Four Winds

Today was our very first Four Winds of First Grade!  We were so lucky to have Mrs. Palmer, Ms. Marlow and Mrs. Roach come to our room and teach us all about spiders!  We saw a puppet show about spiders, we looked at REAL, LIVE spiders through magnifying glasses and we even got to build a spider with felt and feel what a spider feels through it's web- - what a great afternoon! 

During math we rotated through math centers to practice the many math games we had learned this week.

 Tucker shows off his awesome pattern block stencil design

 Mark, Connor and Colin use the number line to add

 Ryan F., Summer and Avery played penny-fist addition

 Hannah, Hailey and Colin used Base 10 blocks

 Angie, Joud, Ava and Gavin designed and built with pattern blocks

 Connor walked in this morning and we realized we were wearing similar shirts!

During reading the students did another wonderful job reading to their partners.  

 Aaron and Colin share stories

 Ryan P. shows Tucker one of his favorite books and was reminded that "c" can make a "k" sound AND an "s" sound

Hailey read her favorite poems to Summer and Ava

Have a great weekend!

  

Birthday Bonanza

Today was three of our first grade friend's birthday!  Avery, Jordan and Matthew all turned 7 years old today!  We had a wonderful time celebrating all of those birthdays!  They also loved seeing a birthday cake with candles AND tally marks on the Google homepage celebrating Google's birthday too!

Jordan and Avery- Matthew was out sick today!

In math we worked with tens-frames for the first time.  Tens frames help us recognize combinations that make 10. 



We noticed that when we labeled the tens-frames, as the first number goes UP, the second number goes DOWN:

1+9=10

2+8=10

3+7=10

4+6=10

5+5=10

6+4=10

7+3=10

8+2=10

9+1=10

10+0=10

Ryan B. helped us notice that no matter what numbers were combining, they all equaled or added up to 10!  We also played penny-fist addition (with combinations to 10), and completed math boxes in our math books for the first time.

During reading we practiced responding to reading.  When we read independently or with a partner, we are expected to respond to what we have read.  We can say what we liked or didn't like, a favorite part of the story or something that we are still wondering.  We read the story of Ping, a duck who finds himself in a little bit trouble...

The first graders enjoyed responding to this story and practiced what they were going to write by "EEKKing" with a partner.  When we "EEKK" we sit eye-to-eye and knee-to-knee so we can discuss our story.  

 Joud wrote, "I like the part when he went back home"

 Summer wonders, "Why did he get spanked?"

 Trace responded, "I liked when it said Ping had 42 cousins."

Ava wondered, "Why did the birds have rings around their necks?"

Aren't you so impressed with how well they're sounding out their words, and using uppercases/periods, and spacing?!?!

After responding to our story they requested to partner-read because they had so much fun doing that yesterday!

 Trace and Ryan P. had a great time sharing their favorite parts of the books they read!

Joud celebrated her awesome behavior by inviting Avery to have lunch with her and I in the classroom.      

Word of the Week

One of the weekly features in our classroom is our WOW word.  WOW words stand for Wonderful (W) Outstanding (O) Word (W) of the week!  Our WOW word this week is Unite.  The definition we're using is "to join together."  We have been using this word all week and are trying our best to fit it into our daily conversations and use it as much as we can in sentences.  Through our WOW words, we discuss the part of speech it is;  if it's a person, place or thing- that's a noun.  If it's a describing word, it's an adjective.  If it's an action or "doing" word, it's a verb.  We discovered that because uniting is something we can do, unite is a verb.  We also talked about pronunciation guides and how if we're not sure how to say the word, we can use those.  To say "unite" correctly you say it like, "yoo-nahyt."  The first graders loved reading the pronounciation of unite to say the word. 

In math today we discussed addition.  We first talked about what addition means- putting things/numbers together and counting the total; and then how we know we're going to be adding- whenever you see the + sign.  We talked about what adding 0 to a number does and what adding 1 to a number does. Avery helped us notice that when you add 1 to a number, you move up one place on the number line.  (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)  This was an amazing discovery in our classroom today!  To practice what we had learned, we used our math deck of cards to add numbers and write number sentences.  We also used our number lines to help us add and help us count up.  For example, if you turned over a 5 and a 3, you would start at 5 on the number line and move up 3 spaces and land on 8.  Then we wrote, 5+3= 8.  Using a number line is an excellent way to help us add.

 Gavin uses the number line to add two numbers.

 Another group uses the number line to help write their number sentence

 Hailey shows us how she uses the number line to add

In reading today we introduced the second of five reading choices we will have during our literacy block.  The first, read to yourself, the first graders are so good at it was time to move on!  The second, read with a partner, went so well.  The first graders practiced taking turns, reading quietly, and sharing their thoughts with a friend.  Soon we will have learned all five of our daily choices and will be incorporating them into our reading time. 

 Tucker and Hannah read together

 Summer and Joud partner read

 Gavin and Ava read together

Mark and Matthew share their favorite books

Wallah chose lunch with her teacher to celebrate her awesome behavior so she and Hannah joined me for lunch in the classroom today.  We had a lovely discussion about our friends and family before we all went to recess.

