"Peek at the Week" November 14-23

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I'm so thankful for all my first graders :)

Here is what we have been up to!

Writer's Workshop
We continued our work writing nonfiction books.  First graders worked hard to include LOTS of facts on each page.  Some first graders are beginning to organize their writing by topics...this will be an important step as we begin nonfiction chapter books after break!

We learned that writers have to include specific words about their topic in their writing.  Sometimes these words are REALLY hard and we might be too scared to attempt it in our writing.  We practiced being brave and tackling those really hard words,

Reader's Workshop
Our work as word detectives is far from over!  Now that we are strong word detectives we were challenged to work at solving even harder words.  We learned that readers use snap words to solve tricky words!

We know that snap words are everywhere.  Strong readers recognize these words quickly so they can spend time solving other words in their books.  

Math Workshop
Your child's unit 2 assessment came home last week.  Please be sure to sign and return it!

We began our next unit on unknown numbers in addition and subtraction.  This week we learned how to solve for unknown partners. We practiced solving the unknown partner in equations and number stories. We are also learning that addition and subtraction are related, and both can help us solve for the unknown!

On Friday we learned a fun new game to help us practice our basic addition facts- Power Towers! First graders solve the fact on the cup, and if they solve correctly they add it to the tower!

Word Work

We added 5 new words to our word wall

ball

by

be

day

are

Fall Concert :)

"Peek at the Week" November 7-11

Here is a peek at our week!

Writer's Workshop
We started nonfiction writing this week!  We started the week exploring nonfiction books and thinking about what makes them different from fiction books.  We quickly noticed nonfiction books are full of facts, and we read them with a 'teacher voice'.

Next, we thought of topics we are experts in.  We chose topics to write about like dinosaurs, the Titanic, cats, and ice skating!  We have so much to teach others!  We learned that beginning nonfiction writing is similar to small moments: we think of an idea, plan, sketch, and write!

Reader's Workshop

You may have heard....first graders received a special mission from the SSDA (super secret detective agency)!  They have challenged us to complete 'missions' in order to become stronger readers. The missions include strategies that help us solve tricky words. 

We accepted the missions and put on our detective hats to work at solving tricky words!

Math Workshop

We continued practicing addition and subtraction strategies this week.  We started our week off by solving subtraction story problems.  First graders were encouraged to prove their thinking through a proof drawing, or circle drawing.  

Next, we began studying the relationship between addition and subtraction.  Many first graders are beginning to use ADDITION to solve SUBTRACTION! :)  They know in the problem 9-2, they can think 2 + __ = 9.

Word Work

We added 5 more snap words to our word wall:
had
will
they
all
too

We also began studying long and short A.

Important Dates
Tuesday, November 22 - Music Concert  10:00am & 2:00pm
Wednesday, November 23 - Early Release
Thursday, November 24-25 No School
Friday, December 9 - Report Cards sent home
Wednesday, December 14 - Early Release
Friday, December 23- Monday, January 2 - No School


I hope you had a great weekend :)

"Peek at the Week" October 31- November 4

I apologize for my blogging hiatus.  In years past I always blogged on Sunday afternoons during the multiple football games my husband insists on watching.  This routine even worked well last spring when I came back after maternity leave because I could put Lila on her play mat and blog away.  Now she is mobile and obsessed with anything she can't touch - like mommy's computer!  Needless to say my Sundays look a lot different and this blog kept getting neglected.  I'm committed to this communication and giving you a peek into our room each week.  Now that I know this can't get done on Sundays, I am prioritizing it into my week while I'm at school.  I appreciate your patience with me :)

Here is a peek at our week together!

Writer's Workshop
I hope you all had a chance to read your child's small moment story he/she brought home a few weeks ago.  We worked so hard on revising and editing our pieces and were quite proud of the work we did!  I am going to be holding on to many of your child's pieces throughout the year.  They will get these pieces back at our end of the year picnic to share with you.  It is also so fun to see the growth throughout the year!

First graders spent the last two weeks writing How-To pieces.  This procedural writing is a great warm up to our nonfiction unit we will be starting next week!

Reader's Workshop
We have been focusing on retelling our stories.  We are working to identify the setting, characters, problem/solution, and beginning/middle/ending.

We used the 'retelling road' to help us retell stories we read.  Each first grader has a copy of this as a bookmark in their book bins.

Word Work
We have added 10 new words to our word wall:
went
this
are
look
for
get
come
got
play
was

We had fun adding a new way to practice- sand writing!

Math Workshop

 We have continued our focus on addition and subtraction strategies.  We learned a strategy for adding called 'counting on'.  In this strategy, we determine the bigger partner, and count on to find the total.
Children are encouraged to draw dots above the smaller partner to help count on!

We also began exploring subtraction.  We are learning that if we know addition it helps us subtract!  We have focused on proving our thinking by drawing a 'proof drawing'.

We enjoyed exploring a new app called Ten Frame Fill.  You can download this free app to any ipad/iphone.

Halloween

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween together!