September 22-26

Hello First Grade Families!

Here's a sneak peak at our short week...

Here's our Royal Court, the last of our Kings & Queens!

 

 

During Writer's Workshop, we began our Small Moments unit. Thank you so much for sending in your child's idea sheet for this unit! Many of the kiddos have referred to them during writing time. 

We have learned the steps of writing a small moment story: First we need to think of something that we have done or something that we do. Next, we picture it in our minds or make a movie of it. Then we draw a quick sketch of our idea. Finally, we write words to go with our sketches. As our lessons move along, we'll elaborate on these steps.

We used George McClements as one of our mentor authors. He showed us how he wrote a small moment across several pages by remembering all the details of a little boy eating one pea! It's a very silly story called Night of the Veggie Monster. Ask your writer to tell you all about it! 


We also looked at how Audrey Penn did the same thing in an "old favorite," The Kissing Hand.







In Reader's Workshop this week we continued to focus on reading long and strong. We talked about how important it is to be "wide awake readers" so that we're sure we understand what we're reading. We know we're wide awake when we're thinking about what we're reading. Sometimes we wonder about what we're reading and ask questions before, during and after reading. 

We used Kevin Henkes' book Penny and Her Marble this week to do some shared thinking and have some shared conversations. These conversations are so important as we develop as readers! We learned that during "circle talk" we don't have to raise our hands; we just have conversations with each other. But, we DO need to remember that only one person speaks at a time; this can be tricky at first, but with a lot of practice we'll be circle talk experts! Our conversations helped us to then write about our thinking on post-it notes. We wrote about our thoughts on Penny and Her Marble and on our own just-right books. Here is some of the thinking we've done: 

In Math this week we continued focusing on number partners. We worked with partners of 6, 7, and 8. One way we supported this learning was by playing a game using chips that have a different color on each side. We dropped the chips and wrote the equation that our chips showed. Our partner then wrote the equation another way. We continued to use our stair steps to break numbers into two partners and to then switch those partners. We're also beginning to see how we can use addition to help us understand subtraction. We repeat these activities with each new number within 10 so that we can become fluent with addition and subtraction within 10. This knowledge will be necessary as we move into working with numbers within 20!

During Guidance with Mrs. G this week, we explored how we can work together productively. Each team worked on a drawing of a silly animal, but we couldn't tell anyone what to do; we could only encourage and support them. We started with a blank paper, and the first person in the group began to draw. Then it was time to pass the paper onto the next person. That person then continued the drawing while the others encouraged and gave compliments. Here is one of our teams and their silly animal: 

In science this week we continued our look at the weather. We began a weather chart where we will record each day's cloud cover, precipitation and wind speed using our class wind scale (0=No wind, 1=Some wind, 3=Strong wind). We created wind flags to help us determine what the wind speed is each day. Here we are outside with our wind flags: 

And here is Friday's entry for our weather calendar (sunny, no precipitation, some wind): 

It was another great week in Room 122!

Mark your calendars:

September 30: Lockdown/Evacuation/Reunification Drill

October 1: Literacy Night

Innisbrook Gift Wrap Fundraiser: October 1-24

October 7: Jose's Blue Sombrero Night - 25% of food proceeds to FPBS-PTO

Conferences: October 16, 17 & 22

October 17: No school for students

October 17: Monster Bash

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Michelle Mullen

September 15-19

Hello First Grade Families!
What a week full of fun and learning we had! When I was going through the pictures, I was astounded at all we accomplished together! To start, here is our royal court of the week: 

 

 

Aren't they a regal looking group? We had such fun getting to know more about each of them.






Our week began with me toting a large bag to our meeting place full of... SHOES!  Shoes for Reading Workshop? Why yes! This was our "IPICK" just right books lesson. IPICK stands for:
I - I pick just right books
P - Purpose: What is my purpose for reading it?
I - Interest: Am I interested in this book?
C - Comprehend: Do I understand the book?
K - Knowledge: Do I know almost all of the words?

I was trying to find a just-right pair of shoes to go to the beach, because I LOVE the beach and I love flip-flops. We discovered that even though both pairs of shoes were flip-flops, the pink ones were not just right for me, because they didn't fit me. I sure did like them, but they were not a good fit pick for me.

