Four Winds

Today was Green/Blue day.  Check out our outfits:

(We just couldn't resist a silly picture too!)

Four Winds today tied perfectly in with what we've been learning about- animals!  We were lucky (???) enough to dissect owl pellets.  We learned so much about what owls eat and how their bodies work.  What an awesome hands-on learning experience for all of us.

 

In SWR today we wrote more sentences with digraphs and blends and practiced our red words.  We are also starting to use "truce" in sentences correctly!  It has been a very successful week. 

We took our Unit 8 math test today and everyone did a FABULOUS job!  We rotated through math stations and worked so hard at every one- including the test station.

(Ryan and Trace show off their fractional creations!  Take a closer look!)  

In reading we worked to compare and contrast different characters from books we've read.  We also had a discussion about words that sound the same but are spelled differently and words that are spelled the same but mean different things.  Reading can be very confusing.  The words we talked about today were wait/wade and hall/haul/hull.  We read those words in Little House and the first graders recognized right away that they needed some clarification.  They are excellent readers!  

Tomorrow is BLUE/PURPLE day.  Try to send a snack and wear something that is blue or purple.  It is also Poetry Cafe day- we'd love to have you visit! 

New Books, Review and Stretching

Today was YELLOW/WHITE for color day.  We all looked so good in our colorful outfits!  We even had pears and pancakes for snack. 

In SWR we practiced writing words with both blends and digraphs like crash, crush, flash and other words like gram, grad and grape.  We are having a hard time using truce in a sentence because we keep using it as a verb- "We truced at the end of our fight."  We are working really hard to use it as a noun. 

We reviewed for our unit 8 math test.  We did a FABULOUS job and earned a 100% on our practice test!  We were so focused and worked very hard.  We are ready and excited for the test tomorrow.

We read more of Little House and learned how they built a door and a latch.  We are excited to get to the next chapter.  In our reading groups we are reading non-fiction and fiction texts about animals.  We love reading in groups and with partners.  One group has read a challenging book all about sharks.  They have learned *so* much about sharks- they are now shark experts!  The coolest piece of information they learned was that shark babies swim away from their mother immediately because their mom might try to eat them if they're hungry.  They said this is different from mammals because mammals take care of their young for a long time. 

This reading group is so excited to check out a book called, Animals on Show

In writing and science we are continuing to write and read non-fiction texts about animals.  We are having so much fun learning all about animals. 

We've been continuing to stretch as well- it is a great break during the day.

Tomorrow is GREEN for a color- please try to wear something green and pack something green to eat!  Also- remember to email and practice your poems!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Wow!  Our show at the Flynn today was absolutely WONDERFUL!  We had so much fun watching as some of our favorite books came to life and we heard about books we had never read before!  For me, watching and listening to the first graders as they enjoyed the show was the best part.  We heard SO many stories it is hard to remember them all, but some of them were:

 






We were back at school just in time to grab a P.E. class with Mr. Pecor.  We had a fantastic day today!

Tomorrow we will review for our math test which will be on Thursday.  The first graders are loving finding fractional relationships everywhere they look.  The colors to wear and eat tomorrow are yellow and white.

We looked great in our orange today! 

Color Week

Hi! A reminder that this is food color week!  Today is red (I totally forgot and wore blue...oops!) Tomorrow is ORANGE!  We are all going to try to pack orange foods and wear orange clothes tomorrow.  Please remember to pack your child a lunch unless you've requested a bag lunch from the cafeteria. 

Our trip to the Flynn Theater is tomorrow as well. We are very excited to see, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."  This book, and the other books in the series are great ways to discuss cause and effect.  If...., then.... Ask your first grader to think of if/then statements.  We did this morning and really liked the funny ones!  One example was, "If you don't try to make your baby sister happy when she's crying, then you will have a headache all weekend."  Another one was, "If you don't finish your dinner right now then you can't play with your DS before bed."  They were really catching on at the end!  

We are focusing on "r blends" in SWR this week.  We realized it is tricky to hear the difference and remember to write all of the sounds that you hear when words begin in br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, and tr.  We practiced writing the words trip, crime, drop, and prop.  We also wrote our new red words, do and to.    Our WOW word is truce- a peace agreement.  

