"Peek at the Week" September 26-30

We kicked off our week with a FUN field trip to the Retzer Nature Center.  We couldn't have lucked out with a better day to enjoy a fall nature walk.  We looked for seeds, leaves, and nuts on our walk.

Here is a peek at the rest of our week!

Writer's Workshop

This week we learned how writers bring their stories to life.  We learned that authors bring their characters 'to life' by making them move and talk.  We all agreed it is MUCH more interesting to read stories that have characters DOING SOMETHING, not just staying 'flat'.  We worked hard to try to make our characters come to life in our own stories.

 We also learned it is helpful for authors to 'act out' their stories to their writing partner.  This helps us make sure we are including all the little details and feelings our characters may have.

Reader's Workshop

This week we kicked off Building Good Reading Habits.  We are learning that 1st grade readers have BIG jobs to do!  We are learning strategies to help us reading longer, harder books!  This week we learned:

Readers get their minds warmed up by taking a 'sneak peek.'

Readers do SOMETHING at the end of a book.

Readers get stronger by reading MORE and MORE.

Readers keep track of their reading.

We each made a special reading mat to keep in our book bins.  This helps us plan out our reading and helps us set goals.  Each day we have to make our reading plan by stacking our books in the order we want to read them.  Some of us like to start read to self with easier books to 'warm up' while others like to start with hard books because we have more stamina at the beginning. 

We also spent time reading with our reading partners this week!  Partners work together to read and talk about books!

Math Workshop

We started our lessons from Math Expressions. This week we learned how to visualize and represent numbers 1-10 and learned about number partners!

We practiced identifying the 5-group in the numbers 5-10. We can name these numbers as '5 and some more'. For example, the number 7 is '5 and 2 more'. 

We also practiced identifying number partners by making math mountains. We will use math mountains to help us add and subtract throughout the year!

Word Work

We added 5 new words to our word wall:

like, my, me, go, on

We also had some new kings and queens1

Important Dates

10/5 - Early Release 

10/5 - Picture Day (1-4 grade)

10/12 - No School

10/20, 10/26, 10,27 Conferences