August 28-Sept. 1, 2017

Specials

Monday - 1

Tuesday - 2

Wednesday -3

Thursday - 4

Friday - 5

*Reference the brochure you received on Welcome to Wellington Night to know what each day is for specials!*

Upcoming Events & Reminders
August 28 - September 29 - window for MAP testing
August 29 - 1st grade Curriculum Night 6pm in my classroom
September 4 - Labor Day. No School.
September 7 - PTA Ice Cream Social at Shillito Park 6-8pm!
September 14 - Evan's Orchard Field Trip!
September 18-22 - Book Fair and Grandparents Lunches (more info soon)
September 26 - KY Kids Day
October 5-6 - Fall Break
October 27 - School is now IN session

Library books are now due on the day of Library. That is always Day 1 for our Specials.

Weekly Standards
I can identify letter sounds.
I can blend onsets and rimes.
I can make 6, 7, 8, and 9 in different ways.
I can stretch words to make a sentence.
I can organize information into categories.
I can recall details in a story to answer questions.

Week in Review
We made it through a 4 day week! I hope you were able to enjoy the Solar Eclipse with your family this week.

Mr. Carney and I were able to enjoy it outside with Max! Max definitely made the glasses look cooler than we did :-P

We had a blast this week as we eased our way into our regular routines. The beginning of the year is a fun time but also a highly repetitive time. We are always working hard to remind our bodies of the procedures we have in place in a new room and a new grade. 

In first grade, we do Daily 5 (don't worry - I'll be able to update you on more of this at Curriculum Night this Tuesday, August 29 at 6pm in my classroom!)

Part of Daily 5 is being able to work independently for up to 15 minutes at a time. One of the choices students can make is Read to Self. We have built our stamina all the way to 9 minutes already!!! 

Another option during Daily 5 is "Work on Writing." During this time, kids get to choose from a huge variety of writing options to become better writers! We've also gotten our writing stamina up to 9 minutes :)

These authors take their writing SO seriously! I am so very proud :)

During Reading this week, we read some GREAT books:

We had a great conversation about what kindness is and how we can fix it when we make unkind choices.

We used this book:

to talk about rules and WHY we have them at school! 

Each student came up with their own rule that was the "most important."

We read:

and had great discussions about how we can be a friend, even when someone else isn't acting like one.

In Math, we worked hard on talking about how to SUBITIZE numbers. We want to become more fluent in recognizing numbers and breaking them apart. We played games with partners and even started to learn about our Math Tubs!

Sometimes - we also just have fun in first grade! We had a blast sharing our items with groups of friends. This helped us identify key details to make a word bank for every single friend. Our word bank was then used to help us write about our friend's item! Pretty soon - we'll be ready to take these skills into narrative writing! 

Here's to another great week!

Aug. 29-Sept. 3, 2016

Specials

Monday - 6 (PE)

Tuesday - 1 (Art)

Wednesday - 2 (STEM)

Thursday - 3 (Technology)

Friday - 4 (Music)

Upcoming Events & Reminders
August 29 - 1st Grade Curriculum Night. 
September 5 - NO SCHOOL!
September 6 - PTA Family Night @ Chick Fil A in the mall
September 8 - Jon Agee Author Visit 
September 9-26 - PTA Bumblebee Fundraiser
September 14 - Field Trip to Evan's Orchard (More info soon!)
September 19-23 - Bookfair. 
September 21 - All Pro Dad's Breakfast 6:30-7:15am
September 22 - Tentative Grandparents Day Lunch
October 4 - PTA family Night @ Burger - Fi!

Useful Links
First Grade Curriculum Night: Click here to RSVP! :)

 Sign up for Remind texts with this link! 

Wish List items:

*magnetic tape (it looks like a tape dispenser but the tape is magnetic!)

Teacher's App of the Week

Here is a "teacher recommended" app that will help your first grader practice a skill that we are working on this week. 

Franklin's Friends of Ten is a free app that will help your first grader practice the ways to make 10 in a fun, engaging way!

Don't worry - IT'S FREE!!!

I'll be introducing this to the class sometime this week, too! :)

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can choose a topic.
I can read, write, and identify short i words.
I can use capital letters.
I can retell a story.
I can make 10 in many ways.

Week in Review
Now that the official business is out of the way, let's get to the FUN STUFF!

We did it: our first 5 day week of first grade. Are you feeling it? I know I did come Saturday morning! We made SO much progress towards making our way into our normal routines. Here's a glimpse into our classroom. :)

We want to become better writers. Real authors practice writing every day - and we want to be real authors! One of our daily 5 choices is Work on Writing. The best part of Work on Writing is that it doesn't have to be done at your desk!

We also continued to practice Read to Self. We made it to OVER 15 MINUTES IN STAMINA!!!!!

We were able to make our Daily 5 choices (between work on writing and read to self) for the first time on Friday!

In Writer's Workshop, we learned the three steps to writing a story:

1. Choose a topic.

Here we are gluing our heart maps into the middle of our writing journals. We use these heart maps to keep our favorite topics close to our hearts!

2. Draw a picture. Kali was drawing a beautiful picture of a field trip she took in Kindergarten!

Step 3: Write it out! (We practiced this but we'll get more into it next week). 

We got our spelling dictionaries as one step to practicing COPS. Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation and Spelling are important to keep our writing from breaking the law!

Our vocabulary word to piggyback on respect from last week was kindness. Here are some of the texts we read to help us understand it more clearly.

Lily learned that sometimes, "Today wasn't a good day. Tomorrow will be better." 

We learned everyone has an invisible bucket above their heads! Huh?!?! Ask your first grader for more details :)

Here are some of the notes that were OVERFLOWING our class bucket.

This book introduced our first grade project. We each decorated a quilt square to show how we can be kind. It will be hanging up soon!

We learned the first two choices for Math Centers. These two girls are working on putting together a hundreds chart puzzle to help them practice counting to 120.

Groups at my table worked on ways to make 6, 7, and 8 with ten frames, cubes, and rekenreks.

(This shows 4+2=6).

Sometimes Mrs. Carney takes the picture too soon...

All of the kids wanted me to pass along how to make a rekenrek at home. They LOVED it!

-foam sheet

-2 pipe cleaners

-10 blue pony beads

-10 red pony beads

Put 5 of each color on each pipe cleaner. Poke it through the foam board, secure to the back. 

by the end of the week, we were cracking up at Spill the Beans!

(2+4 = 6)

Thank you SO much for all of your kind feedback on the blog. I hope it helps you have a clear picture of what we are working on each week in the classroom. Your first graders take so much pride in their work and learning and it is my pleasure to share it with you each week. :) 

Have a great week!!