"Peek at the Week" September 18-21

I want to apologize for the lack of pictures that will be posted this week....I did a software update on my phone and it wiped out all my pictures!  I did manage to snap a few on Friday so you can still 'peek' into our classroom this week!

Reader's Workshop

This week we continued building our reading stamina and choosing "Just Right" books.  The children are learning to change out books in their book bin during our weekly 'book shopping' day.  Each book bin will have 5 "Just Right" books and 3 choice books.  

We also had some exciting news on Friday...we built our Read-to-Self stamina to 20 minutes!!  Way to go first graders :)

Focused Readers!

Getting lost in a book!

Building reading stamina!!

Reading a "Just Right" book!

 

We even enjoy reading in Ms. Havig's chair!

The second Daily 5 activity was introduced this week - Read-to-Friend!  We began the week discussing the guidelines and expectations of this activity.

We also learned that there is a special way we should sit with our friend in order to keep us focused, and to make sure each reader can see the book.  We call this special way EEKK! (elbow to elbow, knee to knee)

This week we practiced reading with our friend 2 different ways.  The first way is called Check for Understanding.  

This way each reader is responsible for both reading, listening, and retelling.  It is a great way to make sure our friend is listening while we read!

The second way we can read with our friend is called I Read, You Read.

This is a great way for us to practice our reading fluency!

Word Work

This week we reviewed 5 more K5 'popcorn' words. These words included:  an, a, see, he, she.

We practiced on white boards, rainbow writing, and using words in sentences to make another class book!  Be sure to look for our "Popcorn" word books at open house!

Writer's Workshop

We explored three different ways writers use to come up with ideas for writing.

 These first graders are really on a roll with Writer's Workshop.  We can't wait to show off our writing folders at open house!  In addition to brainstorming writing ideas, we are also learning how to organize our writing pieces.  We are quickly learning that there are some pieces we are completely finished with, and others we are eager to continue or gain inspiration for more pieces.  We put a colored sticker on each side of our folders.  The red sticker is for pieces we are done with. The green sticker is for pieces we are still working on. 

It is very exciting how full our folders are becoming with all our writing!!

Math

I sure hope your first grader continues to be as eager to have homework throughout the year as they were this week!!  It was so fun to see the excitement on their faces each day when they turned their homework in. 

This week our focus was on calendar routines, using tallies to represent numbers, and playing games in small groups.  We played Top-It in groups of 3 or 4.  We discussed how we play games fairly, safely, and kindly with one another.  It would be helpful to review this with your child at home- especially the fact that not everyone can go first!!  Overall we did a great job and will continue practicing this throughout the year.

We will be wrapping up Unit 1 next week and taking our very first test!

Science

Our first science unit is all about weather.  We learned that weather is the changes in the air around us.  We then graphed our favorite weather.  Surprisingly it was cold weather! (good thing we live in Wisconsin!)

Don't forget....we do not have school on Wednesday, September 26.  

Thursday, September 27 is open house.  It is from 6-8 pm.  Please stop in at whatever time is most convenient for you.  The book fair will also be going on.  This is a GREAT opportunity to fill your child's bookshelves with reading material!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the VIKINGS win today :) 

Love, Ms. Havig