Beard Day/Sports Day

Friday was "Support Your Favorite Sports Team" day or "Beard" day (for the Red Sox). We had a little impromptu beard-making/jersey-making workshop in the afternoon so we could all be ready for the All School Share. 

Truth? We all enjoy our sports, but I think most of us just wanted a chance to have a beard for the day. What do you think?

New Math Unit is Shaping Up

We began a new unit in math - geometry! These first grade mathematicians have been filling in shapes and building new ones with pattern blocks.

We also practiced counting backwards and forwards with different activities like Baaaaackwards Sheep, Counting Caterpillars, and Purrfectly Fast Teen Numbers.

We ended the week with our first visit to the computer lab! Check out these tech-savy mathematicians and their creations...

Want to try exploring with pattern blocks at home? Check out this website! You can even do a pattern block fill in by clicking the file folder to the left of the question mark (top of the screen).

Other websites to check out? NCTM Shape Tool (free explore with shapes) and Patch Tool (fill in larger shapes with pattern blocks).

Bye-Bye Butterflies!

We released our Painted Lady Butterflies!

These scientists were so excited to see them fly!

Open House

Thank you so much for attending Open House last week! Every family in our class came (soooo fantastic!) The excitement was bubbling over all week. First graders were so proud to share their room with families and to talk with each other about their experiences teaching their families about their day! 

Now, without further ado (hopefully it works)...our highly requested Open House video is up for you to enjoy again and again!

Please remember that positive comments and questions are always welcome on our blog! It's always nice knowing that families are reading and enjoying the happenings in our room! :)

Whoa Wednesday!

What a busy Wednesday....here is a post just to remind you of the events:

1- Walk and Ride to School! Meet at Rusty Parker Park at 7:00 am! Check out the Friday Night Highlights for more details!

2 - Picture Day! We'll get our pictures taken in the afternoon! Please remember to send your child in with his/her picture day form, otherwise s/he will not get a copy of his/her individual portrait.

3 - Open House! 6:00-7:00 pm. Please come! These first graders are so proud of their space and would love to show off their classroom. I'll answer questions and talk about some schooly stuff. When you come, you'll be able to see what our school day is like! :)

What Will Tomorrow Bring?

What an exciting few weeks! These little guys have been going through the stages in their life cycle. Ask your first grade scientist what they've observed so far!

They've been in their chrysalises since last week. We put them in the big butterfly house on Thursday. What do you think they will look like tomorrow?

Word Work

We have officially began Word Work (spelling)! We explored with our magnetic letter boards. We also cut out letters and practiced alphabetizing them. We took our first assessment and are about to begin our unit on reading and spelling three letter words (CVC - consonant, vowel, consonant words)!

We Love Exploring!

We opened more materials this week and learned how to care for them! Ask your child what material s/he liked best and what s/he did with it!

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Math Games

We have been learning a lot of new concepts through math games! Here are a few photos from our math workshop:

Students built staircases to show one more and one less

Students have been counting forwards and backwards with a number line to warm up for math

We've played a lot of card games: Double Compare, Double Compare Dots, Compare, and Compare Dots

Ask your child about his/her favorite math game!

Sight Words

Our class loves sight word time! Word Workers can do Word Searches, Word Hunts, One Breath Boxes, Roll and Read, or their Sight Word Cards (ask your child what his/her favorite is!)

So what are sight words? Sight words are words that are read automatically (without sounding out). They're quite amazing because they make up 50% of the text we read! They're usually words that are difficult to illustrate or sound out. For example: "the, of, what."

Check out our page on sight words. We use Fry's First 100 Sight Words in first grade and continue to teach new sight words after that! In the first trimester, we've been focusing on the first 25 words.

What is sight word time? Children independently complete word activities (listed above) and also their word cards. Word cards are specific to their sight word knowledge. Students are assessed daily and practice their word cards aloud. If they are able to read a word five times over a period of time, they are able to add a new word to their key ring. *Keep in mind, students work with five words at a time. It's important to keep it manageable for these first graders to learn their words!

How can we help at home? There are tons of ways to practice reading sight words! You can practice sight words at home by making flashcards or downloading one of the many free apps for Fry Sight Words. You can also adapt board games (ie: Checkers and Candy Land) by writing words on cards or squares - anytime you land on a square you have to read a word! You can play a toss and read game (write words on paper and toss an object, whatever word it lands on - read it). You can also go on your own "word hunts" at home - and find those sight words in books you're reading together. There are so many ideas for practicing sight words - just searching the internet comes up with a plethora of ideas!