During the first trimester, we have been learning a lot about maps. We learned that maps show places and can help us figure out where to go. After learning about the four main directions of North, South, East, and West we read the book, Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins. In the story, Rosie walks all over the barnyard before returning home. Using the compass rose, we wrote our own stories. Everyone worked in groups of 4-5 kids and shared the work. They used the map key and compass rose to complete their sentences to help tell the story of their character's walk. It was such a fun and interactive way to work on mapping skills!
On October 31st, we had a fun Fall celebration in our classroom! Thank you to parents for planning, organizing, and volunteering to make our first classroom celebration a success! Students were able to rotate through games like pin the bowtie on the skeleton and bean bag toss. They did two crafts in which they created a skeleton out of Q-tips and made their own goodie bag pumpkins. The party ended with a couple of stories and their special snacks. Fun was had by all!
During the first trimester, our primary writing focus has been on personal narratives. We have focused on organizing our writing with a beginning, middle, and end. We worked on making sure that our beginning include a who, what, where, and when. The ending needed to provide a feeling that connected back to the topic. Recently, we have been working on stretching out the middle of our stories to add in more details to help describe and tell our story. We used our common experience of the library field trip to add to our basic story to help stretch out our middle. Above, you can see what we added to our story to make it better. What we added/fixed is squiggle-lined (is that a word???) in blue or written in blue. We used this piece of writing as our example of a clear and complete narrative. We will continue to work on narratives throughout the year through Weekend News, work on writing prompts, and homework.
As part of our ongoing focus on community helpers and goods and services that we will be working on this year, we took a trip to the newly renovated Shrewsbury Public Library. We had the opportunity to take a tour of the library and not only see the places that are open to the public, but also got a behind the scenes look at what happens in the library. We were able to see how the new electronic book return system works as well as how books are labeled and ready to be placed on the shelf. We then ended our tour in the children's room. We were able to learn about all of the services that are available to us at the library and what is free to check out. Miss Sharon read us a couple of stories and we were able to explore the beautiful courtyard. Kids searched for the hidden owls that are part of the outdoor decor. If you haven't yet had the opportunity to check out the new library, I invite you to have your child take you on a tour of your own!
Our whole group reading instruction has been focusing on breaking bad habits that readers have. When we are starting out in reading (and even when we are experienced readers!), we can often fall into some bad habits when we come to a tricky word. Some of us freeze (stop at the tricky word and just freeze), ask for the word (What's this word? Tell me, tell me!), mumble (Hmm, maybe if I say this word quiet and quick no one will know I don't know it), or say a random word (maybe the word begins with the same letter, maybe it's a guess, but the word doesn't match what is on the page). Now that we know these bad habits, we can stop and try using a good habit to help us successfully figure out the tricky word. We can check the picture. Often in picture books and/or guided reading books, the picture may provide clues as to what the unknown word could be. We can look at all the parts of the word. What do we know about this word when we break it into parts. These parts may be small familiar words, word families, and/or blends of letters that make a sound of their own. Finally, we can check that the word we said matches the word on the text. We can slow down and say the word slowly while sliding our finger under the new word to see if what we're saying matches the word in from of us. When reading at home, help your child catch their bad habit and fix it with a good habit!
We are three weeks into our guided reading groups and full Daily 5 activities! Children were grouped based on either reading fluency or comprehension instruction needs. Each group consists of word work activities that tie into the Dolch sight words that were shared with you on curriculum night as well as word families and spelling patterns. We then move into vocabulary instruction that is specific to the text being read with the group. After we have gone over key vocabulary, we read through the text. During the week in which we work with the text, we work on fluency by smoothing out our reading when it sounds "bumpy" and work on scooping up words so that we are reading in longer phrases rather than word by word. More advanced readers are also working on adding more voice and expression to their oral reading. Finally, we work on retelling the text using the sentence starters: In the beginning..., Next..., Then..., After that..., In the end... When reading nonfiction texts, we identify important facts within the text that help tell about the topic. When reading at home, encourage your child to retell the text or key facts as well as identify their favorite part of the text and provide reasons as to why that is their favorite part!
We have been very busy in the classroom learning our Daily 5 activities and routines so that we are ready to work independently once reading groups begin next week (so exciting!!!). We spent our first few weeks practicing the routines of Read to Self and Read to Someone and building up stamina to be able to read to self and someone for 20 minutes each. We also have had the opportunity to practice the routine of Listen to Reading in which students listen to stories on cd or online. This week, we introduced our word work routine. Each week, we will use our spelling lists to practice reading and spelling the words during word work. Our practice each week involves a word sort for that week's set of words, writing our words on "bumpy paper" (paper with plastic craft canvas underneath), building the words with wikki stix, building the words with magnetic letters, and finally taking a partner test at the end of the week. Some of you may be interested in using some of these tools to help support your child with spelling at home as well!
To kick off our unit on Pebbles, Sand, and Silt we each searched for a rock that we felt was special in it's own way to have and keep as our own... our pet rock! We named our rocks, described our rocks - some were rough or smooth, big or small, shiny or dull, and the list goes on. We then weighed our rocks. We had to make a prediction as to how many unifix cubes we thought it would take to balance our rock, using balance scales we checked our predictions and then recorded our findings. Finally, we measured the length and circumference of our rocks by using string and then measuring the string against a ruler. All the junior geologists in the class were invested and excited about their rocks and ready to learn more about rocks in the coming weeks! Ask your child to tell you about their "pet rock"!
Our Writer's Workshop routine is in full swing and we have been very busy writing about some of our favorite summer adventures! Kids have been writing about beach trips, water parks, zoos, sporting events, and much much more. While our topics may be different, we are all working on making sure that our stories are clear and organized. Every writing piece needs to include a Beginning (who? what? where? when?), Middle (action that goes with the topic), and an Ending (a feeling that is connected back to the topic). The last five minutes of every writer's workshop session is a time for writers to share their completed stories. While the writer reads their story, the audience is listening for the beginning, middle, and the end. We celebrate every writer's hard work and effort by giving them 3 claps and at times offer constructive criticism as to how they can go back to make their writing even better. Writers gain confidence from the celebration and feedback they receive from their peers. I can't wait to read/hear what they write about next! Remember to talk to your kids about their writing and help them brainstorm topics they may want to write about in the future!
Our school year has gotten off to a great start! We've been spending the first few weeks of school getting to know each other and learn the routines and expectations of our classroom. We have been very busy learning about our new friends who we will be spending so much time with this year. We have also been working on learning reading routines. So far we have learned and practiced Listen to Reading, Read to Self, and Read to Someone. These are just three of the Daily 5 activities that we will be doing during our literacy block this year. I am in the process of reading with everyone and getting their current instructional reading level in order to begin guided reading groups in the next couple of weeks.
We have also been working on reviewing numbers to 10 in math. We are identifying and completing number patterns and finding numbers that are one more or one less than a given number. We are writing numbers in words as well as numerically.
In writing, we are working on writing our own stories of personal experiences that we have had. We are focusing on writing with a beginning, middle, and end.
I'm looking forward to sharing the year with this great group of first graders!