867-5309

This morning in math we practiced writing telephone numbers (did you immediately recognize this post's title?!?) and discussed numbers that were important to us like, our houses/parents numbers, 911, the school telephone number, and numbers of our family members.  We talked about the different parts of a number (Area Code) Neighborhood- unique number, and students shared their parent's numbers which was interesting because some of them were from area codes far away like California and Florida!

We also talked about how our addresses give the exact location of our houses and why that is important.  We even explored some of our addresses with Google Earth which was very exciting!  The students were able to see from a street view and "walk" around some neighborhoods! 

In S.W.R. we practiced writing sentences and the red word, "my".  My is very tricky because it sounds like it's spelled "mI".  The first graders are still working hard to remember to start every sentence with an uppercase letter and to end every sentence with a period.  I think this will come along the more we write! 

During writing and social studies we wrote about what we like to do with our families and illustrated a picture to go along with it.

Yesterday when I picked the students up from Art, Mrs. Derry our art teacher, said it was one of the *best* classes she had every had!  I was so proud of our class!  They each earned a warm fuzzy for that compliment!  

Ryan F. celebrated his awesome behavior by bringing in a fluffy friend and I learned something new today- your first graders LOVE to do push-ups!  They are so impressive!

 Check out that form!  

    

Monday Updates

Welcome to another week in first grade!

Today in S.W.R. we introduced the letters, "h" and "r" (j and p will be introduced tomorrow) and thought of words that begin with those sounds.  Our new red word of the week is my.  When we were writing our sentences we reviewed starting sentences with an uppercase letter and ending it with a period.  We also discussed that when we write names they are *always* uppercase.  

In math we started a new unit today.  Look for the family letter in you child's home-school folder.  We practiced using a number grid to count up and down.  Some first graders noticed that when you go up or down by 10, you can simply move up one square or down one square.  We also played "Roll for 50" to practice moving around a number grid.  We used the smartboard to play as a group before we played in partners.  The first graders noticed that we rolled 4 and 5 more than any other number.  When we played in partners the rules were slightly different and sometimes we had to move BACKWARDS on the number grid.  That was definitely *not* their favorite part.

 Gavin moves his marker up the grid

 And is so excited he's in the lead!

 Jordan and Summer take a turn to roll 

Aaron and Mark work together to play the partner version

During reading we practiced reading to ourselves.  We noticed that when we read to ourselves our voices are quiet, our eyes are on the page and we can use the pictures for clues.  We practice reading to ourselves because that is something we will do every day in first grade.  We are working to build reading stamina so we all become strong and fluent readers.

In writing we are working to sound out words by saying them slowly and S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G them out.  The first graders helped me write my grocery shopping list using this method this afternoon.  Saying the word slowly and stretching it out enables us to hear every part of the word and makes sure we don't miss a sound when writing it.  I cannot believe how much fun we had writing shopping lists! I'd be careful letting your child be in charge of groceries anytime soon because from what I learned today, the cart would be full of lunchables, bacon, ice cream and cookies.

In social studies we began discussing our families.  Next week we will move on to learning about our communities.  We would love to have members of our community come to our classroom to tell us about their job- if you are someone who would like to do that or know someone who would, please let me know.  There are all kinds of different community members and the more we can learn about, the better!

In other news, Jordan celebrated his awesome behavior with a fluffy friend on Friday.  Wallah and Joud went to a Saudi Arabian celebration over the weekend and Ava joined them- their parents sent in a photo of the girls enjoying themselves over the weekend.  We had indoor recess today which gave the first graders some free choice in the classroom.  Finally, the entire class ended the day at "Ready to Learn" today which is an awesome accomplishment!

 Jordan is very proud to have Ortiz join us at school!

 Wallah, Ava and Joud celebrate Saudi traditions

 Wallah, Summer and Joud show off their block castle

  Colin, Tucker and Connor use the Zoobs to defend a fort!

           

Math Stations

In Math today we were able to rotate through math stations and get lots of hands-on time with our math materials.  Math games on the computer were even an option and that station was definitely a favorite.  While the students rotated through stations, I worked with a small group at a time to go through our first math assessment.  I find that first graders are more successful with a small group format for assessments at first because they are able to go at their own pace, ask questions, and really focus without distractions.  It also gave me an opportunity to watch them as they completed it- I learned so much about how they are thinking and was able to see where they are confident and areas that they might need more practice.  It was apparent that our first graders are excellent at counting and skip-counting verbally but that writing numbers can be much more of a challenge!  As you practice these skills at home- try to involve writing numbers as much as possible!  

Of course, at the end of our math station time, I had many requests to take pictures of their creations "for the web".   :)

Avery used pattern blocks to create a "campfire" and Hannah, Connor, Wallah and Avery created an amazing building with Base 10 blocks.

 Connor brought his "fluffy friend" today to celebrate his awesome behavior!

 Hannah went without shoes today after cashing in her "Stinky Feet" reward!  I think she chose her socks accordingly...