It was another full week in first grade! Here's what we were up to:
In Writers' Workshop we learned about ways to spell words, we asked questions to add more to our small moment stories, we found out that writers need lots of things including a partner, we read our writing like we read books, and we participated in a Writer's Gallery!
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| We tell our story to our partner... |
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| then our partner pictures our story and asks questions like: Who...? What...? Where...? When...? How...? Why...? Then we tell our story again, saying more! |
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| We each designed a frame for our work of "heart"- our first published small moment story! |
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| Unique frames for unique small moment stories. |
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| Our gallery was ready for our Gallery Walk! |
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| Enjoying each other's small moment books. |
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| Looking closely at what other authors do helps us to grow as writers. The author of this particular piece was mentioned in our gallery talk afterwards for adding action to her story both in the words and in the illustrations! |
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| Without prompting from me, many of our writers wanted to talk with other writers about their work. |
During Reader's Workshop, we continue to build our reading stamina, and we're doing a terrific job! On Friday we talked about making a plan for that time by creating a stack of books we plan to read.
I can read all/most of the words.
I'm interested in the book/topic.
*I understand what I read.
*That last one is SUPER IMPORTANT and something that I put at the forefront of understanding what a just right book is. Sometimes kiddos can read the words without a problem, but when it comes to comprehension, they struggle. This will be a topic I'll touch on throughout the year with you and with your readers.
We also spent time with this week's Scholastic News issue "Fuzzy Friends." I hope you're finding time at home to talk with your first grader about their Scholastic News magazines. There is an online component as well that you can access at:
Password: havingahoot1
Favorite Reading Memories were our topic of discussion on Monday, and we each created a page of our own favorite memory for our class book. Your first graders are really identifying themselves as readers - even our friends who came to first grade saying that they weren't readers/didn't know how to read. It makes my heart sing! During the week we added to our Readers Build Good Habits anchor chart, and we'll continue to add to it over the course of our current unit.
During Math Workshop, our rotations continued, however, this week we added in Chromebooks as one of our rotations. Our mathematicians are spending time on Dreambox during that time which is approximately 15 minutes. We continued to practice playing math games independently in small groups but needed to put the brakes on on Tuesday to create an anchor chart of expectations during Math Workshop. We found that our voice levels were too high for students to do their jobs and for me to do my job. We also found that we needed to backtrack as well with "Partnership Principles." Our Friday workshop time was much more successful after this discussion and very explicit reteaching of the expectations. Phew! During that day's workshop we learned two new games: Bump +1 and Bump +2. Your mathematicians LOVE these Bump games!
It was an exciting afternoon on Thursday! We had our first round of Chicken Soup with Rice, and it was a HUGE hit! Some funny things I heard while our friends were sipping soup:
"The words sound bad, but it tastes good!"
"I could eat a WHOLE GALLON!"
"I'm so full, but I want to eat more!"
"How did you make this, Mrs. Mullen?!"
"I don't like rice, but I like it in here!"
Hmmm... might be time to try some new foods at home, too!
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| Each month we'll read and practice a new poem together while sipping chicken soup with rice! |
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| We also watch a quick video of Carole King's song Chicken Soup with Rice! |
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| Mmmmm... mmmm... good! |
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| Almost all of our friends gave it a thumbs up! |
Here are this week's Kings and Queens:
See you next time on the blog!
Michelle
Mark Your Calendars!
Monday, September 26: Retzer Planetarium & Nature Center 9:30am-1:45pm (we will board buses at 9:15am) Please remember to send a disposable lunch if your child is not purchasing a school bag lunch. Thank you!
Wednesday, September 28: Early Release Day
Thursday, September 29: Birthday Bunch (August & September birthdays celebrated with the first grade teachers!)
Friday, September 20: Thank a police officer assembly PLEASE WEAR STORMONTH SPIRIT WEAR OR BLUE & WHITE
Monday, October 3: NO SCHOOL
Wednesday, October 5: Picture Day at 11:00am
Early Release
Thursday, October 6: Book Fair Preview at 9:00am
Wednesday, October 12: NO SCHOOL
Thursday, October 20: Conferences 4:30-8:00pm
Friday, October 21: Monster Bash
Wednesday, October 26: Early Release
Conferences: 3-6:30pm
Thursday, October 27: Conferences 4:30-8:00pm
Tuesday, November 22: Music Concert (Last Names A-M at 10am/Last Names N-Z at 2pm)
Wednesday, November 23: Early Release Day
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