First Grade Learning!

We have been engaged in so much learning throughout the first six weeks of school! It is amazing to me to see how much these kiddos have grown already and how much of a community of learners we have! I believe if you ask your child they will tell you that it is true that we are a team in room 29! I absolutely love it! Here are a few highlights from our learning so far! My hope is to add more and more to this blog so you feel a part of your child's learning!

READING!
We have spent a lot of time building our reading stamina! We are up to reading 15 minutes independently with books that are "just right"! Amazing! We have also spent a lot of time reading and talking with our partner about reading! It is such an awesome sight to look around the room during partner reading time and see the kids helping each other through tricky parts or discussing the books they are reading! Partner reading is allowing us to continue to practice building our reading stamina! Please make sure to read with you child at least 23 minutes and practice the 1st grade sight words each night! It can make a huge difference in your child's reading!

 WRITING!
We are continuing to work on creating Small Moment stories that are focused on one particular time in our lives! We have used our hand as a planning tool to ensure we have a beginning, middle and end! We will continue to work hard on adding details and making sure our pieces are readable this coming week!

MATH!
The excitement that I see in the students' eyes during math is inspiring to me! They get so excited to work with other students to solve problems and build their sense of numbers! We have worked a lot with the 99 chart and have been able to play a few games using the chart! I will be sending one of the games home tomorrow! We are getting much more confident in solving basic addition word problems! We will start working on subtraction word problems this coming week! We also will continue to learn how to effectively collect, record and read data!

We have also been able to work through math stations a few days! These stations help us reinforce topics that we have already been taught!

Nutrition in Action
Friday was our first lesson with Mrs. Lambert from the YMCA! We learned about "My Plate" and brainstormed some ideas of foods that fall into each part of the plate! We also listened to a story called "I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato." It is a silly story about trying new foods! We then got to try apple pie in a cup! Most of the kids loved it!

What you can do at home to help your child!
- Read for at least 23 Minutes each night
- Practice Sight Word List 1 or beyond each night
- Practice counting on from different numbers and go to 120
         (Example: start at 37 and go to 120, Start at 56 and go to 120)
- Practice writing of lower and upper case letters
         (Make sure each letter is facing the correct way!)

Thank you for all of your work at home! If you every have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!