PHONICS: map*, bag*, ham*, he, be, AND, TO
We will practice these words all week at our phonics time in the morning and we will also practice them as "passwords" to come in and out of the classroom. Many already know how to spell the more common words, but soon these words will become more of a challenge and repetition is the key, especially with the red words!
We will practice these words all week at our phonics time in the morning and we will also practice them as "passwords" to come in and out of the classroom. Many already know how to spell the more common words, but soon these words will become more of a challenge and repetition is the key, especially with the red words!
We've set expectations and this week we dive into real first grade Reader's Workshop. This week, we will learn that there are three ways to read a book. You can read the words, 'read' the pictures, or retell the story in your head. We will also work on building our reading STAMINA. We will talk about how readers, like runners, set goals. A runner might say to herself, ‘Today, I’ll run a mile.’ At first this might be hard, but after two days of running a mile, that same runner might change her goal, telling herself, ‘I think I can run a mile and a half now!’ We will learn that it’s like that with reading, too. Readers can set goals for how long they can read during our workshop. One reader might say, ‘I will read 5 minutes today!’ But then pretty soon that goal may change. ‘I will read ten minutes today!’ the reader might say. We can set goals for ourselves in the classroom and at home, so be sure to ask your child how long they read each day and expect nothing less at home!
We are ALL authors and we ALL have something important to say. Authors write what they know, and since they can't possibly write EVERYTHING in their huge brains, then they're never really 'done.' We will adopt a new WW motto- "When you're done, you've just begun". We will also learn about an author's toolbox and and how to "properly" use writing tools like pencils, sharpeners, pink erasers, pens, post it notes, sticky flags and more. Also, look for an odd folder to come home this week. It's your child's writing folder and I am sending it home to be decorated. I find that kids take a lot of ownership in things they create/design themselves and our writing folders are the most important portfolios of work we will do this year, so I want it to be very valuable to them. Thanks for your help with this and if you need supplies, such as glitter glue, stickers, patterned paper, fancy scissors, just let me know and I'll send a bag of goodies home to help with the designing.
We are still exploring different math concepts, which gives me the opportunity to see what the kids' strengths and weaknesses are. This week, we will learn some fun new games using a 10-frame, talk about attributes and use them to build patterns using "The Button Box", and (my favorite) we will do a sorting, patterning, and graphing activity/assessment using m&m's candy. I need 2 large bags of m&m's to divide into smaller bags for the activity, so if you find yourself at WalMart and want to grab some, we'd appreciate it (and I promise I'll keep any extra bags for future activities and NOT use them for a mid afternoon pick-me-up :).
We are still working on Social Studies skills, but I'm very excited to start the Scientific Method the following week!
This week, we will engage in activities that teach the purpose of having rules and laws, as well as what it means to be a good citizen (with the help of "Officer Buckle and Gloria"). We will meet "Good Citizen Sam", discuss his character traits, (maybe even write a book about him) and create a flip book, making pledges to be "A Better Me" at school, home, and in our neighborhoods. I am excited to see the kids make commitments to become better citizens and learn about the impact even one person can make in a community.
The kids seemed to have picked up exactly where they left off in May. Routines are in place and everything is running smoothly. Now that we have established expectations, we can get down to business. I will use this next week for formal benchmark assessments, then we hit the ground running, a little earlier than usual. Thank you for encouraging your children through this week and continuing to support and encourage them as things start to get a little more challenging. Please email or call me if you need anything at all!
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