Firstie Fun
This week was full of excitement! On Monday we were able to go back the Library and check out new books! Below you can see our students practicing our library rules and expectations while learning where they can find the books they are interested in. Remember, library books need to be turned in on Monday mornings in order for your child to check out a new book. If your child wants to renew their book for another week they must still bring it back to school and they can check it out again for another week.
We have been having a lot of fun reading a new story this week called Chrysanthemum. We have had many discussions about the theme, Being Yourself. In the story Chrysanthemum began to feel sad because other children were making fun of her name. She began to not like her name anymore and wanted to change it. By the end of the story she was reassured that she was special and that her name was absolutely perfect! We discussed why it is important to be yourself no matter what!
You can listen and watch the story in the video above!
Our focus this week in spelling/phonics was the short o sound. In addition to all of our whole group activities (reading, building, spelling words, writing sentences, thinking of words on our own, etc.) our students love to work with these words at our Word Work station in Daily 5. Above you can see Owen is working hard to practice and spell his short o words.
By the end of the week we were focusing extremely well and were remaining on task SO much better during Daily 5!! We have really been working hard to build our stamina. At our Work on Writing Station, you can see our friends using their time wisely and are writing the WHOLE time! We have been introduced to our new Writing Folders, which are going to be a big part of helping us keep our writing assignments organized! While at Daily 5, we are able to use our folders to help with spelling specific words and to keep our unfinished papers until the next time we are at our station!
During Writing Workshop, we have been learning about Small Moment stories. We have been introduced to the concept of narrowing our ideas down to specific moments in time that we want to showcase. We began by talking about our Watermelon Ideas - the big topics that are too large to write a small story about. These ideas include Family, Sports, Pets, Vacation, etc. Next, we narrowed our ideas down to Slice Ideas. These smaller ideas include Parents, Siblings, Specific Sports (basketball, football, dance), etc. These Slice Ideas are still too broad to write about so we broke it down one step further. We began finding our small Seed Ideas. These are specific events that happened that we can write about using detail! Our seed ideas might include playing our favorite game with a sister, going on a picnic with mom, going to work with dad, etc. Above you can see the two graphic organizers we were introduced to. First we narrowed down our topic. Then we used our Seed Idea and found details that we could write about. We are making sure to use our Signal Words (First, Next, Then, Last) to help show the reader that something new is coming! Check out our students in the pictures below - they are all working SUPER hard to narrow their ideas and stretch their thinking to find as much detail as they can to write about their Seed Idea!
In math this week we concluded our Unit 1 study on numbers 1-10. We made sure to do some extra practice and review of the skills we have been learning and finished up our week with a post test to show what we have learned!
Take a look at our friends Alijah and Paige during Daily 5 this week! They were at the read to someone station. During their time, they made sure to sit next to one another and to take turns reading their books. In the video above they are reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar together!
Classroom Volunteers:
I am looking to set up some times for parent volunteers in our classroom. I am looking for a parent to come in during our morning reading group time to help assist in our daily routine and help students remain on task while we are working on our guided reading groups. During this time I may also have students practice reading their books from their book bags with you and then shop for a new book. This block of time runs from 10:00-10:40 am.
I am also looking for a parent to come in during our Daily 5 time, 1:20-2:35 pm, to assist students, help keep them on task while rotating through our various literacy stations.
If you are interested in helping out during any of these times please let me know at Parent Teacher Conferences and we will set that up. I cannot wait to have our parents collaborating with us in our daily routine!
Upcoming Events:
* BOO GRAMS - We are in need of a couple of parent volunteers to help out with selling our Boo Grams during the week leading up to Halloween. First Grade will be selling boo grams during lunch on October 26th-28th. We are looking for parents who can be at school from 11:15 am - 1:00 pm on those days to help sell the Boo Grams and organize them per grade level. If this is something you are interested in helping with please email me or let me know at Parent Teacher Conferences. Remember, you must have a volunteer form filled out with our office. If you need a form let me know and I will send one home to you!
* Early Dsmissals - please see our homepage to see the dates and times of our upcoming Early dismissals.
Reminders:
* Your child's book bag has leveled readers that are just right for them. As we build our reading skills and comprehension and their levels increase, the leveled books will increase in their book bags as well. The more your child practices their reading the better they will become!
* Please make sure your child brings their money to school in a baggie with labeled with their name and what it is for (popcorn, lunch money, school store, book orders, etc.). This will help us to make sure the money gets to where it needs to go.
*Conference schedules have been sent home. Please let me know if your scheduled time does not work for you and your family. There are open time slots that we can work with to reschedule.
*Don't forget to send in your child's favorite book on Monday for our Pumpkin Book Report! We are very excited to learn about our favorite books and to decorate a pumpkin to look like the main character from our story. Please let me know if there are specific materials that you need from school to complete your project when your child's pumpkin is sent home.
