week we watched an online video about Thanksgiving then wrote and drew what we knew about Pilgrims, Native Americans, and what our family does on this holiday. We also read The Most Thankful Thing and talked about what we are thankful for.

On Tuesday the first graders rotated through three Thanksgiving/fall activities: making (and eating) real butter, making fall leaves out of tissue paper, and making turkeys out of coffee filters. The students really enjoyed the festivities! In our room we also designed some colorful fall trees using an outline of our hand/forearm for the tree branches/trunk and tissue paper for the leaves. This is a voicethread we started about how we made butter:

This week in reading we continued making good predictions about a book using our schema and any evidence we found in the book cover pictures and title. In these videos students practice making predictions based on what they already know about the topic (schema) and what they can see (evidence).

In math we are reviewing how two-digit numbers are made up of groups of tens and ones. We are also reviewing how to write tally marks and how to make a number sentence to go with a story (for example: I have three gingerbread cookies and four cupcakes. How many treats do I have altogether? 3 + 4 = 7).

Please enjoy these pictures from the festivities this week, and have a safe and happy long weekend! See you back at school on Monday, November 30.

November 16 - 20

2009-11-18T11:00:00.011-05:00

First graders got to enjoy a special turkey lunch in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. We are thankful for the family members who came to visit that day! Please remember that students will be dismissed at 1:20 on Wednesday, November 25 and there is no school on Thursday, November 26 or Friday, November 27.

This week we practiced making predictions when we read. We talked about good predictions vs. silly predictions. We learned that a good prediction uses both your schema (what you already know about a topic) and some evidence (clues you can see). We are using this prompt for making predictions "I think __________ because ________." For example, "I think they will go to the park because their mom said if they cleaned up their room they could go and they cleaned it up." That word "because" is key!

We studied words that start with "sm" as in smile, smell, small, smash, and smart. Our new sight words are: went, do, my, he, she.

We also practiced finding groups of ten to make counting a large set of objects easier. In a group of 23 objects we found two groups of ten, then practiced counting them like this "10, 20, 21, 22, 23." It is hard for many students to jump from counting by 10s to counting by 1s. We have also been reviewing tally marks (reading them correctly is much easier than writing them) and different ways to make 10.

We have been discussing what strategies help us to play the games Rush Hour Jr. (in videos below) and Cover Your Tracks, which both require spatial reasoning, planning a sequence of moves, and thinking about alternate solutions.

Students have discovered that many of the strategies that help in those games also help in other situations:

make sure you know the rules and have everything you need before you start
the more you practice, the better you get
don't give up (keep trying)
stop and think about what to do next

This week we used Skype to have a webchat with a first grade teacher and a technology integration teacher in Ithaca, NY! We will be chatting with their first graders in December to share ideas about what we are learning, to compare what first grade is like here vs. there, and to develop our communication skills. Special thanks to our technology integration support staff for helping make it go smoothly.

November 9 - 13

2009-11-14T11:14:00.011-05:00

This week we wrapped up one round of centers and began several new ones. In reading we introduced a center where students write and draw their schema about a topic in a book. We have defined "schema" to mean what you already know about something. When readers activate the relevant schema it can help them make more accurate predictions about many parts of a story, including the vocabulary, plot, and characters. Similarly, we have been practicing making connections between events in a story and events in our own lives. In these videos students share some of their self-t0-text connections:

In the last round of centers students made number sentence puzzles with two addends and this week they are reviewing those number pairs that add up to ten with several Smartboard activities. This is a video of a student making 3 + 7 = 10 with bears and then checking on his fingers. This week we opened a center in which students make as many different addition number sentences (equations) as possible that equal ten, and illustrate each with different colored markers on a tens grid. For example to show that 2 + 3 + 5 = 10 students would color in 2 blocks with a color, then 3 blocks with another color, and 5 blocks with a third color. We are also recreating pattern block designs that students made last week, working with base ten blocks to show two digit numbers in groups of tens and ones (in a game called Race to 100), and playing the two new spatial reasoning and problem solving games that we learned in the Strategies Lab: Cover Your Tracks and Rush Hour Jr. (pictured in the Voicethread below).

We started a typing game in the computer lab and have also been learning more about how to make comments in Voicethread. You can see some of our experiments with making comments using the keyboard, microphone, webcam and paintbrush. Thanks to those of you readers who were brave enough to leave a comment of your own, too! Seeing that we have an audience outside the classroom was very exciting.

Finally, in art on Friday students made these colorful masks and I had just enough time to record their ferocious sound effects before dismissal:

New URL

2009-11-09T08:00:00.002-05:00

Please note that I am now using the web address
firstgradesuperstars.blogspot.com

The old URL will redirect you to this address but to save time, please update your bookmarks.

Thanks!

November 2 - 6

2009-11-06T21:54:00.004-05:00

We are still recovering from all the excitement of Dress Like a Book Character Day last week! On Friday we did a lesson using the Patterns of Thinking in which we made distinctions between the characters of Miss Nelson and Miss Swamp, and then studied the relationship between them and how that relationship ("dressed up as" or "pretending to be") was the same between me and Miss Swamp that day! Students were making good connections across the three books about these characters that we read last week. We are in the process of creating a Voicethread that will showcase their ideas:

YOU can add comments! Click on the picture above and you'll see a pop-up asking you to log-in or register. Registering is free and just requires an email address and password. Please try it out and show our students that there is a real audience reading/listening to their work.

This week we have been giving students individualized reading goals to guide them on which strategies they should be practicing during independent reading time each day. A copy of those will be coming home soon! With the whole class we have been talking a lot about using our schema to understand a story better. In other words, making connections between the text and our personal experiences to activate prior knowledge and relevant vocabulary. We're also using poetry to develop fluency (reading smoothly, like we talk):

In math we have been studying ways to make 10 with addition and subtraction, making and continuing patterns, and counting by 2s and 5s. Next week we will continue to work with the "tens facts" (0+10, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5) and begin to talk about reasonable magnitude (for example, which of these could be your age: 8 or 800). We also made a variety of graphs when we voted on names for our classroom fish! With Election Day this week I wanted to demonstrate the democratic process with something meaningful to the students. After many nominations and a close run-off, the results are in: Cinderella, Hannah Montana, and Michael (as in Jackson). They will live in our classroom library where they will enjoy hearing students read them stories.

In writing we have been building on lessons from our school counselor about problem solving, responsibility, and ways to be a kind friend at school. Before writing/drawing dialogs between characters demonstrating these concepts, we used the Patterns of Thinking method to break down the various places within school (playground, classroom, library...) and then the parts of those places (benches, swings, monkey bars...). This activity led to much more detailed illustrations and a wider variety of examples than I've seen in earlier discussions.

Enjoy these pictures from the classroom this week. Look for our new fish friends, someone's FIRST lost tooth, and TWINS (same shirt).

October 26-30

2009-10-29T21:42:00.006-04:00

This week we had two birthday girls, wear red day to show support for making healthy and safe choices, and dress like a book character day!

We started many new reading and math centers. Students began by drawing and writing about the beginning, middle and end of stories we listened to together. This will help them to retell stories with more details. We read three books about Miss Nelson and Miss Viola Swamp, and students enjoyed trying figure out the mystery of just who Miss Swamp really was.

In reading we are also starting to record our reading goals and keeping those with us during independent reading and center times to help remind students what they should be focusing on. I'll be sending a copy of those goals home every few weeks so you can help your child practice those at home, too.

We have started studying addition facts to 10 and making puzzles with number equations. We are also continuing to develop our spatial reasoning and problem solving skills with shape puzzles and pattern block designs.

Thanks to the parent volunteer who came in this week and helped out in the computer lab where we've been making art designs and just started saving our pictures. Next week we'll begin doing more typing and using an online program called Voicethread to record student comments and read alouds. I'm really excited to get that up and running.

October 5 - 7

2009-10-08T10:02:00.004-04:00

We got to see children's book author and illustrator Mo Willems talk about how he makes books and read his newest book online this past Tuesday! We have read several of his books in class and students love looking for the pigeon in each one. Special thanks to the teachers at our school who arranged for us to be one of only 200 elementary school sites in the country to get to participate in this exciting event.

During this short week we continued to practice our reading strategy of re-reading a sentence when we don't know a word. We also did a variety of activities with the words on our word rings.

In writing we published our first mini-books which will be in the class library for a few weeks before they come home. Students have really enjoyed reading each other's books and have been learning the importance of making their writing neat enough for someone else to read!

In math we continued to come up with creative ways to make a number using addition, subtraction and pictures. We also practiced counting by 5s to 100 and putting numbers in order through many of the online math games linked on this page.

We went to the Strategies Lab again and learned a new game: Shape By Shape. We will continue to play Sudoku Jr (4x4) after intersession as many students were still unsure of how to play (they were only using the colors to determine where the missing numbers could go instead of checking each column and row). Through these games students have been building stamina for problem solving and learning how to articulate their thought processes.

