Coin Bags
At the beginning of the year, you sent in bags of coins for your child to use in Math. Most of them are still intact. A few, however, are missing some coins. I think coins in a classroom are like socks in a dryer - who knows where they go. This would be a good time to ask your child about the status of his or her coin collection. Each coin collection should contain:
20 pennies
5 nickels
10 dimes
2 quarters
It is always good to have a few extra since coins do seem to go missing at times. Thanks.
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Practice basic addition and subtraction facts using any method/game you choose.
Library
We have library tomorrow. Please help your child remember to return his or her books.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Crew News February 5, 2013
Pinterest
I thought I would share with you the link to my Pinterest page. I use my Pinterest account to keep track of the books that I use in various ways in class. I thought you might like to have access to some of these lists of books, particularly the lists of "Book Series for 1st Grade" and "Longer Read Alouds for 1st Grade". These might come in handy as you and your child are looking for books at the library either for your child to read or for you to read aloud to your child. If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest, you simply click on the page you are interested in in order to see the whole page. Then you can click on particular books to see more detailed information. I have linked most books to the public library site to make it quick and easy for me to put the books we use on hold - often a second click is required to get to the library site. You can do this, too. Then the books will be pulled and ready for you to pick up on your next trip to the library. I love to do this to save time. To go to my Pinterest pages, you may either click on the picture above or click here. (Note: I did start using Pinterest for the typical reasons so you will also see other non-school related pages here of things I am interested in or love - like the color orange.)
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.7 Practicing with Fact Triangles
I thought I would share with you the link to my Pinterest page. I use my Pinterest account to keep track of the books that I use in various ways in class. I thought you might like to have access to some of these lists of books, particularly the lists of "Book Series for 1st Grade" and "Longer Read Alouds for 1st Grade". These might come in handy as you and your child are looking for books at the library either for your child to read or for you to read aloud to your child. If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest, you simply click on the page you are interested in in order to see the whole page. Then you can click on particular books to see more detailed information. I have linked most books to the public library site to make it quick and easy for me to put the books we use on hold - often a second click is required to get to the library site. You can do this, too. Then the books will be pulled and ready for you to pick up on your next trip to the library. I love to do this to save time. To go to my Pinterest pages, you may either click on the picture above or click here. (Note: I did start using Pinterest for the typical reasons so you will also see other non-school related pages here of things I am interested in or love - like the color orange.)
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.7 Practicing with Fact Triangles
Monday, February 4, 2013
Crew News February 4, 2013
Obsession
One of the greatest challenges of teaching first grade is the "chapter book" issue. Every child in every first grade class wants to be able to read chapter books. They can be rather obsessed with this goal. They feel like they aren't really readers until they can read chapter books. As a result, there are often some rather sad children when they realize that it can take a while to develop all of the skills necessary to read chapter books.
As some students in the crew begin to be able to read chapter books this whole issue becomes magnified. We have lots of talks about how babies don't all learn to walk on the same day or kids don't all learn to ride a two-wheel bike the same day and this helps some. But if you are the child still waiting to read chapter books and it seems likes everyone else is already there it can be a bit discouraging.
Because we now have more a little bit more than half of our crew reading chapter books, I have to work this "we all learn at different times" angle really hard. We talk about showing empathy to others if we can read chapter books and they aren't ready yet. We find books that we can all read and love so everyone can join in. This stretch of time can be difficult for those who aren't yet reading chapter books.
You can help by offering to read some of those chapter books aloud to your child if this is an issue at your house. You can reinforce that everyone will be reading chapter books soon and that it will be worth the wait and that the best way to "get there" is to practice and practice. Some books that are "just right" for everyone in the crew and are great fun to read are the Elephant and Piggie series and the Fly Guy series. Great book series to choose for read aloud at bedtime are Gooney Bird Greene, Ready Freddy, Clementine, Roscoe Riley and Marty Maguire.
I plan on using my "secret weapon" next week. I have put lots of graphic novel type books on hold at the library. These are always very popular and have a wide range of reading levels. Best of all, most of them don't have chapters. We will all reach that special "chapter book moment" but we may need to practice empathy (as givers and receivers) as we all work to get there.
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.6 Measuring in Centimeters
One of the greatest challenges of teaching first grade is the "chapter book" issue. Every child in every first grade class wants to be able to read chapter books. They can be rather obsessed with this goal. They feel like they aren't really readers until they can read chapter books. As a result, there are often some rather sad children when they realize that it can take a while to develop all of the skills necessary to read chapter books.
