Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Math Partners
We have new math work that we're doing with our math partners. Here are some photos of us having math conversations and working together to learn number sense.
Family Letter August 31
Dear Families,
We are now 7 days into First Grade and I have to say that I am completely amazed! Your children have clearly had your support and patience this summer as they worked out some of the suggestions I wrote on our standards based reports. I can tell in several of them huge improvements in the very same areas I wrote you about. Because of your commitment to foster success in learning, your children are now achieving things that they weren’t last year. One day, they will remember how much you gave to their education and weap. I know because my first year of teaching I realized all that my mom and dad had done for their 3 children and I was in tears for a week. They are not the only ones who appreciate it. I’ve always said that I know exactly where to go for help with this particular class. You! Thank you for making my job so much fun this first week back. There is no other way to start our second year together than by celebrating these leaps of growth.
Here’s a peak into the room 12 world this week:
Reading: We are working on determining the difference between words, sentences and letters. We have been using our daily message to decipher where sentences begin and end. We are also reviewing last years sight words and sorting words in all different ways (syllables, beginning or ending sounds, etc). Our poem for the week is titled “I Have A Little Wagon” and I am using it to review sight words as well as teach some new strategies for figuring out words we don’t already know. I am also trying to squeeze the last drops out of summer by discussing wagons and outside play. Shameless, I know. We have began responding to literature again and are reviewing our kindergarten standards for this kind of book talk and writing about what we need.
Writing: We have set up what our writer’s workshop should look like and sound like and are reviewing what we already know about writing. We are looking at some authors that we love and some of the writers in our class as mentors and dissecting their work and why it is good.
Math: We are deepening our number sense with several great counting games and discussions. The first week we discussed how best to use our math tools and what is the difference between working and playing with tools. Out of that came a great discussion about how to have a math conversation a chart of that conversation is now hanging on our math buckets shelf. We are reviewing our 3 steps to problem solving with basic problems. It has been so fun to watch their eyes explode with memories and schema of what they know about something from last year.
Science: We are discovering how to keep our bodies safe during science. Last week, we learned to use the science tools on our own bodies called our 5 senses and now we are learning to be safe. We will be doing an inquiry later this week to practice what they’ve learned. Our new science journals have been made, thanks to lots of you, and we will be recording our data from the inquiry in them.
Social Studies: This week we are looking at making new friends, keeping old friends, and how to solve issues between friends. We are reading lots of literature about this topic and the students are really starting to see each other differently. I hear a lot of our social studies talk on the playground, which is so encouraging to me.
Reminders:
*September 3-class and individual pictures-standard dress required.
*Please send your child in tennis shoes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for PE.
*I would love to add to our framed family photo collection if you have one to send. So far, several of you have replaced the printed out version from last year with a new one.
*Thanks to all for coming to the family meeting. I hope it was informative and if you have any questions, please let me know.
*In case you didn’t know, I dropped my phone in my coffee (and yes, I kept drinking it) so my home e-mail is currently unavailable since I only do that on my phone. If you e-mail me there, I may not get it for a week or so. This e-mail is always great to use.
*Our first week of snack has gone great. Thanks, Andrea, for coordinating that! Please be watching for e-mails or calls from her mid-week.
We are now 7 days into First Grade and I have to say that I am completely amazed! Your children have clearly had your support and patience this summer as they worked out some of the suggestions I wrote on our standards based reports. I can tell in several of them huge improvements in the very same areas I wrote you about. Because of your commitment to foster success in learning, your children are now achieving things that they weren’t last year. One day, they will remember how much you gave to their education and weap. I know because my first year of teaching I realized all that my mom and dad had done for their 3 children and I was in tears for a week. They are not the only ones who appreciate it. I’ve always said that I know exactly where to go for help with this particular class. You! Thank you for making my job so much fun this first week back. There is no other way to start our second year together than by celebrating these leaps of growth.
Here’s a peak into the room 12 world this week:
Reading: We are working on determining the difference between words, sentences and letters. We have been using our daily message to decipher where sentences begin and end. We are also reviewing last years sight words and sorting words in all different ways (syllables, beginning or ending sounds, etc). Our poem for the week is titled “I Have A Little Wagon” and I am using it to review sight words as well as teach some new strategies for figuring out words we don’t already know. I am also trying to squeeze the last drops out of summer by discussing wagons and outside play. Shameless, I know. We have began responding to literature again and are reviewing our kindergarten standards for this kind of book talk and writing about what we need.