In math we continued to work with fractional relationships.  We split different amounts of pennies by many different numbers.  We like using pattern block tracers and breaking shapes into parts the best.  

We read more of Little House today.  It is so much fun to see how much the first graders are enjoying this story.  They are already asking which book we can read next in the series.  We continued to read non-fiction texts in our reading groups and write non-fiction during Writer's Workshop.  

Our focus in science this week is fish.  Today, we learned that fish breathe underwater through their gills and have scales.  

We had a great time celebrating Hailey's birthday as well!    

Halves, Thirds and Quarters

Today in math we brainstormed items that are or can be broken up into equal parts.  We thought of pizzas, sandwiches, graham crackers, calendars, breadsticks, cookies, Kit Kats, Hershey bars, and loaves of bread.  We practiced breaking up crackers into equal parts and labeled the parts, 1/2; 1/3; 1/4; and 2/4.  We also revisted the In & Out machine today... once we realized the pattern was up and down by 10's, it was much easier for us. 

The family has finished building their house in Little House.  We were so impressed at how quickly they were able to build it.  We were also excited to learn that they have a neighbor two miles away. We were a little worried about them living by themselves in the middle of the prairie.  We realized as we were reading that after dinner, they sit by the fire and the dad plays the fiddle.  We think this is because they didn't have radios or tvs yet so they had to have fun with music.  We were quite surprised to read that parents and adults expected that "Children should be seen and not heard."  None of us thought that sounded like very much fun and were glad that we could just talk when we wanted to.

In science and writing we continue to read and write non-fiction and learn about mammals.  

We had a wonderful birthday celebration with Connor and his mom and aunt and had fun at Guidance with Mr. Moses.

Tomorrow is another Poetry Cafe!  If you're able to join us, we'd love to see you! 

Snow Day!

I hope everyone enjoyed their snow day yesterday!  I would much rather have been at school (really!), but it is always nice to have a surprise day off in the middle of the week.  I was so impressed that so many of the first graders used their extra time to complete math homework ahead of time and catch up on math homework they have missed.  What responsible students! 

In SWR today we practiced again with consonant blends.  We are getting really good at listening for these in words.  We are noticing them more too, when we're reading on our own.

In math we continued to practice giving change back.  We will shift our math focus in the next couple of weeks to shapes and fractions as well as continuing to count coins.  We played Base-10 exchange and completed work in our math books. 

We missed our Book Fair browse yesterday with the snow day so we visited the library during reading to check out the new books!  Our wish lists are looking very long!  It is wonderful to see the first graders so excited about books and reading.

I had two lovely ladies have lunch with me in the classroom to celebrate their awesome behavior!

In science and writing we are still working with non-fiction books and how to write non-fiction writing.  We have learned a lot about the features on non-fiction texts.  Ask your first grader to tell you how they know if a book is fiction or non-fiction.

Monday Mammals

This week in SWR we are learning about consonant blends.  Examples of this are bl, cl, sl, fl, gl and pl.  We are practicing listening for and writing words with these blends in them.  Today, we wrote slide, clap, slap and clip.  Our red word of the week is some.  We discussed how we already know the word, come, and some is just one letter different!  Our WOW word this week is dawdle- to waste time.  Our favorite use of dawdle so far was Ryan F's sentence, "Usually, at night, I dawdle when it's time for bed."

In math we are continuing to count coins.  Today, for the first time, we learned how to give change back by counting up.  This is a challenging concept to understand so we will practice many times.  Encourage your first grader to figure out how much change to give back when you are at home.  We have only used amounts less than 1 dollar so far and practice counting up by 1's (pennies) and then exchanging for larger coins.  We practice this by role playing that we are shopping and working at a shop- this is by far our favorite part! 

In reading we are working with non-fiction texts which fits perfectly with our Animal science unit.  We are recording the information we learn from reading about animals.  This week our focus is animals that are mammals.   Today we read about what makes a mammal- be sure to ask your first grader to explain it to you this afternoon! 

As a school, our healthy initiative focus this week is Being Kind to Ourselves and Others.  Every time we are kind, or someone is kind to us, we write it down and add it to our kindness chain.  We hope the chain gets along enough to go down the hallway at school. 

