A Day in the Life of a First Grader!
Another week and a half has passed and we are becoming very successful first graders. We have found out that as we continue on the learning gets tougher and we must keep working hard and persevere. Our brains are growing and we are doing a great job at showing what we know. Our class spent some time this week learning a variety of math station games. These stations are used when we complete our independent work and help to reinforce the learning targets we have been working on. We are currently learning how to add and subtract within 10, as well as use counting to add and find the unknown number in a number sentence. We have learned a variety of number sense games as well as adding games to help work on these concepts. Below you can see our friends working in pairs to play a 10-frame game called Garbage. If you have a deck of cards at home, ask your child to teach you how to play. It is lots of fun!
Below you can see how Caysen and Izzy are taking turns playing the game. We have a lot of fun with this one...and we thing the name is pretty silly!
Here you can see Lemmy and Jaxxon playing another new card game where they are working through their decks of cards to make combinations of 10. You can see that they are working on their own boards but still helping each other! This game ends when someone's cards are all gone or they can no longer make any combinations of ten and then the two players count up their cards to see who has the most. You can play this game at home too, even if you don't have the Make 10 board!
Here you can see friends working together to make number bonds (math mountains) to show the Total (or whole number) and the Partners (or parts that make the whole). We are working hard in math!
Our spelling and phonics focus has been to continue reviewing and building knowledge on basic code and 'tricky words.' We enjoy spending time daily chaining (or building) words that focus on the code we are learning. Sometimes we use individual letter mats, sometimes we use the mats with partners and other times we practice as a whole group using large letter cards.
Additionally, we are continuing to practice letter formations and how to write our letters correctly. You may start seeing grades come home on your child's work attached to a penmanship rubric. We have discussed daily how to write our letters on the lines correctly and so now those letters learned will be expected to be written correctly. Your child has learned how to interpret their scores on those rubrics and understand what each score means and how they can work hard to become better writers.
We have wrapped up our final Fables this last week and are moving on to Folktales. We are having a great time listening to these stories, interacting with the text and making connections to our own lives! These stories have taught some important lessons and our friends are doing a great job of putting the morals into their own words to apply to themselves! What thoughtful firsties!!! At the end of the week our friends each chose 1 of the 6 fables we have read to write about in more detail. You can see some their hard work here:
This week we have transitioned into learning about folktales. We have enjoyed listening to the longer stories and finding the hidden lessons within them. We are continuing to write about various text features and discuss the sequence, problem and solutions in the stories. We are also working on incorporating new vocabulary into our everyday speech. I have been hearing friends using our new vocab from various stories in their conversations throughout the day! This week we have listened to The Little Half Chick (Medio Pollito), The Crowded, Noisy House and The Tale of Peter Rabbit. You can find various versions of them on YouTube to listen to also. Check them out and have your child discuss how those versions are similar and/or different to the story we read in class.
A few reminders as we move through the remainder of this week:
* Homecoming is this Friday, October 6th! All Forest View students and families are invited to join the PTO and watch the parade together. Only 3rd and 4th grade students are invited to walk in the parade. Watching the parade will be a great way to show your school pride! The PTO will be setting up a designated area for FV families. Meet them in the area across the street from the skate park that is roped off with red, yellow and blue balloons!
* Spirit week continues with Hat Day on Thursday and Blue/Gold Day on Friday!
* An exciting new tradition will be started this year to celebrate Halloween in a way that encourages healthy eating and fitness. Make sure to read your Halloween Hike and Wax Museum flyer that is being sent home today!!!
*Important dates will be updated on our class website's home page. You can see them here.
*Please make sure to check your child's snack calendar inside their daily communication folder. If you are not able to send in a snack on your child's day, please let me know so that arrangements can be made. We have been going through our extra stash quite quickly. As always, we appreciate everything you are doing/have done already to help maintain healthy eating habits, which helps our learning! If you are willing and able to send in an extra snack as 'back up' we would greatly appreciate it.
Be on the lookout for continued updates on your child's learning and growth. I cannot wait to meet with you next week at conferences to share with you the path to success your child is on!
Enjoy your week/weekend and be Safe and have FUN!
