Busy in 1st Grade!

It has been a very busy few weeks in 1st grade! I would like to first just express how proud I am of the students and their hard work in preparing for report cards. We now know what we are feeling confident doing independently and what we can work!

Preschool Buddies!
We began forming great relationships with Mrs. Hazekamp's preschool class. This allows the 1st grade students to be the reading "experts" and the preschool kids to hear older students read to them! I love seeing the reading excitement throughout both classes when we come together! We will be taking some time to read with them this coming week again!

Pajama Day Reading!
Pajama day was a huge success! The kids were able to cozy up and get some really good reading in! We were able to read for 25 minutes independently and then read with a partner! Yay for building reading muscles and reading stamina!

Peanut Butter and Jelly!
We will be writing how-to books in writing after Thanksgiving break! This will require the kids to teach others something by providing step by step directions. Friday we got our minds thinking about this kind of writing by writing the steps of making a peanut butter and jelly. The best part was when we actually got to follow the steps to make our own peanut butter and jelly! Many kids said "I didn't like it. I LOVED it!" It was exciting to bring our writing to life!

Reminders
* Box Tops: Send in the box tops you have collected! We are working to collect the most in November to win a Sundae Party!

* November reading calendars will be due Monday, December 1st. Make sure your name and parent signature are on each calendar!

* Please send in your conference confirmations. If the time I provided you with does not work, please let me know so I can change it! I cannot wait to meet with everyone and share your student's learning! Conferences are scheduled for December 3rd and 4th!

Week 10

Reading!
We spent a lot of time continuing to build our reading muscles to become stronger readers! We learned this week that when we are with our partners and they come to a tricky word that we can help them solve the word, but that we should not just tell them the word. We used statements like, "try something" or "look for parts of the word you know". It was so exciting to see the partnerships helping each other to become stronger readers who solve their own tricky words!

We also began our own book shopping this week! Previously, I had been choosing books for students that were just right. Each day of the week a few students will have their "book shopping day" where they will choose books from our classroom library to read for the week! They must choose books that are at their level. It is awesome to be able to give the power of choosing to the students as I believe this helps build their reading stamina!

PALS!
We started PALS this week, which is an additional part of our 1st grade reading curriculum! This is going to help our students practice sounds, use the sounds to form words and then use those words to read stories! The kids have really seemed to enjoy starting this program!

Writing!
In writing we kept working on revising our Small Moment Stories. We looked at how to add to the heart or most important part of the story. We are still working on starting each sentence with a capital and then ending it with proper punctuation!

Math!
This week in math we compared a 99 chart and a number line! We were able to take a 99 chart and cut it into strips to make a number line! We then used that number line to play Race to 99! The practice with these numbers is helping the students to see patterns and read the numbers properly!

Nutrition In Action!
This week Mrs. Lambert taught us about the dairy food group! We learned that yogurt, milk, cheese and even ice cream would fit into this food group! We were also able to get up and do some yoga! Our special treat was a Very Berry Smoothie! Ask your child what the special green ingredient was in the smoothie! Hint: It is green! The smoothie was a big hit with the students!

Reminders!
* Wednesday, November 12- Library Books need to be brought back
                                                November Scholastic Book Orders Due! (Don't forget to use your $5 coupon!)
* Please return conference preference sheets by Wednesday!
* Send those Box Tops in glued or taped to the sheet provided in your child's folder Friday! We are working to win the ice cream sundae party!

Another Week in the Books

First of all, I would just like to start by saying THANK-YOU SO MUCH to all of the parents, grandparents and helpers we had at the Halloween party! It was such a fun, enjoyable and organized party! I cannot thank you enough for the help and donations to make it a party the kids very much enjoyed! I truly appreciate your constant support!

Reading!
We learned that a good reader has to stop when something doesn't make sense in our reading or when a part sounds weird. We now know we have to stop, go back and try solving the tricky word using the strategies we have learned and then go back and reread the part to make sure it sounds right and that we sound like a storyteller!

We also have been introduced to all 40 sight words on the 1st list! We will be starting list 2 words this week! I have had the chance to start assessing a few students on these words and they are totally rocking it out! Awesome job kiddos!

Writing!
We celebrated our first Small Moment Stories this week by reading them to the class! Their special pieces will be coming home soon for them to share with you! We began a new unit where we are focusing on revision to make our stories even better! We all began a new story to use throughout this unit! I am hoping that being able to focus on one story will allow students to add more details!

Math!
This week in math, we looked at patterns on a 99 chart. We learned that when we travel from left to right the numbers increase by one, but when we move from top to bottom, we count by 10. We used this to find all the neighbors of given numbers. This is a big concept that we will continue to work on as it helps us in many areas of math!

Pumpkin Study!
On Thursday, we reinforced our math lessons by collecting and recording data using a pumpkin. After collecting our data, we had a pumpkin with triangle eyes, a triangle nose and spiky teeth! We were also able to act like a scientist by using our senses to investigate our pumpkin! We even got to gut our pumpkin!

Halloween Party and Duct Taping!