Money Problems

We read more of Little House today and were so nervous when the family had to cross a rushing river with their horses and wagon.  We were worried that they might die, but one astute first grader pointed out, "Well, that probably won't happen because then the book would end right now, and we still have about 300 pages to go."  Fair enough. :) 

In math we worked to solve word problems with money.  We solved a variety of problems such as: part/part/whole; missing addend; finding the difference; and subtracting.  We used coins, base-10 blocks and number grids to help us solve the problems.  We also worked to find ways to make ten so we could just take a rod instead of cubes.  We realized using combinations of ten is so much easier!  We will continue our word with word problems tomorrow.

 This group of first graders gives each other word problems to solve.

 



Wallah demonstrates how she used her number grid and jumped up by 10's then ones to solve the problem.

 

Today we read more non-fiction animal stories and compared and contrasted the two we read aloud this week.  We are learning a lot about animals.  We also sorted animals by their classification- if they are mammals, insects, fish, reptiles or birds.  We realized that we still have a lot of questions about how to tell the difference between some of these things.  We had a quick debate with a whale- some students believe it's a mammal and some believe it's a fish.  The first graders did a wonderful job convincing us why the way they classified it was correct.  Hopefully we will answer all of our questions as we learn more!



We have started another Guidance session with Mr. Moses which was extremely fun! 

Remember that tomorrow (Friday) is Poetry Cafe.  Please have your first grader practice their poem and remember that friends and family are always invited to join us!

More Than Ten 10's

Today Tucker led SWR to celebrate his good behavior.  He led us through our red words and helped dot all of the correct spellings of all of our words.  We are enjoying writing words with diagraphs and realize that we can spell so many more words now! 

In math we've started to exchange more than ten 10's for 1 hundred.  We practiced naming numbers with base-10 blocks and practiced exchanging with partners.  It got very tricky when the numbers weren't in order like, "I have 2 ones, 4 tens, and 2 hundreds.  What number am I?"  (242) It was even HARDER when we had more than ten 10's, "I have 3 hundreds, 14 tens and 8 ones.  What number am I?"  (448)  We will continue to work on this for the rest of the week. 

We read more of Little House on the Prairie today and completed chapter 1.  We are learning so much about how people traveled before cars and roads.  We are also learning new words like, jolt, sway, mule and hitch.  We saw an older version of a ferry that the family used to cross the Missouri River- we loved that!  It was just a raft!  We also read our poem together and individually.

In our reading groups we are continuing to work on a variety of skills.  One group is figuring out words with multiple meanings as they read Amelia Bedelia; one group is thinking deeper about non-fiction texts as they read about Animal Helpers; a third group is working on reading with expression, and how to figure out words that you can't sound out while they read Bowling at Home; and the final group is learning about animals as pets in A Leash for Sandy. 


Summer and Ryan P. joined me for lunch in the classroom to celebrate their behavior!

In writing we are coming up with ideas for a text we will publish about China or animals.  Today we discussed the various ways that different animals can move.  We sorted animals based on how they move their bodies. 

Dollar, Dollar Bills

We added "ch" to the digraphs we're working with this week in SWR.  We loved that we thought of a word that starts AND ends with "ch".  Can you guess what it is?  Ask your first grader if you can't think of it!  We practiced using collaborate in sentences as well and we noticed that you usually collaborate with someone to achieve a task or goal. 

Now that we have finished Year of the Panda, we started our new read aloud: Little House on the Prairie.  Some of us had seen a show or heard of the book, but most of us have no idea what to expect!  So far we have learned that they travel by wagon and are leaving for Kansas from Missouri.  This book has 23 chapters and 335 pages... we cannot BELIEVE we're reading a book that is so long.  We are so excited! 

In math we added dollars to our classroom banks.  Now, we can exchange even more than we were before.  We discussed how many pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters were in 1 dollar.  We also discussed how to "read" money and how to write it correctly.  We talked about the decimal point and its job and we tried to brainstorm what items we could buy for $1.  For the very first time, we had to show money with dollars.  It was fun to show $3.49 with dollars.  (And a lot quicker!)

In reading today we read a story about three mischievous leprechauns.  They got into lots of trouble.  We also learned about the story of the leprechauns, where they orginated from (Ireland), and what their job is.  We created leprechaun art projects and we wrote about times that we feel lucky.

