Turkey Descriptive Writing

Using our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students wrote descriptive pieces about a turkey. They then colored a turkey however they wanted. Below is an example of their writings and turkeys.

Cornucopia Placemats

This week the students created Cornucopia graphic organizers to show what they are thankful for. First we brainstormed as many people, places, or things we were thankful for on a Circle Map. Then each child dot painted several pieces of fruit and a cornucopia. They then glued them onto construction paper. During guided reading, each child told me up to twelve things they were thankful for which I typed. They could use the class Circle Map to help them. Each child cut out their boxes of the things they were thankful for and glued them around the cornucopia likea Bubble Map. Below is an example of the finished product which was laminated and which will be used at our Thanksgiving celebration later this week.

Creative Clocks

As an introduction to our lessons on telling time, my colleague, Mrs. Linnabary, wrote a lesson about comparing analog and digital clocks. As a part of the lesson, the students had the opportunity to create their own creative, analog clocks. As the students created the clocks, we talked about the features of an analog clock and practiced skip counting by 5's. The students then wrote why telling time is important. Parents, you can help your child practice telling time by visiting Primary Games' "What Time Is It?" game. Fellow teachers, you can learn more about this lesson by visiting Mrs. Linnabary's professional blog, Crayon Bits. Below is a slideshow of the students' creative clocks.

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Fluency Practice

Last week I had the opportunity to learn a new blogging tool, Glogster, from our Instructional Technology Facilitator, Sharon Thornton. Glogster is like blogging but it allows you to make posters. I am hoping to use this in class, once I learn more about it, to have the students make their own poster projects over literature. Below is a Glog about our class fluency practice. The students recorded two poems this week: Phillip's Trip and Fast Crab written by Timothy Rasinski. Click on the "play" symbols to hear recordings of their poems. We used Audacity to make the recordings.

Magnets

This week we went into the science lab to experiment with magnets. We read the book What Makes a Magnet? by Franklyn M. Branley. The students first made predictions about which objects were magnetic and then went "fishing" with magnet wands to test their predictions. The students discovered that the magnetic objects all had something in common: they were made of metal - more specifically, they were made of iron. Click below to check out a few pictures from the lab. The slideshow is interactive so you can move the pictures.

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Rainy Day Recess

As the weather is changing, we have to find creative ways to give the students opportunities for fun, physical activities for recess even when the weather is inclement. One of our favorite activities is doing exercises to a video called Rainy Day Recess. Rainy Day Recess can be found on Discovery Education. Although Discovery Education is a primarily a school resource, there are great Home Resources that include homework help in the core subjects. Below are a few pictures of our class and Ms. Goolsbay's class doing Rainy Day Recess together.

As a side note, we do go outside for recess every day, weather permitting. As the weather is changing, please make sure your child brings a jacket to school each day.

Fractions

Over the last two weeks we have been learning about fractions, or parts of a whole. First graders are expected to know that fractions are divided into equal parts and be able to identify how many parts are shaded or not shaded. For example, if there is a box divided into four equal parts and two parts are shaded in, the students are expected to know and use the terminology "2 out of 4 equal parts." To help the students learn this in a hands-on, concrete way, the students created fractions using playdough, foldables, and pattern blocks. To help your child at home, visit the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives Fraction of a Whole Activity.

The Nature Center

Last week we had the opportunity to visit The Nature Center. The Nature Center is a district run facility that allows the students at all grade levels the chance to explore science in a hands-on manner. Below is a slideshow of our field trip.

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Math Tubbing

This six weeks I introduced Math Tubbing to the students. Math Tubbing is like Literacy Stations but with math content. Instead of going to a station, the students get a container filled with content-specific materials (games, books, manipulatives, etc.) that they can work on independently or in small groups. While the students are working on previously taught concepts, I work with small groups in Guided Math. In Guided Math we focus on the specific areas that individual students struggle in. The Math Tubs that the students are using right now include Number Recognition, Place Value, Graphing, Addition/Subtraction Operations, Shapes, Fractions, and Patterns. Students also have the opportunity to use our online computer program, First In Math. Below are some pictures of the students working with Math Tubs.

