November 14, 2014

Classroom news:

• I'm looking forward to meeting with everyone on November 24 for parent teacher conferences. - Please let me know if the time I scheduled doesn't work for you.
• Library is on Monday - don't forget your library books
• Homework is now going home on Mondays. Make sure to send it back on Friday. 

Literacy:
We had a teacher from the Flynn come in this week and run an acting workshop to prepare us for the shoe we are going to see this week on the field trip: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Chester's Way, and Julius Baby of the World. 

The kids did a great job participating and we all had so much fun! We are definitely ready for the show on Tuesday. 

 
We also started reading some books by Jacky Davis and David Soman. We read Ladybug Girl goes to the Beach. This coming week we will ready about Bumblebee Boy.  

Math: 
The question we have focused on this week: How do mathematicians use addition to solve subtraction? 

The mathematicians in the room have figured out that we can use fact families and adding on to help solve subtraction problems. We will continue working with this throughout the week. 

Special Performance:
We had a trio from the VSO called Symphony Reel come and perform for the school on Thursday. One of our students was picked to waltz with one of the musicians! 

November 7, 2014

  Classroom News:

• Permission slips went home on Friday for our field trip. Please send back on Monday
• Parent/teacher conference forms went home on Friday also. Please fill out and return.
• Library is on Monday - don't forget your library books
• Homework is now going home on Mondays. Make sure to send it back on Friday. 

Literacy: The children are doing so well discussing the characters, problems, and solutions in their own independent reading! I'm so proud of them! We model the thinking and talking about books during our read aloud, then they apply it to their own reading.

Books we read this week:
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Rosco Riley: Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs, by Katherine Applegate (this is a chapter book we have started reading each day)
 
Want to know about great books? Check out our librarian's YouTube channel.  Laura Abbene, our librarian has books trailers for picture, tween, upper elementary, and young adult books. A great resource!

PBL:  Project Based Learning 
Driving Question: What kind of classroom do we need to help us learn?
We finished our list of questions and experts! Next week we start our group work and set up interviews with our experts.
 
Math:
This  week we sorted addition, subtraction, and combination problems. Then we worked on proving true/false equations. Our mathematicians are really pushing their thinking and love challenging problems!
 
Social Thinking:
One game the class loves playing during transitions is our Pass the Ball game. This game actually works on some social thinking skills. We often talk about how you need to let people know you are thinking about them. One way is to look at them when they are talking. The class has also discussed how facial expressions and body movements can change the meaning of what you say.

We  play this game in complete silence. You only communicate through your eyes and facial expressions/body movements. We sit in a circle and one child has a ball. That child passes the ball to someone who is looking at him/her. Before passing, they make eye contact and nod heads to let each other know they are thinking about each other.

The class does a great job with this game!

October 31, 2014

 Classroom News:

• Library is on Monday - don't forget your library books
• Homework is now going home on Mondays. Make sure to send it back on Friday.

It's been a busy 2 weeks since my last website update!

The class did so well on Halloween! They worked hard all day and I surprised them at the end of the day with zucchini eyeballs! It was a healthy Halloween treat that was also delicious! The kids loved them!

Literacy: We are still thinking about characters and now we are also thinking about the problems and how the character tried to solve the problem.

Books we read this week:
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes
Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes 
Vanishing Pumpkin, by Tony Johnston

Big Pumpkin, by Erika Silverman

Shake dem Halloween Bones, by W. Nicola-Lisa


We love Big Pumpkin! The children will be taking turns bringing home a copy of the book and the CD. 

 

 
 PBL:  Project Based Learning 
Driving Question: What kind of classroom do we need to help us learn?
We are developing our list of experts and interview questions. We can't wait to start the interviews!

Math:
The students spent this week analyzing story problems and sorting them into addition and subtraction problems. Then they used the appropriate strategies to solve each problem. This week we will be adding a third type of problem!

Wellness:
Diane Polson came in and taught us how important our teeth are to us. She talked about brushing, flossing, and going to the dentist. 

 Officer Dean came in and talked about Halloween safety. I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Book order

Time for a book order!

I'm sending home the Scholastic Book Order information. You can send back the form in a labeled envelope with a check written out to SCHOLASTIC READING CLUB. Or, you can order right online. Go to https://orders.scholastic.com/DZPMV or scholastic.com/readingclub our activation code is DZPMV. Please place your order by October 30. Please let me know if you have any questions!


You can also always access our Scholastic site through this picture.

October 16, 2014

 Classroom News:

• Delayed start on Wednesday, October 22
• Library is on Monday - don't forget your library books

Our school wide celebration spirit day on Thursday was so much fun! First grade was one of the winning grades that showed the most spirit! We made blue posters and blue paper chains to decorate the hall and add to the fun. Good job first grade!

And even though the teachers didn't win, there were a ton of stripes at school on Thursday!

Literacy: Our read aloud and mini-lesson focus this week was thinking about our characters.  We practiced using the questions that readers use while they read.
What is the character doing?
Why is the character acting this way?
Why is the character making this decision?
 
Books we read this week:
Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon, by Patty Lovell
Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog, by Cynthia Rylant
A Bad Case of the Stripes, by David Shannon
 
 PBL
This stands for Project Based Learning. In groups and individually, the students will be investigating a driving question for an extended period of time. First grade has launched their project! First grade's driving question is What kind of classroom do we need to help us learn? We will be using the STARS acronym, talking to experts, and figuring out how to use those concepts in our classroom to create a vibrant learning environment. The students are so excited!

At this point, we are taking time to write and share about striving, thoughtful, accepting, responsible,  and safe. Once we finish that step, we will work on our Need To Know  list and start researching experts.  


 
Math
We finished up our first math unit and took our test. The students worked very  hard on this. We talked about how the test is really a celebration of all the learning and hard work they have put in. We celebrated the next day by playing some math games. 

Our new unit is an extension of the first unit, but with higher numbers, more organization, and higher expectations. We started off by working with multiple ways to represent a number using different addition equations. One way we worked on this was with the activity Counters in a Cup. Students were given 10 counters. One partner had to hide some under the cup and they other partner had to figure out what was hiding.

October 10, 2014

Classroom News:

• We won the recess trophy two weeks in a row!  
• Thursday October 16 - spirit day... First grade is wearing blue
• No School on Friday, October 17
• Delayed start on Wednesday, October 22

 Thursday is our first school-wide celebration of the year! It is a spirit day with each grade level wearing a color that they voted on. First grade is wearing blue. Be creative with it and have fun! There is also a competition with this spirit day. Which grade level will show the most spirit? And... the adults in the school will also be showing spirit by wearing stripes! Will the adults win or will it be a grade level? Who has the most spirit?

The students were fantastic when channel three came into the classroom last Tuesday. They were focused, engaged, and showed all expected behaviors. Super job super stars!

Literacy:

This week our focus during read aloud and our mini-lessons was determining the character and the problem in the story. We practiced previewing a book with a book walk, making predictions, and then identified the characters and problems.
 
Books we read this week:
Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore
Hooway for Wodney Wat, by Kevin Henkes
Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog, by Cynthia Rylant
 
During writing time, our class of authors have been working on writing books all about themselves. This has been successful and everyone wants to keep working when writing time is over. Good work authors!

Math:
We have been learning a new type of math story problem:  combination problems. Earlier, we learned solving for the sum problems (I found 5 red stars. Then I found 4 blue stars. How many stars did I find?) Combination problems are different because we already know the sum but we need to find the addends. Here is an example:

I had 9 stars. Some were red. Some were blue. How many of each could I have?

In this type of problem, the mathematicians need to show several different equations that could solve the problem.
1+8=9
2+7=9
3+6=9

Every time we solve a problem in math, we have been asking ourselves, "Does it make sense?" This is a good way to start checking our work and to reflect on our answer.

October 3, 2014

Classroom News:

• Wednesday, October 8 is Walk to School day! The school is meeting at 7:30 in the Rite Aid parking  lot and then walking to school together! 
• No School on Friday, October 17
• Delayed start on Wednesday, October 22

Literacy:

The children are doing very well going to their reading groups, reading independently at their seats, and discussing books with their reading buddies. 

We continued to dive into Kathryn Otoshi's books. This week is was Zero. In our class discussions, the children decided that the big idea of the book was that everyone has something special inside, everyone has value.

Here is a video of the book:



Math Focus:
 
We've started math facts! Fact power is a fun part of our daily math routines. I assessed every child to determine their instructional math fact level. Then, the children work on learning new math facts. They use flash cards, games, and independent work. The class is enjoying this part of our day.


We also have learned how mathematicians represent their thinking on a number line. This was a big conceptual leap for the students. They showed good perseverance!


 








Mindfulness/Wellness:
Mrs. Murphy shared a great website with the first grade:  Go Noodle

This website has brain breaks that can be used throughout the day. The activities can be categorized by grade level or need (energizing vs. calming). We are having so much fun with it!


Special Guests:
Mrs. Puttlitz, our district wellness coordinator, came in and did some  more mindful movement with us. We learned a new way to do Row, Row, Row Your Boat and some new breathing techniques.

September 26, 2014

Classroom News:

• We have library on Mondays. Make sure to send in your books so new ones can be taken out. 
• There is a book fair at school from September 29-October 3. The hours are 8:30-2:30. Checks can be written out to John F. Kennedy School.

Literacy:

We focused on the big concept of acceptance during our read alouds this week. The week started with Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes. During our accountable talk read aloud, the reading buddies worked on making predictions and backing up their predictions with evidence from the text. Reading buddies shared ideas using turn and talks. Finally, we worked on sharing our thoughts about the big idea, or what the book is really about. The students are showing growth in these reading habits of mind. Good work readers!

Then we were able to read one of my favorite books:  One by Kathryn Otoshi. This book has some big themes in it. We will continue discussing this book next week while we work with another one of Kathryn Otoshi's books.

Here is a a video of Kathryn Otoshi reading her book: 

Catalanotto

Catalanotto
Math  Focus:

Math Focus:

How do mathematicians represent their thinking in more than one way?
We have been comparing two ways of representing mathematical thinking: counting on and counting all. Mathematicians are working on making sense of these two methods of representation and justifying that both ways are true. 


Special Guests:
JFK had 2 special visitors this week!

First, we saw the UVM women's soccer team. They spoke to the school about perseverance and how to overcome challenges to reach  your goals. It was a fun assembly with many JFK students trying out some soccer tricks.

On Friday, Sean McMannon, our superintendent, introduced a Special Olympian to the class. Josh has participated in the Special Olympics for many years and was the speaker at last year's Penguin Plunge. He spoke to our class about all the sports he plays, his travels for the Special Olympics, and the importance of accepting others. The kids loved listening to him and had tons of questions!

September 19, 2014

Classroom News:

• We have library on Mondays. Make sure to send in your books so new ones can be taken out.

 Literacy:

This week I've been listening to each child read in order to determine their instructional reading level and help them set reading goals. The instructional reading level is used to form our reading groups. Every child in first grade is in a reading group with one of the classroom teachers and other students at that same level.  During reading groups, we work on specific strategies to help students reach the next reading level. 

Every day, students spend time reading from their bags of books. The bags of books are the books at their "just right" level or independent level. These are books that the students can read on their own. The readers have been really enjoying reading and talking about their books!


Some books we read this week:
The Little Red Hen by Brenda Parkes
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Here is the story of Rainbow Fish online.

Catalanotto

Catalanotto
Math  Focus:

Math Focus:

How do mathematicians write equations and represent their thinking when solving story problems?
Wow! These mathematicians have been working hard! I'm so impressed. First, the students had to use representations to show what is happening in the story problems. Then they write equations. Finally, they have to reflect on their work. Good work mathematicians!

September 12, 2014

Classroom News:

• Delayed start Wednesday, September 17  
• PTO Fundraiser packets  went home on Friday

 Literacy:

How do readers choose books? How do readers do a book walk? 
These are two questions we focused on this week. We continued to discuss what books we like and  discovered new books! All students have book bags in their desks so they can read "just right books" through out the day. Several reading groups practiced books walks. Book walks help readers prepare themselves for reading. We love reading!

We also had a blast with our poem of the week. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Some books we read this week:
Alphabet Adventure by Audrey Wood
Matthew ABC by Peter Catalanotto
Miss Nelson is Missing by James Marshall

Catalanotto

Catalanotto

Catalanotto
Math  Focus:

Math Focus:

How do mathematicians write equations and represent their thinking?

The class has pushed their thinking and worked hard on writing equations this week. Mathematicians played double compare with a partner to build this concept. They had to add their cards together, draw a representation to show their thinking, and then write equations. As the week went on, many students started to reflect on their work and caught some of their own errors. Good work mathematicians!

September 5, 2014

Classroom News:

• Picture Day is Wednesday, September 10
• Delayed start Wednesday, September 17 

 Literacy:

How do readers choose books? What do readers do to start reading a new book? These are some of the questions we have focused on during read aloud time. As readers, we share our thinking throughout the read aloud and then the students go back to their seats and apply the same strategies to their independent reading. This week we've shared different topics that we like to read about (these range from cats, tornadoes, and Star Wars). Then, we've read books and talked about the books we've looked at with a partner.







Some of our read alouds:

• Dream Big Little Pig, by Kristi Yamaguchi
• Chester's Way, by Kevin Henkes

Math  Focus:

How do  mathematicians organize collections in order to quickly count them?

How do mathematicians write equations and represent their thinking?

I've seen so much growth in these two concepts. Counting and organizing objects was tough at first, but now we are able to do that and start to represent our counting on a piece of paper. Some students are even writing equations to explain their thinking. Good work mathematicians!

Wellness:

Nurse Liz came in and taught us all about germs! Ask you child about this lesson. We learned a lot!

Mrs. Puttlitz (our school's wellness coordinator) came in and worked on  mindful movement with us.

Our First Book Order

Today I sent home our first book order of the year. You can send back the form in a labeled envelope with a check written out to SCHOLASTIC READING CLUB. Or, you can order right online. Go to https://orders.scholastic.com/DZPMV or scholastic.com/readingclub our activation code is DZPMV. Please place your order by September 9. Please let me know if you have any questions!


You can also always access our Scholastic site through this picture.

August 29, 2014

Classroom News:

•  No school on September 1 
• Picture Day is Wednesday, September 10
• Delayed start Wednesday, September 17  

It's been a productive first week! I'm looking forward to next week!

 Literacy/Social Thinking Focus:

This first week, we have spent a lot of time reviewing the basics of our social thinking curriculum. We've been setting green thought goals each day, talking about expected/unexpected behaviors, and creating social behavior maps of different parts of our day. 

We also have been working on creating our classroom culture. This means we need to become a team that works and learns together. Learning involves trust. You have to feel comfortable to make mistakes and push your thinking. This trust develops as we get to know each other. The children and I are sharing information about ourselves, what we like, things we do, etc. This will continue for the next few weeks. 

We also have been working on acceptance. Acceptance, is also important in building a classroom environment that celebrates learning. Two books that we have read that deal with acceptance are:


Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes
Two Eyes, a Nose, and a Mouth, by Roberta Grobel Intrater

Math  Focus:

How do  mathematicians organize collections in order to quickly count them?

This is a HUGE concept. We have been counting collections, or large groups of objects. The mathematicians need to figure out a way to organize the objects in order to count them accurately and efficiently. We have figured out that we can group the objects by 5's and 10's to make it easier for us. 

 

First Day of First Grade!

There is nothing like the first day of first grade! We had a great first day. We focused on routines and expectations, which we continue over the next few weeks.

In your child's home folder, I put a notice with some more info about first grade. One thing I forgot to mention is feel free to send in a water bottle for your child to leave on their desk. Please make sure it is a water bottle that can close to help prevent spills. Also, please put your child's name on the water bottle.

Remember, if you need to get in touch with me, feel free to send me an e-mail or note (njohnson@wsdschoolsorg). I'm sure the children will sleep well tonight. In our closing meeting of the day, many students said they were going to take a nap when they got home. We were all tired by the end of the day!

Have a super night!

June 11, 2014

We've had some fun events this week! Don't forget the last day of school is Friday, June 13 and dismissal is at 11:00.

Tuesday: The first grade set a goal to earn 400 green thoughts. We did it! So we celebrated by having First Grade Fun Day! Each classroom teacher ran a station throughout the morning. I was Just Dance, Miss Willoughby made root beer floats, Mrs. Charron  made lemonade, and Mrs. Thompson made birthday cards for the kids with summer birthdays. The kids were great and had so much fun!

Wednesday: JFK Celebration! JFK earned over 200,000 stars this year! To celebrate, there was a magic show and a carnival. The kids had a blast and Hope even got picked to help out with one of the magic acts! We loved playing the games from the Big Blue Trunk.

June 6, 2014

What a busy week we had! Wait until you see all the special events that we had this week!

 Monday: We filmed our school's own version of Happy! As soon as the finished video is ready, I will share it with you. The kids were great! They were flexible during technical difficulties and showed expected behaviors during the school-wide dance.Here is a picture of us waiting for the camera to roll by!





Tuesday:  Eh Man, a high school student, came down to dance for our class. We first saw his dance at the end of the Spring into the Arts video and loved it!  (The beginning of the video has our very own Alexis singing with the chorus!)


Miss Kirsten helped me track down his teacher and we invited him to come to our room.We were so impressed with Eh Man's dance! After watching him dance, we wanted to do it too. He told us the name of the song and we have been trying to dance like him since then. The song title is DubstEpic Symph by Robotboys.




Thursday: District-wide celebration! The entire district (K-12) got together and enjoyed some mindfulness and then went outside and had some yummy ice cream!

Friday: CAREER DAY!! Thanks so much for all your help and support to make this a great career day! The kids were so excited to share their hard work in front of all of you. I was enjoying the speeches and  I forgot to take pictures!

June 1, 2014

Classroom News:

Huge THANK YOU to Joe, Peggy, Crystal, and Kadie for joining us on our field trip. I had a great time and the kids were exhausted when we got back to school. I took tons of pictures but I lost them all when I had to sync my phone with an old back up. Sorry!

 Literacy/Social Studies Focus:

This past week has been a big focus on getting ready for career day. The kids have finished the rough drafts of their speeches and we will be practicing starting tomorrow.

Math  Focus:

The mathematicians are loving geometry! We have worked on decomposing (breaking apart) and composing (putting together) shapes. We have also studied the attributes that are common among different shapes. This coming week we are exploring fractions!
Special Events:
We have a lot going on at school this week:

Monday: JFK is filming their own version of Happy! Here is Milton's version:

Thursday: Wellness connection with the our middle school buddies (more information later)

Friday: CAREER DAY! We hope you can come to First Grade Career Day! It is in the Performing Arts Center at 1:00. Hope to see you there!

May 23, 2014

Classroom News:

Wednesday is our field trip! Woo hoo!


It was fun to see Skylar, Alexis, and Theo at the Empty Bowls Dinner on Thursday night!

 Literacy/Social Studies Focus:

We read a great book, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. This book was  published in 1939 and is still a great book in 2014. We also read I Stink by Kate McMullen.

Then, we started to focus on books that we will be using during our field trip next week in the dancing and acting workshops. The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens  and Susan Stevens Crummel is one of my favorite books to read aloud. Please check out this book if you haven't read it. It's filled with fun dialogue and alliteration.

Another book we will be using on the field trip is Mortimer by Robert Munsch. This book is also a great one to read aloud. We found more examples of author's craft in this book too:  onomatopoeia and repeated text.

Math  Focus:

The mathematicians are now applying the conjectures they have developed in the geometry unity. They had to fill two of the same shape but one way had to have fewer blocks and one had to have more blocks. The students had to plan out how they would use the different blocks to achieve this goal. 

Social Thinking/Wellness:
The class did something really special this week. As a school district, we are trying to make connections across the building and using this connection to share different wellness activities. 

Our class went over to the middle school and joined Mrs. Sherrer and her students during their SIM time (Spartans in Motion). We had a blast out on the soccer field participating in activities such as hula hoops, jump roping, crane, and many others. The middle school students were partnered up with our students and showed them how to do the activities. 

On Friday, we invited the middle school kids over to join us for mindfulness. The students explained how mindfulness practice helps us to focus and relax. This helps us throughout our day. Hope helped to lead the large group through a mindfulness activity and then we shared a mindful message.