Fire Safety and Tons of Fun!
Take a look at all of the fun learning experiences we were able to have this week! A visit from Cherry Grove Fire Department on Monday led perfectly into our Reading Workshop focus this week on Fire Trucks! We were able to learn about Fire Safety from their visit and hear about important things to remember in case of an emergency. The firefighters dressed up in their gear and talked to us about procedures we should follow. After we listened to them talk for a bit, we were able to go outside and have our picture taken with the Chief and the fire truck! As we continued through our reading workshop this week, we focused on the story Fire Trucks by Judith Jango-Cohen.
This story offered a lot of information about how fire trucks work and all of the important things that are used in an emergency situation. On top of reading about fire trucks, students were able to use evidence from the text to write about something they learned, label pictures of firetrucks, and also learned some new vocabulary. We learned the words tank, gear, pike pole, levers and outrigger.
Each week our class spends time focusing on our new vocabulary words in our interactive reading journals. This week they picked at least one of our new words to include in their journal. They had to write the word, draw a picture and then use the word in a sentence. This is proving to be a great tool in helping them to remember those terms and their definitions. At the end of each week, our vocabulary words are added to our working vocabulary 'wall' near our writing center so that students have access to them during writing.
This week we began our Pumpkin Book Projects. Our friends have all brought some super fun books to school to work on. They are all VERY excited to start decorating their pumpkins with you at home! We have started to writing about various story elements. Each student has their very own trick-or-treat bag with a picture of their story on the front. After getting their bags ready, the students have been looking into their stories, referring to the pictures and words to complete different prompts. Each morning, our class gets a new piece or two of "candy" with a different prompt on it to write about. We have been writing about the setting, details (what happens in the beginning, middle and end), the title, and why we like our book. Some students brought a nonfiction book to work with. These students have been writing about various facts they read in their stories, new information they learned that they didn't know before, and why they like the topic. Next week we will finish the last few story elements and wrap up our projects before Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday. Remember, pumpkins are due no later than Wednesday so that we can have all pumpkins/book reports on display for families to see!
Above you can see a preview of our book reports. We are very excited to have you come to conferences and trick-or-treat for information about our favorite books! We are also very excited to show off our pumpkins decorated as the main characters!
This week we also began earning Class Dojo points. We are working hard to show we are good listeners, hard workers and kind friends! In addition to our Brag Tags we are working toward incentives with our individual points we earn. As a class we came up with the rewards for different amounts of points earned. You can see what our class came up with below. The students are very excited about the chance to have a pizza lunch or an ice cream party with me, and they know that in order to receive these prizes, they must work really hard! Some of the ways our class is able to earn points include; being kind to others, working hard, helping others, on task behavior, participating, group work, math stations, daily 5 persistence, being on time to group, and more. We will be checking our individual totals throughout the week and students will have the opportunity to 'cash' in their points on Fridays or keep them to continue on toward their individual goal!
As we wrapped up our week we worked on a fun Frankenstein Craftivity. Each student created a Frankenstein monster to display in the hallway. They also wrote about their Halloween costumes, which included an opening sentence, two sentences including details about their costume, and a closing sentence. Stay tuned for pictures of our final product and make sure to take a look next week at conferences!
Volunteer Opportunities:
I am looking for parents who are interested and available to join us in our classroom! There are a variety of opportunities to be involved! Please contact me in you are interested! I will confirm with you before you come in so that volunteers are organized to best fit our schedule and needs.
Book Bag Volunteer:
This person would come in on Mondays or Fridays for an hour or so, preferably in the afternoon, to read with students one on one in a quiet area near our classroom. Students will read to you, and you assist them as needed while they read. Then, you remind them to select another book to take home in their book bag. This is great for parents or grandparents.
Daily 5/Reading Group Parent Volunteer:
This is our literacy block Monday-Friday from 10-10:40 and 1:20-2:30. The volunteer encourages students to stay on task at their work station - some kids are reading by themselves, some are reading to a partner, some are building words with a variety of hands-on materials, others will be working on writing, or engaged with audio books on the computer. This is a great time to help students practice "ball words" or allow them to read to you, as well! During this time, I am teaching guided reading groups, and so a parent volunteer to float around the room and assist students as needed is very helpful! It is best if we have a person who can voluneer consistently --- a schedule that helps the kids have familiarity and routine. This is perfect for a retired person, a stay-at-home parent, or someone who has a regular day off of work that would like to spend time in our classroom! You can stay in the room and help out until the end of the day. You could also stay in the afternoon and take your child home with you when school is dismissed at 3:40.
Boo Gram Volunteers:
First grade does an annual fundraiser for "Boo Grams"...we are open during lunch hours Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during student lunch hours October 26, 27, and 28 from 11:15 to 12:45. All you have to do is work the table, collecting quarters, attaching a piece of candy/sticker to each message, and sorting it into the correct place for each grade level. Sometimes we have 4th grade helpers, too. We would like to use the funds raised to purchase letter tiles and word mats, which cost about $70-$100 per classroom...so your time to help us raise this money is greatly appreciated! First graders keep all the proceeds, and it directly benefits your child's Spelling/Phonics/Word Study instruction! Any extra money raised will likely go toward online subscriptions or classroom supplies later in the year. We would like 2 volunteers each day. If you are available any of those 3 days, please let me know which day you can help! THANK YOU!
Halloween:
I am looking for a few parents who are able to help out during the afternoon on Halloween. After lunch we will be getting our costumes on and then enjoying Reading Buddies with another class. Our school wide parade will begin around 1:45 (as we walk through our classrooms) and will begin in the gym for parents at 2:00. I am hoping to have 2-3 parents who can help us get our costumes on after lunch/recess. Additionally, i you are able to stay and help set up our Halloween Snack I would greatly appreciate you help!
Random Items:
If you know you have a day off, or some extra time, and you would like to drop in for a bit - there is always something to be done! Laminating, filing papers, making copies, organizing, and repairing books, are just a few housekeeping items we always have on hand. Give me a heads up if you have any random times that become available in your schedule. We would love to see you!
***Don't forget - - you MUST have a volunteer form turned in before you can volunteer in the classroom. If you have not turned a form in and need one please let me know and I will send one home with your child!
**Next week:
* Late Start Monday - school begins at 10:05
* Wednesday Early Dismissal - 1:15
* Thursday Early Dismissal - 12:10