Thanks to everyone who has been coming in to school for their conferences this Thursday and Friday. Please remember there is no school on Monday (October 12) and then intersession runs October 13 - 23. Students do not need to bring a backpack to school during intersession. I sent home students' reading books and word rings for them to work on at home and then return to school on October 26.

Finally, we welcomed a new student to our class on Wednesday! He did a great job learning our schedule and everyone was a kind friend and good helper to him. We look forward to learning more about him after intersession.

September 28 - October 2

2009-10-02T08:22:00.010-04:00

This week we opened up two new centers during reading and math time: computer and Smartboard. At both centers the students have been able to choose from the reading or math links on this website and take turns playing the games. This has provided a lot of practice in not only the reading and math activities, but also in using technology and taking turns. We also went to the computer lab this week where we practiced logging in and started experimenting with Pixie (an art program we will use to create an image for later use on Voicethread).

In reading we practiced the strategy of rereading a sentence when you don't know a word. Students called this "starting over" and we talked about how you may have to read a sentence 3 or 4 times before you can figure it out.

We introduced 5 new sight words we will continue to study next week: we, can, like, is, you. We learned how to do a new word study center that involves using sight words to make mini books, rhyming with sight words, looking for sight words in our books, making sight words with alphabet stamps, making and solving puzzles with sight words, and writing the sight words in many colors. I see some families have kept the copy of the 100 first grade sight words in their child's agenda book or homework folder for extra practice. Let me know if you need another copy of that!

In math this week we practiced making a number in many different ways (addition, subtraction, drawing a picture, tally marks, writing the word...). Students caught on quickly to the patterns and enjoyed thinking creatively to come up with as many different combinations as possible. We also worked on the logic games from the Strategies Lab and discussed more strategies we are using: make a guess then check if it is right, check in more than 1 way, rule out what it can't be, and look for a pattern.

Important Dates:

Progress Reports will go home on Tuesday, October 6
Conferences will be next Thursday, October 8
No School on Thursday, October 8 or Friday, October 9
Intersession is October 12 - 23

* CONFERENCES *

I sent home a confirmation sheet on Friday with your conference time. Please sign and return the bottom half of that page ASAP. Conferences will take place in our classroom and typically students do not attend but it is OK if you need to bring your child with you. We have a tight schedule so please arrive on time. I look forward to meeting with you to discuss your child's progress during the first quarter of the school year! As always, feel free to contact me with questions or updates about your child anytime via email, phone call, or note.

September 21 - 25

2009-09-25T14:34:00.022-04:00

What a busy week! We started out with Field Day on Monday which had first graders rotating through 7 different activities outside and in the gym. Many of these are games you could adapt to play with your family or at a birthday party. Discussing the rules of games is a good chance to talk about how to be a good sport, how to take turns, and how to recall a sequence of steps (first, next, then, last...). Ask your child to explain how to play each of these games:

Hungry Hippo (beanbags in the gym)
Parachute Play (in the gym)
Car and Driver (one person with eyes closed being led by a buddy)
Hoop Pass (stand in circle holding hands and move hula hoop around everyone)
Ecology Circle (run so fast that newspaper sticks to front of shirt)
Pizza Delivery (make circle around someone who is collecting pizza boxes)
Ecology Pick Up (relay race collecting "trash" with a buddy)

We studied the following word wall words: the, I, see, me, go and practiced the following reading strategy for what to do when we don't know a word: Think about what makes sense (in the sentence and in the pictures), then check your guess with the letters you see.

In math we played several games that involve number ordering, number sequences and place value. Next week we will work on the concepts of 1/2 and 1/4 with pictures.

This week we also had a visit from one of the school counselors who gave an important lesson about bullies. We learned that bullies do mean things over and over again and they make the other person feel bad. We learned to tell the person to STOP and to get help from a grown-up.

We had our first visit to the Strategies Lab where we learned how to play 3 problem solving games (Clever Castle, Soduko Jr., and Bricky by Brick). I hope students will transfer the problem solving strategies they practice in the games to other situations in reading, math, writing, and playing with friends. We will be making a longer list next week, but so far the students have come up with the following strategies that helped them play the games successfully:

Don't give up
Don't worry about what level other people are on

We ended this week with Pajama Day! Thanks to all the families who participated. Students really enjoyed the chance to get dressed up and make it a special day.

September 14 - 18

2009-09-18T11:17:00.006-04:00

This week we have been working on using quiet voices during reading and math centers so that I can work with small groups. The class came up with many ideas to help them remember to stay quiet, including playing soft music (if you can't hear the music, you're too loud), having a picture of me going "Shhh" that I can show them, and having to leave the center for a few minutes if it takes more than 1 reminder.

At the reading centers students have been making words with magnetic letters, listening to books on tape, reading a variety of books in the class library, reading and illustrating a color poem, and playing alphabet games.

In the math centers students have been counting to 100 by 2s, 5s, or 10s on a laminated 100 board with a dry erase marker, playing a card game where they look for numbers that add up to 5, making and writing numbers 0 - 10 with paint, and regrouping 1s into 10s and 10s into 100 with base ten blocks.

In writing we have been building our stamina to write and illustrate stories for up to 30 minutes. It has been really interesting to learn about the students' lives through their stories. We also made a class book using "ing" as in "What are you doing?" "I am coloring." Learning to identify chunks of letters that make a sound like that will help the students to become more independent readers.

September 7 - 11

2009-09-10T20:53:00.017-04:00

This week we have used the Smartboard to play many interactive games online. These are all linked on the right side of this blog but for easy reference we played these games this week:

1. Spelling Match Game (we did long vowel sounds)
2. Picture Match Game (we did unit 3, higher unit = harder concepts)
3. Piggy Bank (this was too hard for most of the students)
4. Concentration (we did numbers 1-20 with shutters down)
5. Storyline Online (picture books read aloud by members of the Screen Actors' Guild. Turn the captions on!)

In reading we worked on taking a "picture walk" with new books, which involves looking through the illustrations to get an idea of the story and relevant vocabulary before reading the words. We also worked on how to be successful working independently in reading centers while I am working with small groups on guided reading lessons.

In math we learned a card game where students look for a number's "next door neighbor" (a number one more or one less). We also practiced writing and reading number words, and counting up from a number other than one.

In writing we worked on giving a title to a story, on adding words to our illustrations, and on using the alphabet actions chart we made to help us find the right letters for the sounds we hear. You can use the copy of that your child brought home to help with reading and writing activities at home.

Thanks for your support in using the school's agenda books each day. Most of the time your child's homework will simply be "read with family" (at least 20 minutes) and "be in bed by 8:00." Starting next week your child will bring home books from school to read and return the next day, and I will continue to send home a math or sight word activity once or twice a week.

President Obama's Speech to Students

2009-09-09T21:49:00.006-04:00

On Tuesday, September 8, 2009 we watched the President's address to students at the end of the school day. Afterward, I recorded a few students' impressions of what they had heard him say and they picked up on a lot of the points he made.

I don't have the fancy software to combine the video clips into one movie and Picasa isn't cooperating with my file formats, so you have to click each clip below to hear the students!

August 30 - September 4

2009-09-02T15:16:00.010-04:00

This week we started the poetry center where students will be working on reading poems with fluency and looking for sight words in the poem. Students were excited to start their own 3-ring binder of poems we have studied in class and they did a great job reading together and listening to each other
read.

We also opened the classroom library after discussing how it was the same/different than the school library. Students did a good job taking turns on our little rocking chair, sharing the books, and putting books back where they found them.

Later this week we will introduce the listening center, where students will listen to books on tape. We will learn some new math games that involve counting by 5s (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25...). We will be working on counting up starting from a number other than one (7, 8, 9, 10) and counting by 2s to 20 (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20).

The student's alphabet actions pictures are complete and each student will be taking home a hand-out showing them all on Friday! Please use this as a reference when your child is reading and writing to help give prompts about what sounds each letter makes and what sounds they hear in words.

August 24 - 28

2009-08-27T20:04:00.009-04:00

This week we introduced math and reading centers. The students are doing a good job learning how to work in a small group and stay on task for up to 20 minutes. Math centers included exploring the 100 pocket chart, playing two math partner games, counting objects and recording the totals, and coloring in sets of 10 on a 100 grid. Reading centers included making words and names with magnetic letters, writing words we find around the room, matching pictures of classmates with their names, making an alphabet book, and reading classroom books on the carpet.

We are also working on becoming independent writers who write down the sounds we hear in words and who can show a story in words and pictures. We have used ThinkBlocks to practice telling and listening to the different parts of our stories. Many students have been enjoying going to the library before school starts to enjoy browsing and checking out new books.

We have started sending homework folders and agenda notebooks home this week. Please take a moment to look in both the folder and the notebook each night and remind your child to bring them back to school each day. In addition to any math worksheet or note in their homework folder, students are expected to talk about their day at school and read for at least 20 minutes with someone at home.

We are very sad to say good-bye to two special friends this week who will be going to new schools for the rest of first grade! We wish them luck and hope they will stay in touch.