In writing we are continuing to learn about non-fiction texts.  

We learned about animal habitats in science.

Your child's poem is in their folder today! Sorry it's a day late!  

Spring Ahead

Well, it was a bit of a crazy day as we all adjusted to the recent time change today.  We were ready to go this morning, but by the afternoon, we were all getting a little restless!  

We started our day with SWR.  Our red word of the week is saw.  Our focus in SWR this week is on the digraphs th, sh and ch.  We discussed how these letters together make a totally new sound and need to be read together.  We also discussed how reading the whole word at a time will help us do this.  Help your child find these combinations while you're reading together.  They have loved finding them at the beginning and ends of words so far.  Our WOW word is collaborate- to work together.

In math we practiced counting coins, drawing the hands on clocks and exchanging coins.  I cannot stress enough how important it is for the first graders to become fluent in counting coins.  We are going to continue to work with coins so the more practice they can have at home- the better!  Encourage them to always start with the largest coins and practice counting by 25's, 10's, 5's then 1's.  This will ensure that they are comfortable working with all coins and will be ready when we start to begin to give change.

   

Each reading group was introduced to a new book today.  We are reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts.  We also read our new poem of the week about the Zoo as a class.  As a class, we will be focusing on non-fiction writing and texts during our writing time.

In science we started a new unit all about Animal Classification.  This unit will take us straight through the end of the year.  We are discussing different ways to group or classify animals this week.  

Our photocopiers were down today so your child's poem is not in their homework folder.  I will make sure to have them in there tomorrow so there's plenty of time to practice!

I was watching NBC Nightly News this evening and was SO excited to see a news clip about the penguins in Antartica.  You can check it out here:

NBC Penguins  

Have a great week!

The Month of March

This week, instead of having a new WOW word, we've been practicing using all of our WOW words in sentences.  We have had so much fun using words we haven't thought of in a while and trying to use 1, 2, or 3 WOW words together in the same sentence!  The first graders are always up for a challenge.

Today in math we reviewed for our test tomorrow.  The first graders seem eager and ready to go!  We had time to explore with pattern blocks, shapes and lines of symmetry when we were through reviewing.

Today in reading we finished The Year of the Panda.  It was the first book we've read together that had an Afterword.  It was neat to hear about what happened to the boy and the panda after the story had ended.  We all agreed that we liked stories with an afterword. 

In writing we have been writing poems about the month of March.  We have many budding poets in our classroom.  I know your student will be excited to share their poem(s) with you.  They have been working so hard on them!

 Two of our Ryan's read to one another

 These two first graders practice reading poetry

Wallah works on her realistic fiction story

We had many celebrations today.  Angie and Mark received awards for their hard work with reading and math; Trace helped teach SWR; and Ryan P. was a "Busy Bee" helper to celebrate his awesome behavior!  

And of course, we had some fun trying to balance on my exercise ball!

Welcome Back

Aaaaaand we're back! I cannot tell you how great it was to see all 19 smiling faces this morning.  I missed everyone so much and couldn't believe how long vacation felt! Thanks to those of you who made it to conferences at the beginning of the week, it was great to catch up with so many of you as well.

This week will be a bit of easing back into our routine and catching up on some things that weren't finished before vacation so don't be surprised when you don't find homework in your child's folder today.  

We started our day by sharing a few of the favorite things we did on vacation.  It sounded like everyone had something special to report and enjoyed their time with friends and family over the break.  

We completed our last lesson in Unit 7 in math today and it was all about symmetry.  We learned how to make symmetrical designs with one sheet of paper.  Some of our shapes were SO cool!  We loved showing them to our classmates to see what they thought they looked like!  We had lots of alien heads, fish, and hearts.  

In reading we practiced a new routine called a word sort.  We sorted words based on their initial (beginning) vowel sound and color coded them on our paper.  We loved this and were surprised at how often different vowels can sound similar.  We will use our word sorts when we are at the Word Work station during literacy.  We are almost finished our read aloud- The Year of the Panda and are anxiously awaiting it's finish.  We cannot wait to hear what happens to little Su Lin. 

In writing some of us are working to finish the illustrations of our realistic fiction stories and the rest of us are free writing.  We have some students writing poems, songs, non-fiction stories and comics. 

It was a wonderful first day back together!