Daily What?!?!

If you are anything like me, when your child arrives home you begin asking about their day at school.  What did you learn about?  How was lunch?  Did you have art?  My child's normal response is free of details.  He often says he didn't do anything or learn anything.  This post and others in the future will help give you a glimpse into our day!  Perhaps they will provide you with some promoting questions to ask your child about 1st grade!

We have been busy in 1st grade learning all about independent stamina during Daily 5.  Daily 5 will be our workshop model for small group reading instruction.  In other words, when I am meeting with a small group to teach reading, the other students must be engaged and motivated to complete a beneficial task.  To launch this, lots of practice, modeling and even failing must take place!  Students must learn what the room should look and sound like.  So far, students have learned three of the five "dailies" in Daily 5.  We have practiced Reading to Self: students can read self-selected texts independently, Listen to Reading: students can listen to fluent readers AKA, books on tape or CD, and Word Work: students will practice sight words using hands on activities including sand, magnets, beads, playdough and lots more!  Eventually students will be introduced to Work on Writing and Technology, but for now, the three choices give students ample opportunities to work independently.  As we practice, we graph our Stamina on a class chart with a goal of 20 minutes, or enough time for me to complete a reading lesson with five eager 1st graders at my table!  Right now students can engage for about 15 minutes, so we have a little more practice to go but are well on our way!  I posted a video on Seesaw showcasing our AWESOME Stamina!  If you haven't checked it out yet, please do!

Speaking of Seesaw, did you sign up yet?  If you haven't or are having trouble, please do not hesitate to contact me!  Seesaw will be our main communication tool with classroom messages sent through the app.  Don't forget to turn on your notifications so you don't miss an important message!  Additionally, I will (students eventually will) post photos, student work, and videos that will form a digital portfolio that you can save to remember your child's year in 1st grade!

Lots of assessments are taking place in 1st grade right now too.  I am currently busy assessing student sight words, beginning with the words taught in kindergarten.  If your child does not quite know the kindergarten sight words, I'll be sending home a copy of yellow flashcards for you to practice.  Once your child masters the words, please return them to school and I will re-assess.  Don't worry if they can't quite remember all of the words.  One 1st grader politely informed me that he knew these words in kindergarten and just forget them over the summer!  My guess is this is true for most of the kiddos and they just need a quick refresher!  The students will also participate in a district assessment called AIMSweb+ this week.  

A Peek at Our Week:

Reading: We will begin our reading curriculum this week in 1st grade.  We will learn about identifying the main idea or topic of a fiction story.  Students will practice summarizing using the story What is a Pal?  In phonics students will review words with short a as well as consonants n, d, p, f.  Finally in grammar students will begin learning about nouns.

Writing: We launched writer's workshop last week and the students are busy writing their first stories.  Students learned about the three parts of a lesson as well as where to gain ideas for writing.  This week students will learn how to plan a story using a "Touch and Tell" strategy.

Math: In math students are busy learning about numbers 1-10.  We have practiced counting forwards and backwards as well as have looked at math patterns.  Students have practiced completing their interactive math notebooks as well.  We will take our first math test this week.

A completed math notebook from a student. 

Practicing showing numbers to 10 on ten frames.

Amazing team work happening already!

Social Studies: Students have been busy learning about the rules of school in social studies.  We have used several Howard B. Wigglebottom books to highlight school expectations for learning.  Mrs. Selberg visiting our classroom this week to review her role at Washington too!

Upcoming Reminders:

September 11: 1st Grade Homework Begins (Information letter to accompany homework)

September 13: AIMSweb+ District Assessment 

Thank you for all of the Scholastic Book Orders!  I can't wait to show the students all of the books I was able to get for our classroom with the bonus points!  Didn't get a chance to order?  Look for the October book orders in the coming weeks!