From ATES 2009-2010

Back to School!

2009-08-20T22:23:00.000-04:00

We have been very busy these past few weeks of school. We have been learning each others' names, the classroom and school rules, and how to take care of each other and the materials in our room.

We are working on reading by ourselves using the pictures in the book, the words or letters we know, and our memory or imagination to fill in the story.

We are also working on reading and writing numbers, finding patterns in numbers, counting groups of objects accurately, and putting numbers in order.

Here are some of the tools in our classroom that we have been exploring:

We have used ThinkBlocks to discuss what makes us happy and doesn't make us happy, what helps us learn and doesn't help us learn, and the parts of an apology (I'm sorry for ______. Are you OK?). We have also used them to retell the parts of a story and to represent the sounds we hear in words.

We have played math games with dice and counters to practice writing and counting numbers to 20. These games have helped us learn about taking turns, communicating with and helping a partner.

We have been using magnetic letters and alphabet books to learn about the sounds letters make in each others' names and to make our own alphabet chart for the classroom. We also learned a motion for each letter (more pictures and video of that coming soon).

We have been learning how to speak in front of the class and how to listen to each other.

Enjoy this slideshow featuring more pictures from the past few weeks. I will try to update this each week with more detailed information about what we have been learning. Thank you for your patience!

End of the year accomplishments

2009-06-22T15:07:00.000-04:00

We have had a wonderful year together. I have really enjoyed getting to coach, encourage, and guide your children as they made step-by-step progress throughout the year.

Below is a list of improvements I have seen. It is not meant to include everything; it just highlights the dynamic, complicated, and diverse nature of life in the classroom.

The students can now:
• Write longer stories
• Show their classmates they are listening
• Slow down to complete work more thoroughly
• Use a variety of reading strategies
• Offer and ask for help politely
• Read independently for an extended time period
• Explain problem solving strategies to a classmate
• Make eye contact when greeting someone
• Apologize for mistakes
• Stay focused on an activity
• Be more patient
• Work with anyone in the class
• Feel comfortable speaking in front of a group
• Include more details when telling a story
• Use technology to share ideas and practice skills
• Communicate feelings and resolve conflicts with peers
• Demonstrate what we know to different audiences
• Follow directions the first time they are given
• Make a choice and stick with it

Thank you for all of your support and reinforcement of these skills and many more. It has been an honor to be your partner in your children’s education.

Have a wonderful summer and stay in touch. I’ll be visiting Ithaca in mid-December, if not sooner!

Love,
Ms. Provan

June 15 - 19

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Next Wednesday (June 24) is our last day of school! We will be at Stewart Park from about 10:00 - 12:15 that day. All family members are invited to join us there. If you want your child to play in the sprinklers at the park, please send him/her to school wearing a swimsuit under his/her clothes and pack some underwear for him/her to change into afterwards. Please apply sunscreen at home and pack a towel, too. Keep your fingers crossed for sunny weather!

All report cards were sent home on Monday in a 4x6 brown envelope. Let me know if you did not receive your child's report card and if you have any questions or concerns.

This week we took a tour of the big school and saw an imovie all about what reading is like in second grade made by Ms. Thompson's second grade class. We learned that in second grade you spend a lot of time learning how to pick books that are not too hard and not too easy. We also saw that they study many of the same reading strategies that we have learned this year. The video is not online yet but here is the video (in two parts) that they made last year:

We got to ask the second graders a lot of questions like what lunch is like in the gym with all the second and third grade classes in there, what choice time is like, what they are studying in math, and how much homework you get. We learned that many things are the same between first and second grade, and that the second grade teachers will spend a lot of time explaining the parts that are different. One of the most exciting parts was learning about making the morning announcements from the office. Many students expressed interest doing that next year.

We have been working on writing and illustrating our First Grade Memory Books that should be ready to take home on Monday or Tuesday. We have also been playing a lot of math and literacy games in small groups and on the Smartboard, practicing our best handwriting, reading science books and answering questions about the information we read, and reviewing our word wall words.

Thank you so much for the amazing good-bye party and gifts on Thursday! I was really touched to see and hear from so many families. I have really loved working with each and every one of you and your children this year. You are making it very hard for me to leave.... I plan to keep this website up next year so you can continue to use these links and view the pictures in older posts. Please keep in touch: alisonprovan @ gmail.com

Next week I'll post a list of accomplishments we have achieved this year and

some ideas about summer enrichment activities.

June 8 - 12

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We had a busy week between end of the year assessments and two field trips!

On Wednesday we went to Taughannock Falls State Park with our Kids Discover the Trail partner class from Northeast Elementary School. Thanks to all the family members who volunteered at the park that day! We hiked the trail to the falls, noting many caterpillars and even a snake. We had lunch by the lake and then played on the playground and enjoyed bubbles and fruit.

On Thursday we went with the Pre-K, K and first grade classes to the Hangar Theater to see their production of Really Rosie. There were many other elementary classes there and we even saw our buddies from NE! We got to see some of the backstage area as we exited the theater and we got to meet some of the characters outside after the show. The students were a very polite audience and they really enjoyed it.

In math we continued to study place value, story problems with coins, and adding double digit numbers (without carrying). In writing we worked on more pages for our book about first grade, including a map of the playground. In reading we practiced picking books that are just right (not too easy or too hard), building our stamina to read independently for 15-20 minutes, and reading a nonfiction (science) text for information. We also got in some handwriting practice and played a variety of educational games (linked to the right) on the Smartboard.

We introduced the new sight words of the week: day, zoo, how, sister, favorite

Please look around your house for any Belle Sherman Library books and send them back to school.

Next week we will take a tour of the big school and get to learn more about second grade. Ms. Thompson's class will also show us a project they made using iMovie in exchange for teaching them about Voicethread.

Please remember that Wednesday, June 24th is the last day of school. We will go to Stewart Park for most of the day and all family members are invited to join us.

Students will have the option of playing in the fountains at Stewart Park. Please pack/bring a bathing suit, towel and sunscreen for your child if you'd like them to play in the fountains that day.

2009-06-04T18:07:00.000-04:00

June 1 - 5

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*** Spring Fair is this Friday (June 5th)

from 6:00-8:00 at the main school ***

Last Friday we had a visit from Crossroads the clown who showed the kindergarteners and first graders how he transforms from a normal looking guy into a real clown! He entertained them with jokes and balloon animals. Sophia then brought in some balloons and we had a special choice where she helped people try to make balloon animals. Thank you to Jill for organizing this special event!

We had to say good-bye to Ryan this week. We made him a class book about things we enjoyed doing with him and questions we had about Japan and China. We wish his family safe travels this summer and we look forward to seeing him in second grade!

We have been reviewing many concepts in math this week, including place value in 3-digit numbers, making change with coins, and showing fractions in different ways. Next week students will get to take home their math journal (or workbook).

Our concert was a big success!

In writing we began working on a book about first grade that we will continue to develop until the last day of school. This will be a real treasure for you and your family to enjoy! We also began studying the following word wall words: why, can't, school, his, people. The class has really gotten into playing games with these words on www.spellingcity.com (especially "hangmouse").

Special thanks to Cindy, who let us borrow a National Geographic video about endangered animals and who came in to help Seneca make a presentation to the class about cheetahs. He showed us many pictures of cheetahs and talked about why cheetahs are endangered. He also talked about the Cheetah Conservation and we saw videos of cheetahs on www.cheetah.org. Cindy stayed during choice to help capture what students had learned about cheetahs on voicethread:

This Friday afternoon Mary Jo will be coming in to help the class make some nature-based craft projects that she and Sophia picked out of a craft book from our own Annex library. I will post pictures of the creations here next week and you can look for them to come home on Friday or Monday.

Last Friday our field trip to Taughannock Falls State Park was rained out and we took a (muddy) nature walk behind the school in the afternoon to practice writing about interesting things we noticed in our explorer notebooks. Please let me know if you can join us at Taughannock on Wednesday, June 10th, and be sure your child is wearing good walking shoes that day! All families are also welcome to attend the end of year picnic at Stewart Park on Wednesday, June 24th.

Next week:

Monday: Jay will be with the class as I'll be in northern VA filling out HR paperwork for my new job and house hunting - wish me luck!
Tuesday: Richie will be with the class while I will continue the end of year math and reading assessments.
Wednesday: We go to Taughannock Falls State Park with our partner class from NE.
Thursday: Pre-K, K and 1st grade classes from Belle Sherman will all be going to the Hangar Theater to see their production of Really Rosie.
Friday: Amy will be with the class while I complete the end of year assessments.

May 25 - 29

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This week I began conducting the end of year phonemic awareness and writing assessments. Over the next two weeks I will be continuing with the reading and math assessments. I will try to send home the final report cards on June 15th. Typically there are not parent-teacher conferences at the end of the year, but I'm happy to discuss your child's report card or any other questions/concerns you have. Next week I will post a schedule of times during the last two weeks of school that I'll be available to meet with you.