Place Value

In math we have been learning about two digit numbers and their values. We have been using Base Ten Blocks to count by tens and then ones. To help practice this at home, visit Shark Numbers game where the students count the tens and ones to identify the number. Once they count they number, they click on the bubble and check their answer. One trick we use in class to help with counting is that after we count the tens we clap to break the skip counting pattern and then we start counting by ones. For example we say: "ten, twenty, thirty, -clap-, thirty-one, thirty-two." Clapping helps them recognize the when to switch number patterns. Below are a few pictures of the students practicing Place Value in class:

Character Parade

To celebrate Red Ribbon Week (which just happens to fall around Halloween time, ha!) the students got to dress up as their favorite book character and walk in a parade throughout the school. The theme was to "Show your character and say 'no' to drugs." So that all students could participate, we decided to have a grade level theme based on the Laura Numeroff books. Our class dressed up as the black cat from If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, Ms. Goolsbay's class dressed up as If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, Ms. Pollard's class dressed up as If You Give a Moose a Muffin, and Mrs. Linnabary's class dressed up as If You Give a Pig a Pancake. Below is a slideshow of our class showing their character during the parade.

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Red Ribbon Week

Last week we celebrated Red Ribbon Week with various activities including wearing red, white, and blue to say "United We Stand Against Drugs" and wearing our favorite team shirts to say "We Team Up Against Drugs." The first grade theme this year was "First Graders 'clothes' the door on drugs!" Each class decorated their door in a "clothes" related item and slogan. Our class slogan was "We give drugs the 'boot'!" You can learn more about Red Ribbon Week and ways you can talk to your child about this important topic at the National Family Partnership. Ms. Terry, the counselor, talked with the students about the history of the program as well as the importance of saying "no" to drugs.

Pumpkin Writing

Each week we write using a program called Write From the Beginning. The program uses Thinking Maps to teach the students how to organize their thoughts and sentences. This week we wrote about real pumpkins. The students created a Circle Map followed by a Tree Map to write three sentences describe a pumpkin. After writing their sentences the students received one-on-one feedback on how to edit and improve their writing. They wrote their final drafts on pumpkin paper to add to our hallway pumpkin patch.

Noun Neighborhood

In Reading and Social Studies we have been learning about the importance of maps. One of the books we read is Me On The Map by Joan Sweeney. As we read we discussed all of the important parts of a map. We reviewed the location of our country, state, city, and neighborhood. As a part of our study, we combined our grammar lessons over nouns with our lessons over maps to create a Noun Neighborhood. The students drew their home, their favorite stores, restaurants, vehicles, and more which they then labeled with nouns. We learned that a neighborhood is "where we work, live, and play" and that a noun is a "person, place, or thing." Enjoy a slideshow of the students working on their artistic Noun Neighborhood.

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Family Traditions

In Social Studies we studied the structure and roles of families. As a part of our study we talked about family traditions. We discussed how in the past, families created quilts out of special clothing items to document special events or traditions. To wrap up the unit, the students drew one of their family traditions on a quilt square which we put together as a class quilt

Problem Solving

We have been working on addition and subtraction word problems intensively over the last week or so. We have been learning various strategies such as acting it out with either manipulatives or ourselves and drawing a picture to help us solve the problem. Below is an example of a way we used manipulatives to create a picture to help solve a problem.

You can help at home by having your child practice various word problems at home. You can use any small items at home (buttons, beans, candy, etc.) to have them act out the problems. A great website to visit for additional practice is Math Playground. The problems that are age appropriate are under the section called Addition and Subtraction - Facts to 20 Single Step. You can have your child practice sections 1 through 10.

Energy

How I Grow and Change

In science as a part of our study in measurement, the students used pop cubes to measure their birth length. The students compared the length of the pop cubes, or their birth length, to their current height. They then traced the cubes onto paper and drew themselves as a baby at that specific length.

More Shapes

As review, the students created four-part charts about shapes. They had to identify and draw one real-life object that is one of the basic two-dimensional shapes. Then, in computer lab a few weeks ago, the students created their own four-part chart using the technology skill of "click, hold, and drag" to sort clipart into the correct shape category.

