Happy Monday!

It was another busy and productive Monday in First Grade!  This morning we sorted picture cards that ended with the same sound.  Our read alouds this week will focus on the importance of family and today we read A Birthday Basket for Tia by Pat Mora.  Reading Groups are up and running and students will meet with me and/or another teacher in a small reading group several times throughout the week.  During Literacy Stations students are working to build CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant words). 

In Math we are focusing on the missing part in addition stories as well as starting with the whole, i.e. 7=4+3 vs. the more traditional 4+3=7.  The emphasis is more on the strategy versus the answer to get us thinking about how we see numbers.

We also had out second First Grade Town Meeting.  I hosted the meeting and students were given a challenge to build the tallest tower possible with only a stack of index cards and a strip of tape!

First Day of Fall

First Grade has been working on making partners to 10.  Today we learned a new Math game: spin and make 10.  I also taught students how to play the card game sevens in a small group. Here's a link with directions if you want to play at home: How to Play Sevens.

Our read aloud today was Wallace's List.  We talked about why people might write a list and learned that Wallace was not very flexible and did not like to stray from his list.  This all changed when a new neighbor, Albert, moved in and Wallace learned that it was fun to have a friend to go on adventures with!  We also have been working on using the sounds: s, a, t, p, i and n to blend and create words.

We also had our first First Grade town meeting today.  Every Monday afternoon we will meet as a whole first grade sing our first grade song and complete an activity.  Today students worked with a partner in a different first grade classroom to trace each other's hands on paper, decorate and cut it out.  We will display in the hallway!

Happy Wednesday!

We just finished reading a book set on rhyming books.  Today our book was The Giant Jam Sandwich by Janet Burroway and John Vernon Lord.  The rhyming story tells how the fictional town of Itching Down was invaded by four million wasps. The villagers decided to build a gigantic jam sandwich to trap the pesky insects.  Ask your child if the villagers were successful!  Tomorrow we will begin a book set on Friendships.

For word work today we focused on how we can say words slowly and write the sounds we hear.  Together we wrote the words: frog, pumpkin, game and bus.  Students worked at Word Work Station to pick at least 5 picture cards to write words independently. 

In Math we are working on decomposing (or breaking into parts) numbers within 10.  Students have enjoyed beginning math time with a number talk.  Students are asked to give a thumbs up when they know how many and can share how they see the dots.  It has been amazing to hear all of the different ways that students see how many. 

A Busy Monday!

It was such a busy day I realized I forgot to take pictures - oops!  This morning at Morning Meeting we played a game where we matched rhyming words and read our poem of the week:

I Am Me

I am not a frog. 

I am not a big dog. 

I am not a cat.

I am not a big hat. 

I am not a tree,

I am me!

We highlighted sight words and circled rhyming words.   Our read aloud today was a rhyming book The Day the Goose Got Loose.  We talked about how the title page gives the reader information about what the book is about.  Friday we did our first day of literacy stations.  I will soon start seeing small reading groups and during this time students will be working at a variety of literacy station activities. 

 

Updates!

I have decided this year to update the blog twice a week: Mondays and Wednesdays.  Be sure to check here on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and there should be a blog post by 4:00PM.

We have been busy, busy in first grade!  In literacy this week we practiced reading with a partner and reading words around our room.  In Math we began Math Journals where students are working to solve story problems.  Our problem today focused on two different ways to split 6 pieces of candy.  Yesterday we also learned a favorite math game: garbage!  Ask your child how to play all you need is a deck of cards.