Another class celebration!

Important Dates:


Monday, October 2 - Library
Wednesday, October 18 - Early Release
Thursday and Friday October 19. 20 - No School

We had a fantastic week. I can't believe how much we accomplished. We also filled our heart jar again! Our celebration was to learn how to use chopsticks. We ate popcorn with the chopsticks. Then the students got to bring the chopsticks home.

The class earned a ton of hearts this week! One day we earned 112! Wow!

Literacy:
We read the book The Big Orange Splot. In this book, Mr. Plumbean lives on a street where all the houses look the same. Then one day, his house ends up with a big orange splot. His neighbors expect Mr. Plumbean to fix his house so it looks like all the others Mr. Plumbean has other plans.

We loved this book. After reading the book, the class made their own houses. They painted their
houses and then used paper to decorate their houses to show their hopes and dreams.  I have these hanging out in the hallway.

We also started one of my all time favorite books, One by Kathryn Otoshi. This book is about bullying, acceptance, and standing up for others. Love this book. We read half of it, and the students wrote predictions in their writing journals.

Everyone now has a bag of books! We have been talking about how to build your reading muscles. There are easy warm up books, just right books, and challenge books. The students have made thoughtful decisions about which books to put in their bags in order to build reading muscle. We also started a poster in the classroom on what independent reading expectations.

Math:
We continue our work on story problems. Now, we are analyzing problems to see if they are addition or subtraction. The mathematicians then write an equation, representation, and an answer with a label as they solve the problems.

A big thank you to Chase's aunt for sending in popsicles to help us get through those hot days!

Bathroom Expectations

We reviewed bathroom expectations today. Our class is doing very well with following the bathroom rules. As part of our review, I showed the class a video that another school made. Many of us can not get the song out of our heads. The students asked to share it with all of you so it will get stuck in your head too! We hope you love it as much as us! Enjoy!

A new favorite book

Important Dates:

Monday, October 2 - Library
Wednesday, October 18 - Early Release
Thursday and Friday October 19. 20 - No School

Last Friday I was out for appointments and the guest teacher left a wonderful note! The class did great! I'm so proud of how hard they worked to show expected behaviors! Unfortunately, I am out this Friday also. I am a school Wellness Leader and I have a wellness conference to attend. The class and I reviewed our expectations and they are ready to rock it!



Literacy:
This week a read a book that was new to me... and it has quickly become one of my favorites: Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin and Sara Wooley. The discussion the students had about this book blew me away! After reading the book, we first focused on what we find noisy and hard to deal with... on Friday the students will be drawing and writing about their own quiet places. This student wrote: The fire alarm is loud.

We also have started talking about how to make or reading muscles stronger. We used weights as an analogy... weights that are too light won't make your muscles stronger but are a good warm up. Weights that are too heavy are good all the time either. As Andrew said, "You need books that are just right: a little hard, but not too hard."

We also started putting books in our bags. Our bags of books will be read during reader's workshop. These are mostly just right books, with a few warm ups and a challenge book or two. I love helping the readers get their bags of books set up because I get to know what they like to read and their interests.

Math:
Can you believe we are already working on story problems?! Wow! This week, we have focused n addition story problems. The students need to write and equation, draw a representation (picture), and have an answer with a label.Students often work together during math time, to share their thinking and compare solutions. This way, the mathematicians learn that often there is more than one way (multiple pathways) to solve a problem.

We are also very lucky to have interns from St. Michael's College join us for math. On Thursday, 2 students from Professor Tapper's Teaching Elementary Math class come and help us out. The interns get a great experience seeing math in action and we get some extra help.

Lots of learning!

Important Dates:

Monday, September 18 - first library day
Monday, September 18 - Picture Day
Wednesday, October 18, Early Release
Thursday and Friday October 19. 20 No School

We earned our first celebration! We filled our heart jar and Thursday we dumped it into the heart monitor. The class brainstormed a ton of great ideas for our celebration, but with the weather being so gorgeous, we had to celebrate with an extra recess. I can't wait to see what we do next time!


