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 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!
Speaking of Kevin Henkes...
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
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