December 14 - 18

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

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

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

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

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

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: