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!