Hello Autumn!

 Our monarch butterfly hatched and we released it.  It was so exciting!

Our first writing unit is in full swing! We are writing small moment stories from our lives.  We are zooming in on a specific moment.  Each day I read a book that helps them understand how to zoom in and focus on one event or how to make our writing more exciting. Here are some of them:

We refer to anchor charts each day as we write and add to them as we learn new skills.

Enjoy this example written by a student about cliff jumping.

  

We wrapped up our nursery rhyme unit!

Now we are learning routines to move towards center work during reading.  This will take a few weeks!  Center activities will include Lexia Core 5, which is an adaptive reading program, and Epic! which is a super fun online resource. We are learning how to access these programs using chromebooks.

Do you know what a fact family or number tree is?  

The subtraction facts for this family would be 6-0=6 and 6-6=0.   Dominoes are a great tool for learning about these facts as well as flip cards.  You have two examples of flip cards and the corresponding number families in your child's home school  folder this week.

We are working on sentence skills!  

They love reading!!

Grade 1 Art Project

First we read the book

Then we made name clouds and the rainbows have words explaining what is unique about them.

Explore time fun!

Some of the other books we have read....

Welcome back!

 Last June we met at Look Ahead Day.....

Now they are first graders hard at work and having fun!

We started off learning about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly-thanks to your help each classroom had a caterpillar.  One has hatched and we still have 2 chrysalises. 

In math we are reviewing concepts such as:

counting, tally marks, subitizing, make ten facts, and reviewing correct numeral formation. 

 

Our Word Study has focused on letter sound review and correct letter formation of lower case letters.  Once a letter and number have been reviewed they will then be held accountable for writing it the correct way.  This takes time so please do not be surprised if you see reversals now and then!

We are also reviewing snap words, also called trick words and heart words.  These are words we commonly read and write that may not follow the phonics rules. These have a tricky part that we need to memorize by heart. So far we are practicing: a, the, and, of, is, his, as, has. Practice makes permanent!

To kick off reading we are are using nursery rhymes!  Each child has a nursery rhyme booklet.  Each day we read a nursery rhyme together, look for snap words, rhyming words, and choral read.  They work on a follow up activity and then read from a book box filled with nursery rhymes.  

Routines, routines, routines-so many to learn!  Here are a few examples...

lunchroom

Fire drills

Classroom voice levels

What happens when we make a mistake-a work in progress with their input

The class enjoys having explore time in the classroom and of course recess!

Read alouds-here is a sampling of the books I have read to the class. We always talk about what is this book really teaching us?  What can we learn?  

  

  

 

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These photos have appeared in the school newsletter or previous communications but I thought I would add them here as well!