In math we have continued to make and compare fractions using a variety of visuals. We also practiced reading the minutes on an analog clock and determining the number of minutes between two times. For the remainder of the year we will be doing a review of the many concepts addressed in the Everyday Math curriculum this year, focusing on explaining and trying out a variety of problem solving strategies.

In writing and reading we've been studying how authors can begin and end their stories. Students noticed that authors often begin stories by introducing the characters or establishing when the story takes place. They also noticed that stories often end with characters coming home or at night/bedtime. We tried using some of these ideas in our stories.

We used the Smartboard a lot this week to play more online interactive math and literacy games. I've linked the games we're using under Reading Resources and Math Resources in the sidebar of this blog. I opened the Smartboard as an afternoon choice and I was impressed with how independent the students were with it!

On Friday our field trip to Taughannock Falls State Park with our Kids Discover the Trail partner class from Northeast Elementary School was cancelled due to the threat of rain. We are in the process of rescheduling it for sometime in mid-June. I will let you know when we confirm the new date!

Our music concert will be Thursday, June 4th at 10:15 in the Annex gym. Everyone is invited to stay for lunch (10:45-11:15) in the classroom. In addition to the songs Ms. Nelson has taught them, our class will be sharing a poem in English, French and Spanish that we've been learning this week. I'll include a copy of the words to it with the homework so you can help your child practice at home.

Remember the Spring Fair is next Friday, June 5th! Please email Connie, Karen or Serenity with how you can contribute by volunteering your time and/or donating a strawberry/lemon dessert item.

Here are a few fun shots from choice time this week:

The American Library Association has a list of notable books from 2009 for younger readers that can be a great resource to have with you when you go to the library or book store with your child. I'm sending home a hard copy of this, too. It can be tricky to find early chapter books that have content appropriate for 6 and 7 year olds, so feel free to consult our librarian or your local public library staff for assistance in picking out books.

May 18 - 22

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On Monday we got to look in an ambulance and learn about how people can get to the hospital. The paramedic showed how they monitor someone's heart and blood pressure, as well as how the stretcher works. He also emphasized the importance of wearing a bike helmet and calling 911 to get help in an emergency. The class made some beautiful thank you cards for all of the service people who have come to our school over the past two weeks.

In math we continued to study patterns on the 100 grid and compared fractions using a strip of paper divided into different numbers of equal parts. Many students were confused that the bigger the denominator, the smaller the piece, but they could understand that you would get a smaller piece if you share an apple with ten people versus with two people. We also studied fractions using cardboard pizzas with slices labeled in fractions. We have also played some interactive money and fraction games using the Smartboard.

In reading we have been looking at words with "ai" that have the long a sound. We made a new display to read when people are waiting to use the bathroom. We listened to ourselves reading our poems on Voicethread and we have been practicing all of our reading strategies and studying synonyms, compound words, contractions and putting words in alphabetical order.

We had a big beautiful moth rest on our window screen for two days. At choice time many students are showing their creativity in making clothing, masks, and even an obstacle course for caterpillars! We have been going outside to enjoy the spring weather every few days instead of having choice time for the last 20 minutes of the day. At recess and PE many children have been playing soccer. I showed them a way to pick teams so no one felt left out by choosing cards labeled 1 or 2 from a bowl. The emotions have been running high during these games and we have had several talks about respecting the people on both teams and calming down when you get frustrated.

Our new words of the week are: brother, he, night, them, quit

We wrote our words on the driveway outside. It is very hot in our classroom in the afternoon! Please dress your child in LAYERS so he/she is comfortable all day and you are welcome to pack SUNSCREEN for your child to put on before recess.

Next Friday (May 29) we will be going to Taughannock Falls State Park with our Kids Discover the Trail partner class from Northeast Elementary! We will walk the trail to the falls, have a picnic (bag) lunch by the lake, and then play on the playground. Any and all family members are welcome to join us. There is some room on the bus, so let me know if you want to ride with us or meet us there.

No school on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day)

Save the date for the first grade concert:

Thursday June 4, 10:15-10:45 in the Annex gym.

You're welcome to stay and visit with your child

during lunch in our room from 10:45-11:15.

May 11 - 15

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This week students performed their Reader's Theater plays for the rest of the class! This was intended to practice fluency: reading smoothly and with emotions. I tried to videotape each student but my little camera's battery couldn't keep up with all of them. Ask your child to perform it at home with the finger puppets they made.

In math we worked on counting by 10s on a number grid (6, 16, 26, 36...) and then solving two-digit addition and subtraction problems by breaking up a number into tens and ones (56 + 23 is the same as 50 + 20 and 6+3). We mainly practiced this strategy using a number grid (10x10 table with numbers 1-100). We also worked on fractions by labeling and coloring in different shapes divided into parts. Some students struggled with the difference between 1/6 vs 2/6, so I've been referring to fractions as "two sixths" and "two of six parts."

In writing we finished our "Who am I?" riddles which are displayed in the hall. Next week we will begin writing instructions or directions. This will help students think about putting their ideas into a specific sequence (what to do first, next, etc.) and including descriptive details. I am really pushing students to develop sustained writing stamina for 15 minutes straight.

In reading we reviewed how to pick a book that is not too hard, not too easy, but just right. We said books that are too hard will make you feel frustrated, but that we know we will be able to read them sometime in the future. We said books that are too easy are boring and that we like to be challenged. We decided that a just right book will make you think about something (the characters, the vocabulary, the setting, the moral, the information, etc) and that when you read a book for the second or third time you might think about different parts of it. We learned a general rule of thumb that if there are more than 5 words on a page that you can't figure out, the book is too hard. We also talked about how you can't always tell how hard a book will be based on the size, thickness, or cover of a book.

Our new words of the week are: boy, girl, made, pretty, teacher

Please remember to email Karen, Serenity, or Connie, about volunteering your time (30 min between 5:30-8:30) and/or donating some strawberry or lemon treats for the Spring Fair on June 5th!

May 4 - 8

2009-05-07T18:41:00.000-04:00

This week we had a visit from the Ithaca Fire Department! Thanks to Jill for organizing the experience for all first graders and kindergarteners. Students got to learn about the gear that the firefighters wear and all the different tools on the fire engines.

In math we have been looking at number patterns on the 100s grid and reviewing making change with coins. We have also been exploring place value by making the largest and smallest possible numbers with two, three, or four digits. Coming up we will be studying fractions more and continuing to work with coin combinations.

In reading we have been working on reading fluency with short plays. Students each got a play that they had to read several times, then make finger puppets for each character. They will bring home a copy of their play to review over the weekend and then perform them in class early next week. I will record the performances to post on here! We will do this again later in the month with different plays.

I brought in some pond water to move our tadpoles into a larger container so they will have more room to grow. They currently have some teeny, tiny legs forming! We also planted fast-growing brassica seeds that just sprouted. We are charting their growth on a calendar and giving them plant food supplements in their water.

In writing we are making riddles about ourselves that will be posted in the hall. Stop by to read them next time you're in the building and see if you can figure out who wrote each one! We also picked a poem to make into a class poetry book, which students are recording themselves reading aloud on the latest Voicethread:

We are currently studying: kick, some, fun, play, animal.

SPRING FAIR - Friday, June 5th.
This year our class is in charge of the Lemon & Strawberry Shoppe. This is a table where folks can get lemon & strawberry treats for a ticket. We need 10 - 12 Volunteers for 1/2 or 1 hour shifts to cover the table. Sign up times begin at 5:30 and end at 8:30. We need folks to set up & clean up and during the fair to take tickets and give out treats. If you went to last year's fair, you'll know that it can get pretty hectic so we'd really like to have 2 people on in a shift. And of course we need lemon and strawberry treats! We hope that all our families can supply at least 1 if not 2 desserts for this table.. things like lemon squares and strawberry shortcake or feel free to be imaginative! If you could please let the Room Parents know what time you can volunteer & what you will bring, that would be very very helpful!! You can let Karen, kmlaface@twcny.rr.com, or Serenity, s.paolangeli@yahoo.com or Connie, cap69@cornell.edu know what you are making and when you can be available to volunteer. THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROSITY :-)

April 27 - May 1

2009-05-01T15:28:00.002-04:00

On Monday we had our final installment of Cindy's fossilization movement activities. She led the class through recreating the process of an animal dying in a certain position, getting covered up, dissolving away, and leaving an imprint of the body shape in the sediments. This was a great follow-up to the fossils students studied at the Museum of the Earth in March.

We used the SMARTboard to complete many activities this week, including: sorting pictures based on their beginning blends, solving story problems that involve making change and showing the change in different coin combinations.

We performed our skits about being a good friend on the playground (and how to get help if you need it) for the Maple Room on Friday. We will perform them in the Sunflower Room and the Garden Room on Monday!

