Writer's Workshop

 Writer's Workshop is a time when students are writing about their lives.  Each workshop time begins with a mini-lesson and then the students go off to write.  This week we are learning what revision means.   Too often we think it means to write it again - we learned that it actually means to make your writing better by adding more details.  Here the students are conferencing with each other to determine if more details are needed.  Rule number one in revision:  Read your writing out loud. 

Name Graphing

Today we used math in a real world context.  How much is your name worth?  Students were provided with a code to use with the alphabet.  Next, they built cube towers for each letter of their names.  Before we began we made predictions as to whose name would be worth the most and the least and why we thought that.  After completing the towers, students went on a 'museum walk' around the classroom checking and counting each name.  We were surprised by our results!

Marshmallow Experiment??

I don't know if you have heard, but we have been exploring our five senses using marshmallows!  Today I brought out the super jumbo sized ones to explore even further.  After awhile some students realized that marshmallows can become very sticky!

Testing

This is what testing in first grade looks like.  I put up the 'offices' and you must stay in your office!  Right now I am guiding the students through every aspect of the test.  I also read the directions, questions and answers.  As we become more independent, I will only read the questions for math.  The Superheroes are doing a great job following the directions!

Reading

Another major component of our day is reading.  Sometimes we are working in whole group or small groups discussing reading comprehension skills and strategies.  We also reserve some time in the day to read independently or what we like to call Read to self.   The students find a "just right" bok and a a  place to read by themselves.  We are working on building up our stamina (how long can we read with focusing only on our books).  After this, we delve into literacy stations where we work with words, write, and retell stories.  

Math Manipulatives

Students exploring using math manipulatives.  Will be doing a lot of hands on experiences this year and learning how to use manipulatives is an important component.  

Summer in a bag

Our first homework project:  Summer in a Bag was a hugh success.

   The students had a great time sharing their adventures with the whole class and then in small groups.  It was a great way to build new friendships the first week of school. 

Signing Essential Agreement

Here we are working together to make hands for our essential agreements.  

The hand represents our agreement to follow the four rules of our classroom: 

 Be kind, Be respectful, Be a good listener, Be mindful.

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum is the story of a little girl who gets made fun of because of her name.  I used the book to teach a lesson about how our words can hurt and you can not take them back.  While we were reading the students told me when to wrinkle the heart.  When something happen to make her feel better I smoothed it out.  At the end of the story, the heart was wrinkled, torn and had a few holes.   We use this and the poem to remind us to Be Kind and Be Mindful or our words.  

Essential agreements

This is a picture of our essential agreements (or rules).  As a class, we decided that these agreements would help us work well as a community.  

Essential Agreements

Another important component of the first day is establishing how our community will work together.  The students worked in cooperative groups to come up with ideas/rules that help a community work better.  This activity ties in directly to our first planner of the year:  Who We Are.  

 The central idea is that actions and attitudes affect our community.   

The students did a great job developing ideas in their groups.  One recurring issue that most groups talked about was that it was hard to hear the teacher if other people are talking. 

 As a result we made one of our essential agreements: Be a good listener. 

How many boys and girls in our classroom?

Our first job of the day was to figure out a way to find how many boys and how many girls were in our classroom.   We started by using ourselves to make a bar graph.  Next, we create a picture representation of ourselves and created a pictograph.  Now, it's easy to see that we have more boys than girls.  The exact amount:  16 boys and 8 girls.  

The first day...

I am so excited for the first day to begin.  Here's what your children saw when they came into their room.  Each desk had a place mat made with the pictures I took during the Back to School Rumble. In addition they also found a container of Play-doh!  (Always a good ice breaker!)   Soon the walls will fill up with student work and anchor charts, the desks will fill up with workbooks, and the chair pockets will fill up with notebooks and writing folders.