 Two of our friends loved each other's shoes. The looked comfortable, they suited their purpose of being comfortable at school, but... THEY DIDN'T FIT! A big point I wanted to really get across here was that we are all at different points in our reading lives and just because a book is a just right book for someone else does not mean it's a just right book for us. We also spent a lot of time talking about that when we spend our time with just right books, we get better as readers! On the other hand, when we spend our time with books that are too difficult, this doesn't help us as readers. The tricky part to understand is when we can read the words in a book but we can't really, truly understand the author's message. I'll be asking for your support with this  this year. Many of our first graders are so anxious to get into chapter books, but there are a lot of skills that they need to develop before they get there. 

 We also talked about how strong readers think as they're reading, and one of the things they do is make predictions. Two of our friends shared their predictions with the group. We showed how we can make a check mark with our finger next to our brains when our prediction is confirmed and a twisted fist when we need to change our predictions. 

We continued to build our reading stamina this week during Read to Self. 

Look at these engaged readers who don't give up! 

Even a loose tooth didn't distract one of our readers from her book! 

As you know, our author study is currently focusing on Kevin Henkes. We're reading his book The Year of Billy Miller. Another book we read this week was The Most Magnificent Thing, and we discovered a connection between these two wonderful books! Strong readers also make connections between texts and characters. Ask your first grader to tell you how Billy Miller's dad (Papa) is like the main character in The Most Magnificent Thing.



Speaking of Kevin Henkes...

We got a front-row seat to see him at work in his writing studio! We learned so much from this mentor author. We learned that he starts with the words and that it's a messy process, because he makes a lot of revisions. He also talked about how he keeps a notebook with him so that he can write down ideas for new stories: planning his life as a writer! The recording sheet that the kiddos brought home on Friday will begin this process. I can't wait to see all of their ideas from their lives/hearts that they will write about!  Ask your first grader what s/he learned from Kevin Henkes. If you'd like to view the video clip at home ("Meet Kevin Henkes"), you can visit www.kevinhenkes.com. 


We sure were busy as writers this week! We spent time this week talking about spelling words and strategies we can use when we come to tricky words. One of the strategies we focused on was using our dry erase boards to try the word three ways thinking about all the sounds we hear, the syllables we hear, and even (for those who were ready to hear this!) knowing that we need to put a vowel in each of those syllables! Here we are giving it a go... 

 

 
 Didn't we do some amazing work with these tricky words? The most important thing we learned was that we try our best then move along. We don't want to get bogged down with spelling, because then we sometimes lose our ideas and get frustrated. Having strategies at our fingertips that we can apply - and that are fun! - make us happy, engaged writers!

During math this week, we spent time focusing on adding and subtracting within six. We also learned about the Tiny Tumbler family and math mountains! Ask your first grader to tell you how math mountains help us. We also learned about circle drawings and partner trains. 

 
Here we are doing some practice seeing groups of five plus more. This is similar to our crows rhyme: "Five crows in a row and four below. How many crows?" This game also helps them with addition and subtraction within ten. Fluency with this concept is a first grade expectation. You can play this fun game at home by visiting the following webpage: http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3565

Mrs. Gianopolos joined us on Monday and will do so for the next six weeks for guidance. Ask your child to tell you about the special visitor she brought with her and also about our box of "Cool Tools."




Look at these scientists using four of their senses to observe the weather! We spent some time outdoors on Friday learning about clues in nature that tell us what the weather is like. One of our friends dropped his pencil straight down and could see that the lead stuck in the ground. He recorded on his observation sheet that the ground was soft. This clue would let someone know that it more than likely was not winter! Ask your scientist to tell you one thing that s/he saw, heard, smelled, and felt that were clues to what the weather was like on Friday. 

 
 

 

 

Our week was complete with a visit to the Book Fair on Friday! What a surprise for me to learn that the $98 we raised through the "Reading Makes Cents" campaign was not only going to a school in need but was also going to our classroom as well. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for all of the coins that were sent in! We were able to get some wonderful new books! Here they are: 

It was quite a week, and I'm so looking forward to more fun and learning next week, too!

Make a note:

* Wednesday is an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 2:30 pm.

* There is no school for staff or students on Thursday, September 25th.

* Our lockown/evauation/reunification drill is scheduled for September 30 with a rain date of October 1st. Please be sure you have turned in your child's paperwork for this. 

* Please be sure to send in your child's Writer's Workshop small moments idea sheet so that we can get those in our writing folders. Feel free to add a photo, a ticket stub, or whatever will jog your child's mind about small moments in his/her life.

* A Highlights magazine order form came home Friday. Even if you do not wish to order, please still sign your name and check NO then return. Our classroom receives a teacher-selected gift when certain numbers of forms are returned, and it doesn't matter if it has an order or not. Thanks so much!