We used the ThinkBlocks to promote thinking about identities, relationships, systems and perspectives in dicussing what a seed needs, the parts of plant, various coin combinations, and in an analysis of our new read aloud book: Toys Go Out. I am really excited about this approach to teaching critical thinking and I was impressed with how intuitively students used the ThinkBlocks to represent their ideas about what were the parts of a whole, their definitions of each part, how those parts were related, and how the parts can look different from various viewpoints.

This week in math we worked on dividing shapes and collections of items into various fractions, and how to write the fractions (one third = 1/3). We also worked on function machines (in/out rules), particularly figuring out the "in" number when provided with the "out" number and the rule. Many students benefited from using a number line to figure out these types of problems. Finally, we worked on "name collection boxes" (different ways to make a number using addition and subtraction) with dollars/cents. The Everyday Math website offers information that can help you support your child in completing the homework. Please let me know if you need additional explanations of any of the math problems.

In reading and writing this week we studied contractions (e.g. don't = do + not) and looked for them in the books we are reading. Some students are confused about when an apostrophe is used for a possessive (Ms. Provan's blog) vs. when it is used for a contraction (Ms. Provan's happy). You can help your child look for contractions and think about what words would make sense in that context without the apostrophe. We also experimented with shape poems, where the words are arranged in the shape of whatever they are describing, without actually naming the object/animal. Students enjoyed guessing what their fellow poets had written about before they saw how the words were arranged on the page. Look for copies of the latest poetry to come home next week.

We are watching our tadpoles and seed sprouts grow! Check out the online resources for the science unit on new plants that we are studying. We will also be studying endangered animals.

We are studying the following words: before, after, because, use, very. Encourage your child to look for those words as they read and to use the latest word wall list when they are writing at home.

Check out the Art-Full Family Saturday at the Johnson Museum of Art (10:00 AM - 12:00 PM). Free for Museum members/$5 per family for nonmembers. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

End of April

Enjoy these pictures from the past few days!

2009-04-23T23:10:00.002-04:00

Late April 2009

April 20 - 24

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This week at recess first graders had some problems playing games that involved chasing, catching, picking up wood chips, and getting too rough, (especially when children feel frustrated during chases). We discussed why those types of games are not safe, and brainstormed alternative game options. Please help your child think of more safe games that he/she can play at recess, and encourage him/her to play with a variety of people so that no one feels left out. Thanks for your support with this important part of your child's social development.

Seneca's Mom, Cindy, came in on Monday and Tuesday afternoons to teach the class a song she wrote when she was hiking the Grand Canyon several years ago and noticed the many fossils in the canyon walls. It goes to the tune of the famous aria "La Donna e Mobile" and is about a cephalopod fossil. I have posted the lyrics in a separate post here.

She also gave us some dance lessons to help the students be more aware of the three dimensional shapes they can make with their bodies, and to begin to visualize the fossilization process. We will continue with one more visit from her next Monday afternoon!

We have some amazing poets in our class who have enjoyed experimenting with many different types of poems. We will choose some poems to make into a class book at the end of the month and I will encourage them to record themselves reading their writing aloud on here.

It's very important that first graders recognize which numbers can be added together to make ten (0+10, 1+9, etc). We made up some stories about these useful pairs of numbers and began recording them on our Math Problem Solving Voicethread !

We began studying the words: friend, she, our, under, air I recently discovered the website www.spellingcity.com that provides spelling and sight word games, practice and quizzes that you can personalize with whatever words your child is working on.

For Earth Day (April 22) we read Miss Rumphius and talked about ways we can take care of our planet and make the world even more beautiful. Students then made Earth-shaped books where they wrote and illustrated their ideas. These are on display in our hall and will come home in a few weeks. We also started some lupine and other butterfly-friendly flowers in peat moss pellets! We will watch them grow and eventually students will get to take some home and will plant the rest around our school to both support the local ecosystem and to make it more beautiful.

In math we worked on making change, or how much money you get back when you pay for something. This is challenging for students as it involves both coin values and two-digit subtraction. We also introduced the idea of fractions by talking about ways to divide up crackers fairly between people. Students cut up rectangular paper “crackers” in different ways and practiced dividing up groups of manipulatives in different ways. You can support this by using fractions in your everyday vocabulary, for example, when dividing up food between four members of the family you can say that everyone gets one fourth of the total.

Finally, I’m very excited to have two new tools in our classroom:

SMARTboard and ThinkBlocks. We will be sharing them with other teachers at our school, but they will primarily be in our classroom.

Fossil song lyrics

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Copyright by Cynthia Stevens (sung to the tune of the aria La Donne e Mobile from La Traviata)

I am a cephalopod fossilized in the mud,

Swimming along one day- then buried in the crust.

Once a sea creature now I’m a geologic feature,

Imagine little me, preserved for immortality!

Remember me in the sea

I lived long ago,

Remember me in the sea,

I lived long ago.

I was looking rather thin,

‘til sediments filled my figure in.

I had no teeth or even bone,

Now I’m completely stone.

Trapped in the strata,

A bit of Paleozoic data,

One look and you’ll see,

300 million years of history!

Remember me in the sea,

I lived long ago,

Remember me in the sea,

I lived long ago.

April 6 - 10

2009-04-09T22:37:00.001-04:00

Enjoy these pictures from the past two weeks:

This week we started studying poetry and the class came up with some truly beautiful poems! After reading and listening to several poems, we came up with a list of poem features which included occasional rhyming, alliteration, feelings, and made-up words. The class also noted that poems are like songs without music. I will post recordings of students reading their poetry aloud on here after the April break. I will also send home copies of students' writing before the next conferences so you can see the creative work they have been doing. We are working on writing for the entire 10-15 minute writing time, building up to a 20 minute stamina. Feel free to send in any family favorite poems or poetry books for your child to share with the class.

In math we continued to study place value in two digit and three digit numbers. I noticed in the homework from this week that some students struggled with the math box about writing numbers with a seven in the ones place or tens place. For example: in the number 57, 7 is in the ones place (5 tens and 7 ones). In the number 75, 7 is in the tens place (7 tens and 5 ones). Please review this concept with your child as numbers come up in your daily lives....

We also worked on counting groups of coins (pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters) both with abstract symbols (a letter in a circle) and with real images of coins (both heads and tails). Most students are able to accurately identify the pictures of the coins and their individual value, but counting up the totals, especially over $1.00, are still challenging. Please help your child practice the strategy of counting the largest value coins first and saving the pennies for last.

For students struggling to keep the larger amounts in their head, it can be helpful to break the task up into smaller amounts and write down the subtotals as you go. For example, count all the quarters (cross them off as you go) and write down how much they add up to, then count the dimes and add their total to the total of quarters, etc. Practicing with real coins will make solving problems with pictures of coins easier. Students should be able to quickly recognize the value of two, three and four quarters. Most students know that 4 quarters = 100 cents (1 dollar), but they typically do not recognize right away that 2 quarters = 50 cents and 3 quarters = 75 cents.

In reading we practiced four reading strategies in small groups:

Comprehension: listening to a book on tape or storylineonline and then using the inflatable retelling cube to isolate which feature of the story students will recall (characters, setting, problem, solution, events, or favorite part). Some students struggled to use the retelling cube in a responsible way. We are continuing to develop students' independence to work together on academic activities in a small group with minimal adult support.
Accuracy: choosing a word (or two) from a book and making new words by adding on to the end of the word (example: "work" can become "worker," "worked," or "works"). Most students did a good job choosing a word that could turn into new words with different endings! Spelling was not a priority in this exercise, but it should help students attend to the whole word and not guess based on the first few letters.
Fluency: choosing a page from a book to practice reading aloud and then reading that page in front of the class during the next day's Morning Meeting, paying attention to the characters' feelings. You might have seen some of these pages come home for practice. Please help your child to read with appropriate inflection and in a voice loud enough for the class to hear!
Expand Vocabulary: choosing an interesting word from a book to use again later that same day in one's speech or writing. I noticed that students tended to pick fairly common words for this activity (what, and, candles) so I will be challenging them to choose more unusual words next time.

The current word wall list will be coming home on Friday in the hand-outs. Please take some time over the break to review the words with your child. He/she should be able to automatically recognize the words (not have to sound them out or ask for clues) both in isolation and in the context of other print. He/she should also be spelling those words correctly most of the time. If you see your child misspell one of the words while writing, I suggest letting him/her finish the thought/sentence, and then encourage him/her to go back and check to make sure the words look right. If they don't see the mistake(s), gently direct them to the word wall list as a resource. Remember that recognizing the word accurately is an easier task than generating the word accurately!

While making time to read with your child is very valuable, it's also very important that your child have time to read independently each day. Research shows that one of the main ways to help children become better readers is to give them ample opportunities to read and reread books at their independent level (no adult assistance needed). We are working on building students' independent reading stamina up to 20 minutes. Any time in your family's schedule that you can dedicate to your child's independent reading can make a big difference in their reading comprehension and fluency.

Thanks to all of you who have brought in many items for our classroom. We have plenty of yogurt containers right now. The "Creation Station" choice is still very popular and, as to be expected, we quickly go through the supplies in that area. We would really appreciate re-stocking on any of the following items:

tape
glue sticks
balloons
corks
wrapping paper
odds and ends (springs, gift boxes, fabric, etc.)

