December 11, 2015

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday: Library
December 16 - delayed start
December 17 - Winter Performance
December 24 - vacation starts

Literacy:
We have been working so hard on doing an organized retelling of the stories we hear and read. First, we talk about the character (the animals or people in the story). Second, we talk about the setting (where the story takes place). Third, we tell what happens by listing the important events in the story. Finally, we talk about the character's feelings and how they changed throughout the story. Each child has their own bookmark that they use in school to help them retell their stories.


Math;
We have continued to work on measurement. We got to measure a bunch of paper fish this week. Students worked with a partner to measure perch, mackerel, and alewife. Then, the partners compared their answers.

I'm so impressed with the students' math talk. They are building on each others ideas. They also share whether they agree or disagree and can back up their thinking with mathematical concepts and ideas. The students have worked so hard on this! Through our structured math talk, we are building the ability to compare mathematical thinking, notice patterns, and learn new ways of solving problems (multiple pathways). Super job mathematicians!




Classroom fun:

It was Miss Osha's birthday! We used this occasion as a team building activity to create one, big, giant card to give her! The students had to all work at the same time on one big piece of paper. They shared ideas and then everyone got to work. Miss Osha was surprised when we gave it to her on Thursday.  Good work team!

We also counted our stars! First grade has run out of stars and we have no idea how many we already earned. So, as a grade, we each decided to count all our stars and then add it together. We will then set a grade level goal. Our class dumped out our stars and did what mathematicians do, they organized their counting! For us, that meant putting the stars in groups of ten. Our class earned 863 stars! We were shocked that there were so many! After counting, the kids put 100 stars in my hand. Then we passed the 100 stars around the circle so each person could feel what 100 stars feels like.

December 6, 2015

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday: Library
December 16 - delayed start
December 17 - Winter Performance
December 24 - vacation starts


Literacy:
I wanted to share a link to one of my favorite podcasts, Books on the Nightstand. The episode I linked to is about creating a family book club. It's another way to read with your child. Instead of just reading a book to your child, have the whole family read the same book (you can read it aloud to younger kids like our first graders) and then discuss as a family. You will be surprised with the insights our students have about books! They often make connections that I don't think to make. Our students are deep thinkers and love to talk about books!



Math;
We started measurement this week! This is a fun unit. A big concept we are working on right now is understanding in between. Most of the things we measure are not exact. So instead of saying 8 cubes long, we need to say in between 8 and 9 cubes long. It's a tricky concept!



Classroom fun:

The rain last week made for a couple of days of indoor recess. But this class really enjoys indoor recess. There is a group that loves to play with the legos, a group that loves to color, and then a game group. We've been playing Jenga and we love this game! The kids are so good at it!