Sterling's Snippets: This week in 1st grade...

We've just hit the 30 day mark for 1st grade, and we are well on our way to a successful year! The first graders work hard everyday, and I am already seeing them shine in so many areas. After filling our class gumball machine, students brainstormed and voted for a class party. PJ's and stuffed animals won! Students had fun reading to their little critters during Daily 5!

Pajama Day with stuffed animals!

Just a friendly reminder that the weekly homework menus are a required homework piece for all 1st graders at Washington. Additionally, guided reading books have started to make their way home with your student (Be on the look out for a large plastic book bag!). Please listen to your reader and initial the slip within two school days. These books (and any other books you read to your child or your child reads to you) can make their way onto the Book-It Reading log! Even if your child isn't a pizza eater, it is a great routine to get into to prepare for the Reading Medalist program that will begin in January.

This week at Washington is Box Top Collection week! Thank you to the families that have already sent Box Tops in periodically. I have been holding on to these for collection week so we already have a nice start. Additionally, the Washington PTA is hosting the Scholastic Book Fair. Our class will visit the fair on Thursday, October 12. Please feel free to send money with your child in an envelope or baggy labeled with their name. The awesome volunteers will help your child select books and get them their change.

All About Jaxon

This week we had the privilege of learning more about Jaxon. He is a great kiddo with a great knack for math! Jaxon brought his fidget spinner to school for show and tell and even showed us how he can balance it on his forehead, spinning! On Friday Jaxon brought one of his favorite treats to share, Sour Skittles! We decided to practice sorting by using our alligator tongs to divide skittles among our groups.

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: Because reading is such a huge component of our day, I have started sending home the Journeys home link letters for your information. They include all of the weekly phonics, grammar, spelling and target skills we are working on for the week. Each week, students complete a performance assessment where they write about the story we have read. They practice finding text evidence to support their responses. I will have their performance assessment booklets available at conferences.

Math: In math students are working hard on addition to ten. The number bond tool was introduced and students are utilizing it to break numbers into parts. For example, 4 can be made with 2 and 2, 1 and 3, and 0 and 4. In the coming weeks, small group math will begin. Similar to reading, an independent practice model will be introduced to support students at four stations. This week two of the four stations of our MATH workshop model were introduced: The A - At your seat and H - Hands on components. Below students practice two hands on activities with partners to strengthen number sense and addition.

Science: We have made our way through the life science unit in 1st grade with numerous stories, projects, experiments and demonstrations. Science can be SO fun and it is especially helpful to have it at the end of the day when little minds are tired and looking for something engaging to do! We finished learning about plant parts by comparing the human body to a plant to describe the parts of a plant. We also went on a nature hunt looking for living things. We then used Pic Collage to share all of our photos. After learning about different animal homes, students used paper plates to create their own animal habitat. If you subscribe to Seesaw, I snapped a photo of each firstie and uploaded it to their Seesaw portfolio! Aren't they adorable?

Roman allowed us to "label" him with plant parts.

Animal and plant sorting

We found lots of "living things" on our nature hunt.

Writing: Students have made their way through the writing process and are busy fancying up their final piece of writing for our introductory unit. We will have our writing celebration on Tuesday, where students will get to share their pieces with the classroom. Right now, students are enjoying designing their covers and adding colored illustrations to make the pieces complete! (I'll snap some photos or videos to add to Seesaw when they share!)