March 30 - April 3

2009-04-02T21:40:00.000-04:00

This week we used the jigsaw technique in math to practice explaining problem solving strategies to each other. In a "jigsaw," each table of 4 students become "experts" in one kind of problem. The tables then disperse into 4 new groups, with one expert from each kind of problem. Each expert takes a turn explaining their problem to the rest of the group and then checks their work. We have primarily used this on our "math box" pages as they provide both a review of skills previously taught, and a challenge/extension of those concepts. I copied page 174 from students' math journals for homework on Friday so you can see a math box page yourselves. On Friday morning, students took turns recording their problem solving strategies for this page on a new Voicethread:

We also reviewed polygons and lines of symmetry this week. Students continued playing Race to 100 with base ten blocks (regrouping ones into tens and tens into hundreds as they roll) and we added a recording sheet to keep track of their running totals. You can continue your child's study of place value with these online games.

We have been talking a lot about how to be a good friend to everyone at school and not leaving people out, especially on the playground. The class brainstormed several situations when people can feel left out (having exclusive membership clubs, saying someone can't join a game, etc), how that makes them feel (see list pictured here), and what to do when that happens: tell the people that it's not OK to do that, get help from a teacher or friend and think of a solution together. This is an extension of the Second Step violence prevention curriculum our district has adopted. We are in the process of developing skits around four common scenarios. The class had a lot of fun role-playing the negative examples, but it has been a little harder to practice how to handle those situations. Next week I will send home more details about the skits and who is performing in each so you can discuss them with your child over the April break (4/13 - 4/17). We plan to perform the skits for the other classes in the Annex later this month and I will post videos of them on here, too!

On Thursday we saw the fourth and fifth grade chorus concert at the main school. Afterwards, we got to enjoy the sunshine on the big school playground for awhile. As the weather continues to improve we will occasionally play some field games outside or go to the big school playground in lieu of having choice time in the afternoon.

This week in writing we introduced a personalized spelling word list for each students' folder. This is modeled after a tool used in second grade called a "Have-a-go" in which students "have a go" at trying to spell unfamiliar words a few times before looking up and writing down the correct spelling. They can then see how close their attempts to spell it on their own were, and reference that list in future writing activities. Our list will only have 1 invented spelling attempt and we will only use it for up to 3 words each day we do writing/editing, so we can focus on the few words we are learning to spell and so we don't spend all of our time checking spelling.

In reading we began using an inflatable "re-telling cube" to assist in comprehension. The cube has a prompt on each side: setting, characters, problem, solution, events, and favorite part. We also began writing down our predictions on sticky notes and sharing with a partner whether they came true (or partially true). In our rotation of reading activities we listened to new books on tape or stories read by actors on storylineonline and we also introduced a word wall dice game where you roll a die to determine which of six word wall activities you complete focused on the 5 words of the week: find the words of the week in books, make a mini-book using them, make them out of clay, rainbow write/paint them, make a list of rhyming words, or write them in sentences with a flap covering the 5 words.

Current word wall words: best, talk, think, nice, him. See the latest word wall list in the Friday hand-outs. Next Wednesday we will begin to study: as, knock, off, pull, zip. You can use this site to make word search or letter scramble activities to review any words with your child!

Check out this family event at the Johnson Museum of Art this Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Come enjoy a vibrant collection of original songs and skits about animals, the environment, food, and books with Tom Knight Puppets. The performance begins at 10:00 a.m. with artmaking to follow at 11:00 a.m. Fee: Free for Museum Members/$5 per family for nonmembers. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

March 23 - 27

2009-03-26T15:10:00.000-04:00

If anyone has pictures from the Talent Show please send them to me so I can post them here for the families who could not attend. We got to see a preview on Thursday afternoon (several fifth graders performed their routines at an all-school assembly) and it sparked a lot of interest, but we understand that the show is too late for many students' bedtimes. Congratulations to everyone who participated!

In reading this week we have been using a magnetic fishing pole to choose construction paper fish that have comprehension questions, literacy terms (e.g. fiction and nonfiction) and book parts (e.g. title page). The class really enjoys the challenge of pulling a fish out without dropping it, and having a goal to guide their reading. After 10-15 minutes of reading time, each student presents to the class or a partner their question and the answer(s) they found in one of their books.

We introduced a comprehension reading strategy: retelling the story to someone using ordinal words like First, Next, Then, Last. Obviously not all stories have four even parts, but the idea is to reinforce telling a sequence of events in order (and eventually, the elements of cause and effect).

We also introduced two strategies to increase reading fluency:
1. Rereading (or practicing) a sentence over and over until we can read it like we are telling a story.
2. Looking at the characters' faces for clues about how they are feeling so we can read with the right expression.

Next week we will be reading some short plays to reinforce the importance of fluency. I will be sure to record those readings and post the videos of them on here.

In writing we worked on adding details to our stories to stretch them out and make them more interesting. We called this "zooming in." Before writing we practiced telling our story to a partner, tracing our finger along the page as we talked so we could get a sense of how long our story could be. We also talked about using interesting words and not just the ones we knew how to spell or find around the room. Please encourage your child to keep a journal and write stories or letters on his/her own at home to build up his/her writing stamina and confidence!

In math this week we have been studying polygons and made some out of straws and yarn. We had a range of polygons in the class, from triangles to trapezoids to rectangles to hexagons to octagons and even a tridecagon (13 sides). Thanks to all the families who sent in three dimensional shapes so we could compare a circle to a sphere and a cylinder, among others.

We also learned a place value and regrouping game called "Race to 100" in which students roll a die and take that many individual cubes. When a student gets more than 10 cubes s/he trades them in for a long (a group of 10 cubes), and then s/he gets 10 longs s/he trades them in for a flat (a group of 100 cubes). There was so much enthusiasm for the game that we then played "Race to 1,000" and I made dice with higher numbers so the game wouldn't take all day. We used base ten blocks but this game can be played at home with pennies, dimes and dollars, or other small items to represent ones, tens and hundreds.

The new sight words of the week are: soon, far, their, end, from
We listed words that rhyme with "end" and "and" to compare the differences, and we next week will look at more words with the "oo" sound/spelling.

I will be at another Responsive Classroom workshop all day on Tuesday, March 31. The April snack calendar has been updated online and a hard-copy was sent home with the print-out of this posting.
Have a great weekend!

Mr. Popper's Penguins

2009-03-23T12:22:00.000-04:00

This month we have been reading aloud from the Newbery honor book Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. The class is really enjoying imagining what it would be like to live in a house full of penguins! We have discussed where the Antarctic or south pole is (where penguins live), versus the Arctic or north pole. The class has also enjoyed learning about roman numerals as the chapters are numbered with them.

We just read about the act the penguins are going to perform. The author listed three songs that Mrs. Popper plays on the piano for each of the three parts of their performance. We listened to each of these songs on our computer so we could better visualize what was happening in the book. Here they are for your family's listening enjoyment:

The penguins parade around like they are marching in straight lines to Schubert's "Military March"
Two of the penguins (Nelson and Columbus) pretend to wrestle with each other by flapping their fins to the "Merry Widow Waltz "
The penguins climb the cellar stairs and slide (toboggan) down them to "By the Brook "

Coin Songs

2009-03-19T15:00:00.002-04:00

On March 19 we learned four songs about coins (source: The Mailbox Magazine). You can view the videos of us singing and read the lyrics with your child. Enjoy!

Your child can also review coin values through the Everyday Math online games and learn about the history of each coin with the links listed below.

Penny sung to the tune of BINGO

There is a coin that's worth one cent
and penny is it's name oh,
p-e-n-n-y, p-e-n-n-y, p-e-n-n-y,
and penny is it's name oh.

There is a coin that's brown and round

and penny is it's name oh,

p-e-n-n-y, p-e-n-n-y, p-e-n-n-y,

and penny is it's name oh.

There is a coin with President Lincoln

and penny is it's name oh,

p-e-n-n-y, p-e-n-n-y, p-e-n-n-y,

and penny is it's name oh.

Learn more about pennies

Nickel sung to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot

I'm a little nickel,

can't you see,

I have President Jefferson on me.

When you go to spend me

don't forget

that I am worth

exactly five cents.

Learn more about nickels

Dime sung to the tune of Ten Little Indians

One little, two little, three little pennies,
four little, five little, six little pennies,
seven little, eight little, nine little pennies,
ten pennies equals one dime

Learn more about dimes

Quarter sung to the tune of Clementine

Found a quarter, found a quarter,
found a quarter just now.

Just now I found a quarter,
found a quarter just now.

It is bigger, it is bigger,
it is bigger than the rest.

It is round and it is silver,
and it's worth twenty-five cents.