We continue to work on building and practicing our expectations throughout the school. This week we created our Guest Teacher Expectation. I am out today (Friday) for appointments. The class worked really hard to decide what their jobs are when there is a guest teacher. After creating a list, every student signed it. I'm sure they are doing great today!

School News:
Our wonderful liaison Tul Niroula was featured in a Seven Days article. I was lucky enough for 2 years to have him help me in the classroom during math. JFK and Winooski are so lucky to have him as part of our staff. We can't do our job without him and the other liaisons.

Literacy:

We read some great books this week! Dream Big, Little Pig, by Kristi Yamaguhi tells the story of Poppy the Pig who is chasing her dream. This connected nicely with our development of our own personal dreams.

We also were able to read the book I Am Peace, by Susan Verde, illustrated by Peter Reynolds. This book doesn't come out until September 26, but Sara Raabe met the illustrator this summer and was able to get a copy early. Thanks for letting us borrow it Sara! I'm buying our own copy as soon as it comes out.

During our literacy time we also started developing our classroom rules. Students wrote in their writing journals about a rule they thought was important. Many students focused on the feelings of others. Here is one student's work which says: Help your friends whey they are feeling sad.

Math:

 Wow! A lot of work during math time this week! We are exploring the use of 10's frames in many ways: manipulatives, paper and pencil, and through games. Here is a video of some students learning how to count on while using the 10's frame.

Rocking in our School Shoes!

Important Dates:
Wednesday, September 13 - early release (12:15)
Monday, September 18 - first library day
Monday, September 18 - Picture Day

We are working hard as a team to create our classroom expectations and learning community. One of our big goals this week is listening when someone is talking. I am seeing improvement in it already!

We are also developing classroom routines and expectations. We have developed classroom jobs. And today we put together materials for our Take a Break table.

Literacy:
This was a great week of some of my favorite books! We started the week with Pete the Cat, Rocking in my School Shoes. We used this book to work on building a sense of school community. As a class, we wrote a big book that shoes Pete rocking in his JFK shoes!

Next, we moved onto talking about hopes and dreams. Building our hopes and dreams is an important part of Responsive Classroom. This process has the kids realizing what they like, what they want to learn, and to be future thinkers (thinking ahead and setting long term goals). Our first book we have used to spark our thinking is Happy Dreamer by Peter Reynolds. I will let you know when everyone's hopes and dreams are published and hanging up. Make sure to ask your child about what ideas they have for their hopes and dreams.

Math:

I co-teach math with Sarah Forbes. We are working on understanding numbers, representing numbers, and ways to organize representations. We also are learning how to explain our thinking and listen to understand while others share. Some of the math we are working on right now is a review while we learn how to use mathematical habits of thinking and interaction. Ask your child to tell you about 10's Frames! We ended the week playing a game of In the Doghouse! Students worked on different concepts, including: number identification, addition and subtraction.

Welcome to first grade!

Important Dates:
Friday, September 1 - no school

Monday, September 4 - no school
Wednesday, September 13 - early release (12:15)

I love the start of a new school year! It's so exciting to have a group of new friends and to form our classroom learning community.

Throughout the first six weeks of school, we focus on community building, classroom and school wide routines, and develop our class and individual classroom goals. The bonds we build during this time help us all to succeed and allow us to take risks in our learning.

Literacy:
We did enjoy reading a Pete the Cat this week. Oh how I love those Pete the Cat books! Then we each made our own Pete the Cat. They are hanging up in the hallway. Make sure to stop in and see them.

Math:
We have been reviewing counting and representing. In first grade, we work really hard on representing our thinking and the sharing our thinking with the class. It's been a great start so far!

I sent home a class letter on the first day of school with lots of info. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Our weekly schedule looks like this:

Monday: P.E.

Tuesday: Art

Wednesday: P.E.

Thursday: Music

Friday: Guidance

Library will be every other Monday. I will try to keep you all informed on which Monday is ours!

I will be updating this site every week and I will send out an email to let you know when it is updated. Have a good evening!