Writing: We have set up what our writer’s workshop should look like and sound like and are reviewing what we already know about writing. We are looking at some authors that we love and some of the writers in our class as mentors and dissecting their work and why it is good.
Math: We are deepening our number sense with several great counting games and discussions. The first week we discussed how best to use our math tools and what is the difference between working and playing with tools. Out of that came a great discussion about how to have a math conversation a chart of that conversation is now hanging on our math buckets shelf. We are reviewing our 3 steps to problem solving with basic problems. It has been so fun to watch their eyes explode with memories and schema of what they know about something from last year.
Science: We are discovering how to keep our bodies safe during science. Last week, we learned to use the science tools on our own bodies called our 5 senses and now we are learning to be safe. We will be doing an inquiry later this week to practice what they’ve learned. Our new science journals have been made, thanks to lots of you, and we will be recording our data from the inquiry in them.
Social Studies: This week we are looking at making new friends, keeping old friends, and how to solve issues between friends. We are reading lots of literature about this topic and the students are really starting to see each other differently. I hear a lot of our social studies talk on the playground, which is so encouraging to me.
Reminders:
*September 3-class and individual pictures-standard dress required.
*Please send your child in tennis shoes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for PE.
*I would love to add to our framed family photo collection if you have one to send. So far, several of you have replaced the printed out version from last year with a new one.
*Thanks to all for coming to the family meeting. I hope it was informative and if you have any questions, please let me know.
*In case you didn’t know, I dropped my phone in my coffee (and yes, I kept drinking it) so my home e-mail is currently unavailable since I only do that on my phone. If you e-mail me there, I may not get it for a week or so. This e-mail is always great to use.
*Our first week of snack has gone great. Thanks, Andrea, for coordinating that! Please be watching for e-mails or calls from her mid-week.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Welcome Back!
Our first week as first graders has been full of incredible learning experiences. We all came back a little taller, a little smarter, and with a few less teeth. It is so fun to be reunited with our family! Summer is hard when you know that you will be back together soon. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to.
There are 66 new Kindergartners in our building and we've been showering Angela's class with love and presents. We've made candy necklaces and name puzzles for them, taught them our class song (Brown Bear, Brown Bear) and we ended their first week with one on one tours of the O.L.E. and created presentations of our favorite parts of the garden and the rules of the garden. Gatlin even got to help his Kindergarten friend out when the Kindergartner didn't want to go to class today. Gatlin took him by the hand, told him how much fun Kindergarten was, and then walked him into class. That's something that makes Carlson so special.
Us working with our Secret Pals in the garden
We've also been working on using science tools and exploring our world with scientific behavior. We learned that you have at least 5 science tools with you wherever you go...your 5 senses.
We learned to use all 5 senses like a scientist while exploring apples.
One of the most important things we worked on this week is adopting a tree outside our window. We will be charting the changes in our tree throughout the year and teaching the Kindergarten classes how to respect it and other parts of nature on the playground. We learned to see things as they really are and not just what we think they should look like. We saw that the leaves on our tree had lots of colors on them, not just green.
There are 66 new Kindergartners in our building and we've been showering Angela's class with love and presents. We've made candy necklaces and name puzzles for them, taught them our class song (Brown Bear, Brown Bear) and we ended their first week with one on one tours of the O.L.E. and created presentations of our favorite parts of the garden and the rules of the garden. Gatlin even got to help his Kindergarten friend out when the Kindergartner didn't want to go to class today. Gatlin took him by the hand, told him how much fun Kindergarten was, and then walked him into class. That's something that makes Carlson so special.
Us working with our Secret Pals in the garden
We've also been working on using science tools and exploring our world with scientific behavior. We learned that you have at least 5 science tools with you wherever you go...your 5 senses.
We learned to use all 5 senses like a scientist while exploring apples.
One of the most important things we worked on this week is adopting a tree outside our window. We will be charting the changes in our tree throughout the year and teaching the Kindergarten classes how to respect it and other parts of nature on the playground. We learned to see things as they really are and not just what we think they should look like. We saw that the leaves on our tree had lots of colors on them, not just green.
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