March 20, 2015

Classroom News: 

• Hopefully the weather will warm up. As it does, the playground gets really wet, it's a good idea to send in an extra pair of socks to change into after recess
• Don't forget, gym is on Monday and Thursday. Please send in sneakers on those days.

Literacy

We celebrated the end of our reading with expression unit by having Mrs. Moulton's class come and partner read with us. The first graders worked hard on preparing a book that they could read fluently and with expression. They also put in a sticky note to mark a good spot to stop and ask the second grader to make a prediction about what will happen next in the book. All students, first and second graders, did a great job!

Math

We have started our next math unit: place value. We are exploring how our number system is organized by using tens and ones. The student have jumped right into this unit and are doing great! Even coming up with the observation that in the  number 37, the 3 is more than the 7 because the 3 is really a 30! Super work mathematicians!

Science
The five senses are so much fun to learn about! One of the activities we did this week was a taste test to discover the some of the different things we can taste: salty, sweet, and bitter.


Cross Grade Connection

This is a district wide project where  each JFK class is paired with a middle or high school class. The goal is to build relationships across the grades and district. Last month, Mrs. Sherrer's class  came to our room and joined us for mindfulness and introductions. This month we went over the middle school and had a blast! Mrs. Sherrer and her students led us in a movement activity and a dance. Then the younger students worked with their older partners for a building activity. Mrs. Sherrer and I saw and heard great discussion between the partners. The projects came out great!

March 13, 2015

Classroom News: 

• Delayed Start: March 18
• Fun Fair: March 20 4:30-6:30 - hope to see you there!

Literacy

For the last few weeks we have been working on listening to ourselves read. Before reading, we look that pictures for clues to how the characters are feeling and what they are doing. Then we read, focusing on reading with expression to show how the characters feel and  what they are doing. We pay attention to punctuation, including quotation marks. Talking tag words (said, whispered, yelled, etc.) also help us know how to sound. The goal is to sound smooth like a storyteller.


Each child is working on reading one of their just right books. This coming week, Mrs. Moulton's second grade class is coming and the first graders will have a chance to show off their expressive reading! We are looking forward to the visit from our neighbors!


Also, the entire district participated in Vermont Writes Day!

Math

We finished up our big unit that developed our additive reasoning strategy toolbox. We learned how to count on/add up, count back, use fact families, make 10, and be more flexible with how we use numbers. Monday we start our next unit which is all about place value. I'll talk more about that next time! We also will be working on telling time to the hour and half hour.


Jump Rope for Heart:
I've been teaching first grade a long time. I've never had such a great class of jumpers! We had so much fun jumping together, getting good exercise, and taking care of our hearts.