Learn more about quarters

March 16 - 20

2009-03-18T18:41:00.001-04:00

On Tuesday we had a webchat with Samantha Sands from the Museum of the Earth to ask some follow-up questions we had after our field trip. We learned about where the first dinosaur museum was, as described in the picture book The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins that we have in our classroom. We also learned that local fossils we find in New York state are actually older than the dinosaurs! Samantha said that families are welcome to bring local fossils to the Museum for help identifying what kinds of sea creatures they may include.

This week in math we continued to study the value of a quarter and how to make the equivalent of a quarter using pennies, nickels and dimes. We also reviewed measuring length in centimeters, counting seconds on a clock, and various ways to make a number using addition, subtraction, tally marks, and number words. We played some math games in partners that reviewed skills like ordinal number (first, second, third...), telling time to the quarter hour, counting by 2s up to 100, and place value (32 = 3 tens and 2 ones). Next week we will play more place value games to help students master the concept of the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a 3 digit number.

In reading we studied word endings to help improve our accuracy and to further expand our vocabulary. We looked for words in the books we were reading that can change depending on the ending (e.g. work, works, worked, working, worker...). We also practiced developing our fluency by picking a sentence to reread until we could say it to the class as smoothly as we would if we were just talking. Thanks to everyone who has been staying on top of the book envelopes that come home and making time in your schedule to listen to your child read these books. An important way to improve your child's reading is to allow time for them to read everyday (both on their own and with/to others).

This week we also had a visit from children's book author Brad Herzog. He shared how be became a writer (by reading lots of books) and where he has gotten ideas for books (everyday experiences like having the hiccups and going to the zoo). He also shared a picture book he had written with his sons that he had made into a hardback book using illustory. Special thanks to our librarian, Ms. Groff, for arranging his visit, sharing some of his books with our students during library time, and scheduling his day so each grade level could meet with him in a small group setting.

Finally, we introduced three new games for choice time: Boggle, Farkle, and Mancala. In addition to developing sportsmanship, communication and cooperation, these games can help develop spelling/vocabulary and counting/strategy skills.

I recently began to introduce the new word wall words on Wednesdays in order to to maximize students' retention of these words over the weekend. So the list you'll see come home each Friday includes the current words. For those of you looking to get ahead, next Wednesday we will begin to study: end, far, from, soon, their.

Enjoy these pictures of students spelling out our current words with their bodies. Photos are in this order: ask, once, many, new, wrong. (Note: wrong = two photos because the w was so wide!)

Please remember there is no school on Friday (March 20). Have a nice weekend!

March 9 - 13

2009-03-12T18:08:00.002-04:00

(pictures of animals made in art last week)

On Monday we went on our field trip to the Museum of the Earth with our partner class from Northeast Elementary School. Before the trip we role played what it would be like to ride the bus next to our buddy and how to ask questions that require more than a "yes" or "no" answer to help keep the conversation going. We also had a goal to find at least three things that we both liked before we arrived at the museum.

When we got there we split into two groups and took turns completing a scavenger hunt (look for a copy of it coming home with the Friday hand-outs) and a presentation by Samantha Sands in which students got to handle many fossils and learn about different kinds of dinosaurs. We got to ride the bus to Northeast so our students could see what their school looked like, and then at the end of the day the bus dropped us off first so the other students could see what Belle Sherman looked like. Thank you to all the family members who took time out of their day to join us there.

Scroll down to see pictures and hear student reflections on the experience. Next week we will try to have a webchat with Samantha to ask some follow-up dinosaur questions and she will come to our school to deliver a copy of Digging Up Dinosaurs by Aliki for every student!

This week in math we have been looking at the second hand on the clock and seeing how many times we can do certain things in 15 seconds. The students quickly figured out that 15 seconds occur every time the second hand goes past any 3 numbers on the clock. They also noted that there are four groups of 15 seconds in a minute (15 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 60) and four groups of 15 minutes in an hour.

The trickiest part of the math this week was when we gathered data and then had to find the range (the difference between the highest and lowest numbers) and the middle point between those numbers. We used a 100 chart and looked at shortcuts to find the range, like each row = a group of 10. Friday's homework includes practice for this concept.

In reading we practiced making a prediction, checking to see if it was correct (or partially correct), and then finding the evidence that the prediction was based on. Students did a great job using this strategy to improve their comprehension, and using a sticky note and pencil as tools to record their thinking. Next week we will practice looking at word endings to improve our accuracy (works vs. worked vs. working) and illustrating/writing the main parts of the story to improve our comprehension. We also made bookmarks this week to help us remember which book we were reading last and what page we were on. I am trying to have students pick out a few books to read to someone outside of school at least once each week. Thanks for getting the book envelopes back to school in a timely manner so we can send new books home! Please use the notes page to share any feedback about the level of difficulty of the books and the attitude/effort/level of success you see from your child.

We are also working on keeping sharing a time for storytelling and not merely "show and tell." PLEASE remind your child that he/she can bring in an artifact, souvenir, picture or other prop that supports the story they want to tell, but that this is not a time to just show a toy and say "I think this is cool." We are trying to develop good listening and speaking skills. We are also building our classroom community by helping students get to know each other better and feel safe opening up to each other. I do not want anyone to feel like they have nothing to share if they don't have an expensive/new toy, or for it to deteriorate into oneupsmanship.

For ideas on how you can help prepare your student for a successful sharing/storytelling experience, please see this online article from the Responsive Classroom program - the workshop series I am attending one day a week for the next several weeks. Thank you for your support. Also please continue the conversations we have been having about sitting next to different people when we sit in a circle for morning meeting and snack/sharing. I will be assigning students to new seats at the tables over the weekend, too.

Finally, thank you for all of the birthday cards and treats this week! It was really fun to celebrate with the class on Thursday. Enjoy these pictures from recent choice time and the birthday snack:

Museum of the Earth Field Trip!

2009-03-09T14:25:00.003-04:00

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March 2 - 6

2009-03-05T22:55:00.004-05:00

It has been a busy week! I've really enjoyed having conferences with each of you and I appreciate everyone making accommodations for the two half days. Please remember that I'm happy to meet with you again before the end of the year report cards come out if you have any new questions or concerns.

We got a "second grade style" desk that will stay in the room for the rest of the year. Everyone will get a chance to do some work there to see what it will feel like next year, and it will serve as a quiet place to work for anyone who is too distracted at their group table. I will also move everyone's seating assignments on the carpet and at the tables in a few weeks.

This week in math we introduced quarters and will continue to study them next week. Students will be working on comparing two groups of coins and making a sum of money with different combinations of coins. In the Everyday Math curriculum the coins are often represented by the first letter of the coin name in a circle. To reinforce the coin values, we have been drawing a dot for each group of five cents on these coin symbols; so a nickel gets one dot, a dime gets two dots, and a quarter gets 5 dots:

This strategy can help students who struggle to count a group of these coin symbols, especially when they are not in order (pennies do not get any dots and are counted last in the group, which involves switching from counting by 5s to 1s). You can try drawing these dots this when you help your child with his/her math homework and any extra challenge problems you give him/her!

In reading this week we worked on predicting as a strategy to improve our reading comprehension. We started using a sticky note to mark where in the book we made a prediction (cover, beginning or middle of the story...) and then checked how accurate our prediction was. Next we will begin writing/drawing/recording our predictions and writing/drawing/recording what actually happened in the story, and then we will write/draw/record our predictions and our evidence on which our predictions are based.

In reading we also practiced looking for letters that have more than 1 sound and trying both sounds to improve our accuracy when we have to sound out unknown words. We have displays in the room for Cc (/k/ like candy or /s/ like cereal), Gg (/g/ like gorilla or /j/ like giraffe) and the long/short vowel sounds.

We continue to look for spelling patterns that can be a signal for which vowel sound the vowel will make (like silent e: rid vs. ride, and rhymes: day, bay, ray).

We had a good discussion about the importance of including everyone and making new friends. We discussed what it can look like when people are left out on the playground and in the classroom, and that's not OK to tell someone that they can't play with you or to have a club that certain people cannot join. We talked about how people felt when they were excluded, how to get help when it happens, and what we can do to prevent those situations from happening so no one feels sad.

We came up with several ideas which we plan to develop into some short skits that we hope to perform for the Kindergarten classes to help teach them how to be a good friend to everyone. In addition to supporting students working/playing/sitting with new people in the classroom, I'm also going to encourage students to invite friends from the other first grade and Kindergarten classes to come eat lunch and have choice with us in our room (and vice versa) to help develop new friendships. Please discuss these important lessons with your child and ask them who they are trying to befriend.

On Monday we will meet our buddies from Northeast Elementary School when we go to the Museum of the Earth! We will share a bus with our buddies and will work on some conversation skills to help make the bus ride fun for everyone. We will complete a scavenger hunt, a hands-on fossil activity, and eat lunch at the museum with our buddies. I will email those of you who volunteered to chaperone with more details. After the field trip we will do several activities on dinosaurs and other extinct animals, then we will study endangered animals.