Until next time!

Michelle

Week of September 8-12

Hello First Grade Families!
Welcome back to our blog and another exciting week of getting to know each other and our routines in first grade! Our royal court this week was looking pretty fancy, and we had a lot of fun not just learning about each of them but also their names. Some of the activities we do with our names is say them, spell them, break them apart and build them, determine which letters are vowels and which are consonants, clap the syllables in them and then post them on our word wall. We sure can learn a lot with our names!

Following a couple days assessing your kiddos in order to get to know them better as mathematicians, we began Math Expressions. During our first lesson, we started our daily routines and then explored our "Stair Steps." Ask your first grader what we discovered when we used our stair steps. On day two of this initial lesson, we were reacquainted with Puzzled Penguin! Our friends who already knew him were SO excited to see him again! Puzzled Penguin really likes math, but sometimes (all the time!) he makes mistakes. We have to help Puzzled Penguin out by not just showing him his error but also explaining to him why we think he made it and explaining different ways we can help him fix it up. When we help Puzzled Penguin we help EVERYONE in our class through our math talk!

Here we are exploring the stair steps:

During writing this week, we discussed WHY we do Writer's Workshop and also what students do during this time and what Mrs. Mullen does. 
Ask your first grader to tell you about what his/her responsibilities are and what my responsibilities are. We had a lot of wonderful time to practice these important skills this week as we wrote stories from our lives. Some of us were finding that after the mini-lesson we were unsure what to write about, so we created an anchor chart that we can refer to whenever we get stuck for an idea. 

Here's our chart: 

We also talked about how we carry stories with us from our lives every single day! We just need to hold onto them! These stories can be as small as stepping in a piece of gum on the playground to a ride down a water slide! Families: Find opportunities to point out events (big or small!) that your child can write about during Writer's Workshop. Soon, a page will come home for you to help your child record some ideas of what s/he can write about. We'll then put these sheets in our Writer's Workshop folders to help us if/when we can't think of an idea. 

Thank you in advance!

During Reader's Workshop this week we discovered that readers all have favorite books,  favorite reading memories, and favorite spaces and places they love to read! We each created a bookmark where we wrote why a particular book is our favorite. We also each created a class book of our favorite reading memories. Some wrote about a time with a particular book or a special person, while others wrote about a favorite place where they like to curl up with a book. In our classroom, we're trying out different spaces and 

places where we can read long and strong! 

Ask your child about spaces in our room that have been just right for building his/her stamina and spaces and places that s/he found difficult to build his/her stamina and why. 

Here are just a few of the books we read together this week. Ask your child about each one. Who were the characters in The Wonderful Book? Why do you suppose each one of them wanted to do something silly with the book? Why do you suppose the little girl in Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don't) didn't love books? By the end of the book, she does indeed love books! Why did she change her mind? Why is Just Like a Baby Mrs. Mullen's favorite book? What did dad, grandpa, grandma, the big brother and mom each do for the baby? We reread Grandpa & Bo to discover things we didn't notice the first time. 

What did we discover together? Why do good readers reread books?

Each month in first grade we will add a poem to our poetry binder from the 

beloved children's book by Maurice Sendak: Chicken Soup With Rice: A Book of Months. 

On this day, we will read and practice the poem together and enjoy chicken soup 

with rice! We'll also add an illustration to match the words in each poem. 

With our chilly day on Friday, we decided it was the perfect day to sip some warm soup! 

In science, we began our weather unit. 
We watched a short Brain Pop, Jr. video 
about the weather and then created a graph 
of our favorite type of weather. I think many 
of our friends are anxious for the winter 
months! Not me!

The Book Fair is coming! On Friday, September 19th we will preview the Book Fair. As part of this special event, we're hoping to raise money to donate to a school in need. Please help us help others by sending in change on the following days:

Monday, September 15 PENNIES & NICKELS
Tuesday, September 16 DIMES
Wednesday, September 17 QUARTERS & any other coins

Thanks so much for helping to get books into EVERYONE'S hands! ADDED BONUS: The classroom that raises the most money wins a special treat! 

The PTO will be sponsoring a Movie Night on Friday, September 19th from 6-8pm. This is an opportunity for you to visit the book fair while your child is watching the movie!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Friday, September 19: MAP testing, Book Fair Preview, & Movie Night!
Thursday, September 25: Fall break for students & teachers
Tuesday, September 30: Lockdown, Evacuation, Reunification Drill

Thanks for stopping by! 
Until next time...
Michelle Mullen :-)