Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last week we learned about the sounds /sh/ and /ch/. To help the students remember /ch/, all of the first grade teachers taught a collaborative lesson in how to make chocolate chip cookies. Along with our phonics connection, we reviewed the purpose of entertainment texts and informative texts. We first read the recipe for chocolate chip cookies and discussed that it was meant for information because it teaches you how to make the cookies. We then followed the directions step-by-step. While the cookies were baking, we read Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar by Vivana Garofoli and  The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins. The students discussed why these stories were for entertainment. And, as perfect timing, right at the end of the reading of The Doorbell Rang, the oven timer rang and the cookies were ready. The students then enjoyed their sweet treat!

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Pet Day - Short E

As we studied short /e/, the students were invited to bring in a picture of their pet. Each week we are trying to have a special phonics focus event on Friday to help the students have an engaging and personal connection the phonics sound. A few students did bring in their pictures but most of the class does not yet have a pet. So, we discussed what pets we would like to have. Below is a picture of one of the students sharing his pet picture.

Hot Dog Day - Short O

When our phonics focus was "short o", we practiced this sound by reading the poem "Hot Dogs." The students also sorted words in various "short o" word families such as /op/, /og/, and /ot/. To help them remember the "short o" sound, we had a special "Hot Dog Day." The students dressed up in red for ketchup or yellow for mustard. We even had a few white and purple onions in the mix. Some classes had students dress in green like relish. The students created hot dog hats on which they wrote /ot/ and /og/ words. They were then treated to a special hot dog snack at the end of the day. Thank you to the parents who provided hotdogs for the special treat. Click below to enjoy a quick slideshow of our fun day!

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Family Day - Short A

As a part of our phonics study, we have special phonics days on most Fridays. As we studied 'short a' the students practiced reading and spelling word families such as /am/, /ad/, /at/, and /an/. To help them remember the sounds, we had a special "fam" day. The students brought in pictures or drew pictures of their family members to share with the class.

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Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

A few weeks ago we were reading various stories about school. One of the books we read was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes - one of my favorites! As a part of the lessons, we talked about how Chrysanthemum was feeling and made connections to how we were feeling about starting school. We then extended the lesson by counting the letters in our names, just as Chrysanthemum's classmates do in the book, and compared how long our names are to hers. We then created a bar-type graph to record our findings. The students then created art with their names by coloring patterns on bubble letters. After they were completed, the students read the names as a group and clapped out the syllables. We then sorted the names according to the number of syllables in the names to create a real-object graph. Their artwork was then added to our classroom helper area as a name word wall.

Rhymes and Alliterations

Last week we worked extensively on rhyming words and alliterations. The students practiced finding rhyming words with the song "A Hunting We Will Go." They brainstormed rhyming words to insert in the song and sorted pictures that rhymed. For alliterations, the students brainstormed words that begin with the first letter of their name on a Circle Map. They then shared their words with the class. We wrote the words on a class anchor chart. We then brainstormed additional words for each letter of the alphabet. The students then used those Cirlce Maps and the anchor chart to write drafts of their own alliteration sentences in their journals. The students then met we me in small groups to edit and revise their sentences. They wrote their final drafts and illustrated it for publishing in the hallway. Their alliterations are very creative!

First Grade Reading Sites

I recently compiled a page of some of my favorite reading sites for young children. They are filled with interactive stories, phonics and sight word practice, and more! You can visit my page here. Some of my favorite pages are ABCya!, Storyline Online, and Starfall.

Refrigerator Phonics

I found this fun refrigerator magnet game at ABCya! that your children can use to practice spelling their word wall and phonics words. You can also have your child pratice their words in a fun way by buying cheap plastic magnetic letters at your local dollar store. They can practice their words on the refrigerator or on a metal cookie sheet.

KidBlog Update!

The students have been blogging away! They have written over 250 posts so far. Their latest blog entries are about additive patterns. When they wrote about additive patterns, they first created patterns in Kidspiration which then then exported to our class' shared folder. They then had to import the photo into their blog. Although the steps to export and import seemed tricky at first, the students were up the challenge and were very successful. They have also been using our writing strategies from Write From the Beginning to write personal narratives. They have also been practicing writing sentences using word wall and phonics words as well as using adverbs from our grammar lessons. When you get a few minutes, read their great posts at their KidBlog.

Short Vowel Poetry

Over the last few weeks we have been focusing on short vowel sounds. To help practice reading the sounds fluently, the students practiced the poem "Ted." You can listen to their poetry reading below. The poems were recorded using Audacity software. A link to Audacity is at the side of the page along with many other helpful links. For fluency practice, a highly recommend Dr. Tim Rasinski's poems which can be found in his books Poems for Word Study. There are several different versions of this book for different grade levels.





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You can also hear other examples of their reading at our class podcasting site.

Phonics and Fluency Focus

Last week we practiced reading and spelling the "dr" sound. To help us read the sounds fluently, we learned two new poems: "Drip Drop" and "I Know a Green Dragon." Each Friday the students pretend to go into the recording studio like the superstars that they are and record their weekly poems. We use the free online program Audacity to record. You can download it at home as well. Click play below to hear their weekly recording of "I Know a Green Dragon". You can also download this poem and others to your IPOD by visiting my podcasting site at Podbean.




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Phonics and Reading Help

If your child is struggling with their reading or seem to have lost interest, check out the BBC's Words and Pictures website. This website has great games and printables for all of the various stages of reading learning. You can use this site to target your child's reading progress at home. For example, if you notice that your child does not consistently read the long vowels correctly, you can visit their Long Vowel Sounds page. If they are struggling with their common sight words, you can visit their High Frequency Page.