Mama's Coming Home

The students used interactive writing to complete a Flow Map about the events in the story Mama's Coming Home. Retelling stories with specific detail is very important to their reading comprehension. You can help at home by having your child draw a Flow Map and fill in the beginning, middle, and ending events of stories that they read.

Pumpkin Shapes

The students created abstract pumpkins out of squares and triangles during our study of two-dimensional shapes. The goal was to see different ways squares and square rectangles could be made using smaller squares. It was a good way for the students to see that no matter the shape of the square or square rectangle, its attributes stayed the same - it had four vertices (corners) and four sides. The students were challenged to make pumpkin leaves by creating large triangles out of smaller triangles. They had to focus on turning the small triangles to make a pattern. Enjoy a quick slideshow below of their work:

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Jetting to Success: Read Just for Fun

As your child reads a book at home just for fun, have them write down the book on their Jet to Success Reading log. We are having a contest amongst the first grade classes to see who reads the most books just for fun. The purpose of the contest is to motivate the students to read more often. Reading logs are available in class and on the first grade page of the Moseley website.

A few of you asked about when we visit the library. We visit the library each Friday but the students may visit the library independently on any other day during Reading Workshop. The students may get up to five books at a time.

Word Wall Flashcards

To help your child learn their Word Wall words, I created Word Wall Flashcards. We will be creating Word Wall Rings in class over the next few weeks. The Word Wall Rings will be sent home so your child can practice them daily. I've attached copies of the flashcards here in case you want an extra set. I suggest keeping a set in the car for those commutes to and from school, the grocery store, etc.


1st Six Weeks Word Wall Flashcards -


2nd Six Weeks Word Wall Flashcards -


Third Six Weeks Word Wall Flashcards -


Fourth Six Weeks Word Wall Flashcards -


Fifth Six Weeks Word Wall Flashcards -


Sixth Six Weeks Word Wall Flashcards -

Reading Strategies

While lesson planning, I found great summaries online of the strategies we use in class to teach reading. Below are some reading strategies that we use in class each day that you can use at home as well:

Use Picture Clues
•Look at the picture.
•Are there people, objects, or actions in the picture that might make sense in the sentence?

Sound Out the Word
•Start with the first letter, and say each letter-sound out loud.
•Blend the sounds together and try to say the word. Does the word make sense in the sentence?

Look for Chunks in the Word
•Look for familiar letter chunks. They may be sound/symbols, prefixes, suffixes, endings, whole words, or base words.
•Read each chunk by itself. Then blend the chunks together and sound out the word. Does that word make sense in the sentence?

Connect to a Word You Know
•Think of a word that looks like the unfamiliar word.
•Compare the familiar word to the unfamiliar word. Decide if the familiar word is a chunk or form of the unfamiliar word.
•Use the known word in the sentence to see if it makes sense. If so, the meanings of the two words are close enough for understanding.

Reread the Sentence
•Read the sentence more than once.
•Think about what word might make sense in the sentence. Try the word and see if the sentence makes sense.

Keep Reading
•Read past the unfamiliar word and look for clues.
•If the word is repeated, compare the second sentence to the first. What word might make sense in both?

Use Prior Knowledge
•Think about what you know about the subject of the book, paragraph, or sentence.
•Do you know anything that might make sense in the sentence? Read the sentence with the word to see if it makes sense.

Fluency Focus: Choral Reading

One of the many activities we do in class to increase our reading fluency is choral reading. We have "Friday Face-Offs" where the boys and girls take turns reading the weekly homework and giving constructive feedback to one another. We also use a free downloadable software, Audacity, to record the readings. The students listen to their recordings and then analyze how they can read more fluently. You can download Audacity to use at home; all you need is a computer microphone (can be found cheaply at Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) and speakers and/or headphones for your child to hear themselves. The students love it because they become the stars of their own reading show. Below are a few Podcasts of some of the poems we learned this six weeks. You can download the Podcasts to your MP3 player by visiting my Podbean website.

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