Halloween Parade!

Our Halloween Parade will be tomorrow at 3:00 in the halls of Stormonth!  I hope to see a lot of you there :)


I will combine last week's "Peek at the Week" with this week's.  I apologize, with conferences and a professional development day I did not have time to update the blog!  Thank you for understanding :)

"Peek at the Week" October 15-19

What a great week in first grade!  These are truly some amazing kiddos...I am excited to see what this year has in store for us!  Here is a look at what we were up to!

(let's go backwards this week!)

Math

 This week I launched a more structured and formal Math Workshop model.   Our time consists of a group mini lesson, guided practice, and center activities.  The children have a choice of which activity they want to visit each day, and there is differentiation at each activity based upon children's needs.  During these activities I am able to pull groups to work on extension activities, problem solving, or intervention. 

Finding coin values on the iPads!

Penny Cup Everyday Math Game

Scoop and Total Coin Game

Exchanging pennies for nickels!

We did a great job finding groups of 5 pennies!

I would love to have volunteers help out during math!  I am looking for some help beginning the week of October 29 on Mondays and Thursdays from 2:50-3:30.  Once our 10 week Guidance lessons conclude at the end of November I could also use somebody on Wednesdays.  Please let me know if you would be interested!  

Word Work

We learned 5 new popcorn words this week:  play, with, went, one, and day.  In addition, we also began our study on vowels.  We will be studying a new vowel each week throughout October and November.  After winter break, we will begin our 'formal' spelling lessons from Words Their Way. 

This week we studied the short a and long a sounds.  We began by sorting long and short a pictures. 

As an added challenge, children could try writing the long and short a word on the back of the picture cards before sorting!

 

 

We also worked to complete a long A word ladder!

As you go up each 'ring' of the ladder, you change one letter to make a new word!

Writer's Workshop

We focused this week on s  t  r  e  t  c  h  i  n  g small moments.  We want to zoom in to one specific part of our story, and then stretch it out to include all the detail we can!  A great example of this concept is in the Kissing Hand.

 

 This story is not about Chester's ENTIRE day, but rather just about the part where he feels nervous to go to school.  The author takes his nervous feelings about school and stretches the story out over several pages.

In addition, we also began to realize that many writers were spending so much time drawing detailed pictures that they weren't getting any words written!  We were dying to read their stories- but there weren't any words.  In order to help with this we decided to sketch, write, and then go back to add details.

     

Meeting with our writing partners to share our stories!

Reader's Workshop

We are wrapping up our study on 'tools' readers use to help with unfamiliar words.  This week we focused on looking for chunks we knew and thinking if words made sense.  Here we are working on some tough words in a sentence.  

We also learned another component of Daily 5- Listen to Reading!  We have 2 ways to listen to reading in our classroom.  

Books on tape in our listening center.

Tumble Books! 

It was a BIG week in Reader's Workshop because we also began guided reading!  Thank you so much for helping your children build in time to practice reading each night.  I am enjoying hearing how the kids are using the strategies we are learning in the classroom at home. 

Don't forget....conferences begin next week!  I am very excited to share how your child is doing so far in first grade!  If you didn't return the special concerns sheet, but would like to discuss something specific, please let me know so I can be best prepared to answer your questions.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,
Ms. Havig

"Peek at the Week" October 8-12

I think the cold weather is 'officially' here!  Thank you for remember to send your children to school with cold weather gear!

Reader's Workshop

For the next few weeks we will be focusing on tools readers use to figure out unknown words.  This week we focused on three 'tools':

1.  Look at the picture.

2.  Look at the beginning and ending sounds.

3.  Does it make sense?

Do you see the sticky notes?  These are words we found during Read-to-Self that required us to use a reading tool to figure out!  Look how smart we are!

Ms. Havig modeled these tools while she read to the class.  On Friday she covered up words in a fun story called Scaredy-Cat, Splat! There were many words in this book that we could READ, but we had to think about what they meant by thinking what makes sense?

Writer's Workshop

We continued our focus on Small Moments.  We were given a writing partner this week to brainstorm and share ideas with.  We learned that writers often get tips, suggestions, and ideas from working with other writers.  

Math

We focused on telling time to the hour and adding with dominoes this week. Most of us had a really good understanding of finding the time to the hour from K5.  We also practiced finding the time to the half hour.  We have added telling time to our calendar routine so we can practice this skill each day.  

During domino addition we began practicing using an addition number sentence.  As an added challenge we ordered our dominoes from least to greatest!

 

Science

This week we revisited thermometers.  We know thermometers are tools to measure temperature.  We took the temperature inside and outside using real thermometers! 

  

 Field Trip

We went to the Milwaukee Art Museum on Thursday.  We were encouraged to look for paintings, or parts of paintings that represented each letter of the alphabet!  When we came back, we made a class big big called A is for Art!

All tuckered out!! 

 Star of the Week

 Star of the week began this week!  We really enjoy learning about one another!  When you are the star of the week you fill out a book called Read All About Me, bring pictures to hang on our star board, and share your favorite book!  At the end of the week we make a special book for the 'star' to bring home!

 

Have a fabulous weekend!
Love, Ms. Havig

"Peek at the Week" October 1-5

Here is what we have been up to this week:

Reader's Workshop

We learned this week that readers need to get their minds ready for reading.  Just like an athlete needs to stretch before exercising, readers need to 'warm up' their minds!

 

We also continued practicing Read-to-Friend.  We learned how to choose our own partners this week!  Ask your child to show you how to do this!  We built our buddy stamina to 16 minutes!

 Word Work

We learned 5 new popcorn words this week: you, and, come, up, & do.  This week we focused on a concept called "If you know ____, it helps you know ______"  This is working with word families, but also finding the 'chunk' within longer words.  The children could easily differentiate the words they could write using the word family.  Look for this in your child's folder today!

Writer's Workshop

We finished up our launching unit and began small moments on Thursday.  I will be sending home your child's writing portfolio on Monday. (I hope you will be as impressed as I am with their writing!)

We began our unit by reading the story A Chair For My Mother.  This is a true story written by Vera Williams.  She gives A LOT of detail when she tells her story.  We discussed how different here story could have been if she hadn't included any detail.

We ended our week by rereading the story and trying to find details that showed Vera's sense of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.  We want to include all our senses when we write!

Math
We started unit 2 this week which focuses on everyday uses of numbers. This week we focused on using the number grid to help us count up and back, 

This week was also fire safety week.  Officer Short came to speak about ways to be safe. 

 We loved meeting Ember!  She helped model how to stop, drop, and roll, and also how to get out of your bedroom safely if there was ever a fire!