Fantastic Friday, November 13, 2015

We rocked and rolled this morning to crank out all the work in Reading, Writing and Math so that we could have a celebration in the afternoon. Great job kids!

The fabulous first graders wrote thank you letters for our colorful carpet.

They completed a "character, setting and events" organizer for the Thanksgiving book Lillian read yesterday.

And they continued to work on adding three numbers. Really it is adding 2 numbers ( 9+4= ) but trying to break the 4 into 1 + 3 really helps, so that is the three numbers ( 9+1+3= ).

After lunch we celebrated a great week of flexibility (substitutes, no voice, sore throats, etc.) with a movie (Maya the Bee), recess, popcorn and another recess.

Love the weather! Happy weekend!

Rest up, I have BIG plans for next week!

Thursday, November 12, 2015

It was a quick day for me...

The fluency story for the week is about Long Ago and Today. So, today we did a little writing about differences, and added a craft to it. Now it hangs in our room. Looks great!!!

Just before science Lillian read a Thanksgiving book to the class. I wanted to read it, but my voice just didn't let me. She did great reading and the kids were fantastic listeners. So respectful!!!

I left the class in capable hands at noon and went home to try to find my voice. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow. 

Wednesday, November 11, 3015

It was a lovely day in first grade! 

Meet our new classmate: Goldy. 

We are learning about some digraph and how to read them. Again, so proud of the notice the kids are taking when they read our stories. 

And then there's math! These kids are PROS at adding three numbers, and adding ten to a number (1-9).

And finally---the pumpkin has sprouted!!!

Thoughtful Thursday, November 5, 2015

This isn't really thoughtful, but rather some thoughts...

One group that worked during reading intervention did an activity with beginnings and endings of words. Put them together and read. The word could be real or non-sense.

After lunch I read a chapter from our newest chapter book The Doll People, and then we headed to do some work in the calf pen.

The kids cleaned out the hay container. Loved watching them work hard.

During math we practiced more friendly numbers in addition. Really, they have it!

Looking forward to a great evening and a fantastic day tomorrow.

Wonderful Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Not a single photo from today. Yikes!!!

Buuuut, these kids are amazing!!! Let me tell you what I mean... This week I'm HOUNDing them on our high frequency words. And it's paying off. The kids are noticing them every where!!!

I know I told you I would send the words home--I haven't forgotten, just hasn't made it to the copier yet. Let's cross our fingers for being in the Friday folder this week. 

Math. Let's just say that I finally understand the concept, so teaching it is making so much more sense. Look for papers to come home on Friday. The best way to help us is:

1.  Practice "friendly" numbers. Say any number 0-10 and your child says the friendly (what is added to make 10).

2.  Given a number 1-10, take 1away, what's the number?

3. Count numbers, write numbers, today I was a stickler for correct number formation. It was fun and they liked it. 

Thanks as always for your encouragement and support. It is a pleasure to work with you. 

Terrific Tuesday, November 3, 2015

We had a great day in First Grade. Here's a quick run-down:

1. Reading: continue to read for details in books, and began to talk about possessive nouns.

2. Art with Mrs. Hageman: she said they listened and followed directions this week (last week was a bit difficult). Yahoo, what a wonderful report!!!

3. We watched some of the Royal's parade online. It was quite exciting to see some of the players.

4. Math: used friendly numbers to create equal equations, continued our practice in adding 3 numbers, finding friendly numbers (those that make 10) and addition fact fluency (saying the answers quickly).

See? A great day! AND we had a wonderfully warm and sunny recess in the afternoon.

Marvelous Monday in November...

It was sure a great start to our week today. I'm working very hard at moving quickly through the curriculum and making it fun and novel.

We started by reading our Fluency Passage (I Am Thankful), learning our high frequency words of the week (no, eat, under, who, of), and then thinking about Babies in the Bayou, all the while trying to dig up some details. Fantastic job!!!

So, I reworked my plan, because I thought they could do this semi-independently. And, oh boy, they made me so proud!!! I gave each student (or pair of students) a book about Meerkat Families, and they worked at reading it and digging up the details. They should come home with some facts (details) about the fun animal.

Then we had a modified time of centers. I taught the word work group how to read, clip, and say a sentence with our beginning high frequency words. Talk about amazing. We will know them soon!!!

After lunch we started the study of suffix ing. Today was an intro, I'm excited to see what they really know tomorrow. Each child then had an opportunity to read (by them self) another story about communities in nature. I listened to a few read and was blown away--I usually see a big growth after Christmas, but today was great. 

For math we had a bit of fun with our World Champs the KC Royals 

And then we started our next math challenge: adding three numbers. Today we made it easier by looking for "friendly" numbers. Numbers that add to ten. 

Last, but not least... there are two sheep in a pen! So fluffy and it was great observing them today.