Apple cider, apple diagrams, apple songs, apple informational reading, apple stories! We were all about apples this past Wednesday in 1st grade! Your 1st grader traveled to each first grade classroom to explore different aspects of apples. We do this not only to make learning new ideas and concepts fun in a different setting, but also to create a community of learners within 1st grade outside of our classroom family. Over the course of the year, we will have a rotation like this about once a month to incorporate not only reading and writing, but our science, social studies and math curriculum. By the end of the year, we hope that our students are interacting with each other even more (think...Make new friends, but keep the old...). Thank you to our parents and Grandma that helped out this morning!
Small Moment Notebooks...
We worked in our small moments notebooks for the first time in writing this week. These small notebooks house ideas to write about. We can reference the notebooks when we have writers block and cannot think of an idea.
- On Monday, we wrote down ideas to write about in our little notebooks together (fire drill, bus ride to the Farmers Market, eating apples at the Farmers Market, etc). Our ideas consist of a "quick sketch" and a word or two, just to help us remember our ideas when we have writers block.
- It was exciting on Wednesday when they came back from making apple cider with Mrs. Sawade and immediately some of them grabbed their notebooks to jot down this idea! Wow!
- I'm sending these notebooks home for the weekend. Take them everywhere you go (if possible). Have your 1st grader jot down ideas (when appropriate). It could be as simple as riding in the car to see Grandma, a soccer game or playing at a friends house.
- PLEASE RETURN THESE NOTEBOOKS ON MONDAY. WE NEED THEM!
Reading Bags...
You will notice from time to time that your child will bring home his/her book bag EMPTY. If this is the case, most likely it is because we are working on a longer story during our small group time and need another day before sharing it at home. Take this opportunity to (1) have your child read a book from home (2) read a book together (3) read a book aloud to your child. Please record your reading choice on the sheet and return the bag the next day! Next week they will be taking home books of their choosing from their book boxes while I work one-on-one during small group time to note his/her progress in reading. If a book comes home a second time, that is okay! Rereading books builds confidence and fluency (reading like we talk)...two important qualities of a life-long reader.
Math...
We are working through subtraction stories for the next few weeks. Even though many of the subtraction stories are simple, we are learning how to show our answers through drawing, modeling and explaining in words. This is higher level thinking at its finest. As you work through IXL problems with your children, stop every once in a while and ask how they arrived at their answers. Some might need a pencil/crayon and paper to draw pictures of the problems to solve. Others might need to use pennies, blocks, legos, etc to put together and then take apart. When they are using these tools, they are providing proof of their answers.
Halloween party...
Thank you to Audry (Sam's mom) for coordinating our party on Friday! We will have an early recess at 1:45 on Friday. If you wish to come help with costumes, we would love your help during this time. Our parade will officially start at 2:10, with our party beginning immediately following. Please have your children bring costumes in a bag to put on during or after last recess. As always, please leave weapons-of-the-costumes at home. We welcome any parents (and grandparents) to stop by and participate in our party!
Art, art, art...
Louise was our expert this week--in art! Thank you for showing us all your art supplies, Louise!
Art, art, art...
Louise was our expert this week--in art! Thank you for showing us all your art supplies, Louise!
Books, books, books...
We've read great books by Kevin Henkes (http://www.kevinhenkes.com/) and Arnold Lobel (Frog and Toad)...now it's time for the hilarious Mo Willems! He shows us how we can write with BOLD, exciting words and make our characters come to life in stories (and make us laugh and laugh and laugh). Be ready to check out books from the library! They LOVE Mo's books! Go here to his website: http://www.mowillems.com/.
