How Cool Is This?

Just a quick note to say "thank you" to my dad for building this awesome cabinet for my classroom. I have been looking for an organized way for the students to store their homework notebooks and this is the perfect solution. The other half holds writing supplies for workshop and affirmation station time.

Franklin's Bad Day

This week we are reading and learning about different types of emotions and feelings. We are also learning about characters and how they change. Yesterday we read Franklin's Bad Day to learn about how character's feelings can change in a story. As we read, we thought aloud about how Franklin was feeling. The students determined that at the beginning of the story Franklin felt mad but they were unsure why. We practiced using the picture clues to help us know how the character was feeling. As we continued reading, the students determined that Franklin was now feeling sad because his friend had moved. We discussed that this could be what was really upsetting him in the beginning of the book. At the end of the book the students determined that Franklin was feeling better. After discussing how and why his feelings changed, the students created a three part foldable to write and illustrate the changes.

Thank You PTA!

Last Friday the students in our class, along with one class from every other grade level, were awarded with a popcorn party from PTA for having the highest percentage of family members to join PTA for our grade level. The students loved the red, white and blue popcorn treat. One of the students even made a Moseley Thunderbird out of their popcorn. Thank you to all of the parents and other family members who joined PTA!

Pattern Review

This week in math we have been reviewing various concepts. One of those concepts is repeating patterns. In one of our review lessons, the students worked in small groups to create repeating patterns using paper color tiles to match an alphabet pattern card. After making the first pattern, they rotated to another station with a different alphabet pattern card to practice a new pattern. The students were able to see that althought they may have chosen a different set of colors to begin with, the alphabet pattern stayed the same. Individually, and without the aid of the cards, the students wrote the alphabet pattern, identified the pattern core, and drew a line to divide each repeating part.

Sound Energy Lab

As a part of our study of energy, the students visited the science lab to experiment with different forms of sound. The students rotated through various stations to explore the sounds that can be made from tapping, rubbing, shaking, and vibrating.

Light Energy Lab

Last week we visited the science lab to learn about light energy. The students explored with various types of light including lamps, flashlights, and poplights. We also read about and looked at pictures of various uses of light such as fireworks.

Family Tradition Quilt

A few weeks ago in Social Studies, we discussed family traditions and the students shared a few things that make their families unique. With the help of their parents, the students wrote down at least one of their family traditions on a paper quilt square. They then illustrated their work and shared them with friends.

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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Rainbow Day Lessons

Each Friday for the last several weeks and for the future few weeks, the students will be taught character education lessons by a guest teacher, Ms. K. She visits our class for about thirty minutes to teach social skills lesssons such as how the brain is the boss of their body, where safe seats are in a car, etc.

Skip Counting Practice

To help the students practice skip counting, we kicked off our shoes and counted them by 2's. They then traced their hands and added them to sentence strips. They then counted them by 5's. For independent practice, the students then created their own skip counting patterns using computer clipart of shoes and hands. The students used critical thinking and critical writing to determine which would be faster - to count by 2's or to count by 5's. They learned the technology skills of click, hold, and drag along with adding and editing text boxes.

Pumpkin Writing

Through our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students are learning to write descriptively. This week the students wrote about a pumpkin. They wrote about what a pumpkin looks like, what it has, and what it can do. They used a Circle Map to brainstorm and then organized their thoughts on a Tree Map. After using the Tree Map to help them write sentences, we worked together to edit and revise the sentences. The students then wrote a final draft of their writing on pumpkin writing paper and colored it.

How Do Apples Grow?

Over the last two weeks we have been talking about different types of media and their purposes. Two of the main purposes we talked about last week were reading for entertainment and information. One of the books we read to learn more about the purpose of reading for information was How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maesto. After reading and discussing the book, the students wrote about what the topic of the book was and then identified whether the text was for entertainment or information. And, of course, they created an apple to go along with their writing!

Humpty Dumpty

A few weeks ago we studied various Nursery Rhymes. One of the Nursery Rhymes that we practiced was Humpty Dumpty. To help the students practice retelling a text including the beginning, middle, and end, the students took a two sentence strips and folded them in half. They wrote one part of the Nursery Rhyme onto each piece of the sentence strip including the title. The students then put them in order on a piece of construction paper. This became Humpty Dumpty's wall. They then placed Humpty Dumpty on top of the wall.