I want to let you know that you will see some substitutes once a week for the next six weeks as I will be attending all-day teacher workshops on the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching. This program aims to create a strong and safe school community that emphasizes social, emotional, and academic growth. I have already studied this program's literature and am eager to learn more. While I don't like to be out of the classroom, I really believe in the value and importance of this program and I appreciate that our district does, too (it's required of all teachers new to ICSD).

Next week's sight words will be: ask, many, new, once, wrong.

February 23 - 27

2009-02-26T19:49:00.000-05:00

This week we welcomed Ryan back to the classroom! He has done a great job learning the routines and reconnecting with everyone. I've been really proud of how the students have been eager to help him and include him.

We started studying "fact families" in math, which involves making 2 addition equations and 2 subtraction equations using a set of 3 numbers (e.g. 5+3=8, 3+5=8, 8-3=5, 8-5=3). We also introduced name collection boxes, which are various ways to make or say a number (e.g. 12 = 1 dozen, twelve, 6+6, 14-2, etc.), and the addition/subtraction table which can help students see patterns in addition and subtraction.

We also learned two new reading strategies and practiced using each:
1. paying attention to ?, !, words in bold, italics, underline or otherwise different to read more fluently and with expression, not like a robot.
2. picking a word from a book to remember and try to use in conversation/writing that same day to expand your vocabulary.

In writing we addressed the first grade goal of using the words like "First, Next, Then, Last" to organize our sentences when we wrote instructions for how to do something. I will have copies of your child's writing available for you to take home at his/her conference next week.

Please remember that students will be dismissed at 11:00 on Thursday and Friday next week.

We would really appreciate additional tissues and glue sticks for the classroom.

Thanks so much for your ongoing generosity!

Next week's sight words will be: door, just, last, more, pick

Enjoy these pictures from the past two weeks:

February 9-13

2009-02-08T16:52:00.164-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you enjoy all the beautiful crafts your child brought home this week. Many of the crafts will be available during choice time for the next few weeks for anyone who missed that day or wants to make more. We will make Borax crystals in different colors later in the year. Directions for making Borax crystals yourself are available online. Thanks to Mary Jo for providing many of the supplies and to all the volunteers who helped out! I will post pictures of the festivities here soon.

Please remember there is no school next week (February 16-20). When we return we will begin learning about dinosaurs in preparation for our field trip to the Museum of the Earth on March 9. In addition to learning science, specifically paleontology, one of the objectives of the field trip is to develop friendships between the schools as the students will eventually end up at the same middle school. We will practice some conversation skills to help facilitate social interaction between the students, especially on the bus ride when students will be sitting with their buddies.

This week in writing we responded to letters from our field trip buddies at Northeast Elementary School! We also worked on describing a specific event in great detail, by explaining each step we took to make a wheel and axle design in science using words like First, Next, Then and Last to organize our writing. That piece of writing will be on display in the hall outside the classroom and you can see more examples of your child's writing during conferences in the first week of March. If you have not already scheduled a conference time, you can do so below or I will contact you after the break.

This week in math we reviewed drawing a picture for a word problem, using "doubles" addition facts to solve similar problems (e.g. if 5+5=10 then 5+6=11), and using function machines more. We also used tangrams and played some money games with $1, $5, $10, $50 and $100. Please continue to help your child memorize the "doubles" addition facts from 0-10 and to challenge your child to work with two and three digit numbers at home, too!

In reading we created a display of the reading strategies we have been learning and practicing at school. The strategies are organized by what they help readers with: comprehension/understanding, accuracy/reading words correctly, fluency/reading smoothly, or expanding vocabulary/noticing, learning, and using new words.

Recent "accuracy" strategies we have been learning include:

1. Skip an unknown word, read to the end of the sentence or page, then go back and reread so you can make a better guess about the unknown word.

2. Trying each sound a letter can make (hard/soft c and g, long/short a, e, i, o, u)

3. Looking for word parts (words within words like "end" in "blend" and blends like "bl")

When we read we also practice accuracy by sounding out all the letters in a word (not guessing after the 1st letter), using the pictures for clues, and thinking about what would make sense in the sentence/story.

We need tissues and ziploc bags (sandwich or quart size) for the classroom!
Thanks for your generosity.

We will study these sight words in the last week of February:
hear, mine, tell, were, time

February 2 - 6

2009-02-01T22:24:00.124-05:00

I spent Monday alongside the other first grade teachers in the district evaluating recent student writing samples. The results of your child's specific work will be discussed at conferences (see below), but in general I found that our students have great ideas of things to write about, use good descriptive vocabulary, and are skilled at using phonetic spelling for words they don't know. Some common goals for the class to work on included using capital and lower case letters appropriately, using transition words between ideas (first, next, then, last...) and using a wider variety of sentence structures.

While I was at this meeting Richie helped the students experiment with wheels and axles. They configured different designs using large and small wheels in a variety of combinations. See the pictures below and the Foss Science Balance and Motion website for more information about the experiments we have been doing and an interactive "roller coaster design" game your whole family can enjoy.

You'll also see pictures of us celebrating Sophia's birthday this week with cupcakes that had mini marshmallow snowpeople on them, and a applesauce and cinnamon dough project with Sophia's Mom and brother. You may have seen some of the extra dough come home on Wednesday afternoon in a Ziploc bag. Your child can use the dough to make something and set it out to dry for a few days and it will harden into a cinnamon-scented masterpiece! MaryJo suggests that you bake it at 200 degrees for about an hour to thoroughly dry it out. Our masterpieces will come home at the end of next week.

This week in math we looked at patterns in addition facts, such as what happens when you add zero or add one, and when you switch the order of numbers (2+3=5, 3+2=5, 5=2+3, and 5=3+2). We also started to memorize the "doubles" (1+1, 2+2, 3+3 ...) and the pairs that add up to 10 (0+10, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5). Please help your child practice those kinds of problems at home so they can become automatic and use those facts to help them solve similar problems. Up until this point we have been using manipulatives like pennies, fingers, calculators, or drawing a picture to solve addition problems, and throughout the rest of the year we will be encouraging students to do more "mental math" and build off the addition facts they have memorized. For example, if you know 6+6=12 then you can easily figure out 6+7. Many of the students are using this strategy already in addition problems but aren't as comfortable using it in subtraction problems.

We also introduced the Function Machine in math, where students have to figure out the "rule" that is being applied to numbers. This is very similar to the Frames and Arrows number patterns students have been doing, but it is usually displayed with a box showing numbers going in and out, and then the input and output numbers are in a table or list. It can be a bit of an abstract concept for students and the visual organization often confuses them, so I try to simplify it by asking students how to get from the first number (input) to the second number (output).

This week we wrote a friendly letter to our buddies in first grade at Northeast Elementary School who will be going on the field trip to the Museum of the Earth with our class on March 9. We should be receiving letters from them soon and will communicate with our pen pals throughout the rest of the school year!

Next week we will study these wight words:
gave, keep, house, name, had

Please make sure your child has not accidentally brought home someone else's snow pants, and be sure that your child's name is in every article of clothing that comes to school! Also make sure your child has extra pants, socks, and underwear here at school for when snow accidentally gets clothes wet during recess.

Please note that students are dismissed at 11:00 on both Thursday, March 5 and Friday, March 6. Conferences will take place both afternoons. Scroll down to sign up for a conference time if you have not already done so (I will email you or send a note to confirm your requested day/time).

January 26-30

2009-01-28T14:27:00.129-05:00

January 2009

Click the thumbnail above to view pictures from the past two weeks via Picasa.

I hope everyone enjoyed the snow day on Wednesday! This week we celebrated the Lunar New Year by making Year of the Ox puppets, paper lanterns, and having a group from Cornell show the first graders how to use chopsticks and do a traditional lion dance! The students each got a "lucky money" envelope with a chocolate coin at the end of the presentation.

We looked at "igh" words and at words that start with g with either the /g/ sound, as in go, or the /j/ sound, as in giant. We will continue to study letters with more than 1 sound (a,e, i, o,u, c, g...) so that we can try each letter sound when figuring out unfamiliar words when we are reading.

In math we used base-10 blocks to add two and three digit numbers and reviewed using the greater than > and less than < sign. We also played a variety of math games based around money: trading in pennies, nickels, and dimes for dollars, and trading in one, five, and ten dollar bills for one hundred dollar bills.

Next week's sight words will be: yes, does, her, room, need

This week I attended a district-wide Literacy Academy where I was able to learn about Kidspiration, a program installed on the school computers that allows students to create a variety of graphic organizers to document their ideas. I hope to implement this tool in our room in the coming weeks!

I also finished the mid-year assessments this week, which included a writing sample and having students solve some math problems and explain how they figured them out. On Monday (February 2) all first grade teachers across the district will be out of class to evaluate the writing samples together. Richie will be in our class that day.

Please note there is no school next Friday, February 6 or the week of February 16-20.

Report cards that come out in early March and will be discussed during conferences. Please sign up below for a conference time and call or email me if you need to schedule it on a later date.

Music Concert Videos & Inauguration Reflections

2009-01-24T16:28:00.000-05:00