As some students in the crew begin to be able to read chapter books this whole issue becomes magnified. We have lots of talks about how babies don't all learn to walk on the same day or kids don't all learn to ride a two-wheel bike the same day and this helps some. But if you are the child still waiting to read chapter books and it seems likes everyone else is already there it can be a bit discouraging.
Because we now have more a little bit more than half of our crew reading chapter books, I have to work this "we all learn at different times" angle really hard. We talk about showing empathy to others if we can read chapter books and they aren't ready yet. We find books that we can all read and love so everyone can join in. This stretch of time can be difficult for those who aren't yet reading chapter books.
You can help by offering to read some of those chapter books aloud to your child if this is an issue at your house. You can reinforce that everyone will be reading chapter books soon and that it will be worth the wait and that the best way to "get there" is to practice and practice. Some books that are "just right" for everyone in the crew and are great fun to read are the Elephant and Piggie series and the Fly Guy series. Great book series to choose for read aloud at bedtime are Gooney Bird Greene, Ready Freddy, Clementine, Roscoe Riley and Marty Maguire.
I plan on using my "secret weapon" next week. I have put lots of graphic novel type books on hold at the library. These are always very popular and have a wide range of reading levels. Best of all, most of them don't have chapters. We will all reach that special "chapter book moment" but we may need to practice empathy (as givers and receivers) as we all work to get there.
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.6 Measuring in Centimeters
Friday, February 1, 2013
Crew News February 1, 2013
Our Crew
Today's post was going to have videos showing us wrestling in PE but Mr. Doug was sick so we had to change our plans. We hope Mr. Doug feels better soon. I thought a crew photo would be nice today. We will post about wrestling another time. Enjoy the photo of our wonderful crew. Missing today were Reese and Natalie.
Homework
No homework for the weekend. Enjoy some great books with your child.
IA
Our IA next week is Art.
Today's post was going to have videos showing us wrestling in PE but Mr. Doug was sick so we had to change our plans. We hope Mr. Doug feels better soon. I thought a crew photo would be nice today. We will post about wrestling another time. Enjoy the photo of our wonderful crew. Missing today were Reese and Natalie.
Homework
No homework for the weekend. Enjoy some great books with your child.
IA
Our IA next week is Art.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Crew News January 31, 2013
Our Day in Pictures
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.5 Fact Routines Practice
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| Sharing a lighthouse sculpture during Morning Meeting |
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| Demonstrating how to do a jumping jack. |
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| Getting the whole crew up and jumping. |
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| Reading with a 4th grade buddy. |
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| Reading with a 4th grade buddy. |
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| Finding a contraction (she'll) while reading. |
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| Finding a word that has "-tion" at the end while reading. (action) |
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| We are crew. |
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| Enjoying a good book at the library. |
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| We love to write. |
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| Looking for a good book in the library. |
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| Found a great book! |
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.5 Fact Routines Practice
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Crew News January 30, 2013
When I Grow Up
The VoiceThread below (with the voices of our crew this time) was created as part of our financial literacy study. We talked about the idea that people have choices in what jobs or careers they have. We also learned that people with different jobs can make different amounts of money. In the VoiceThread below you will see and hear the crew explain what career they would like to have when they grow up. (If you receive these posts by email you will need to go directly to the blog or click on the link below to view the VoiceThread.)
For a larger view of this VoiceThread, click here.
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.4 Family Letter ~ Fact Triangles
Library
We have library tomorrow. Please help your child remember to return his or her library books.
The VoiceThread below (with the voices of our crew this time) was created as part of our financial literacy study. We talked about the idea that people have choices in what jobs or careers they have. We also learned that people with different jobs can make different amounts of money. In the VoiceThread below you will see and hear the crew explain what career they would like to have when they grow up. (If you receive these posts by email you will need to go directly to the blog or click on the link below to view the VoiceThread.)
For a larger view of this VoiceThread, click here.
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.4 Family Letter ~ Fact Triangles
Library
We have library tomorrow. Please help your child remember to return his or her library books.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Crew News January 29, 2013
Our Day in Pictures
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.3 Fact Families
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| Desk clean out on Stewardship Day (every Tuesday) |
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| Working at the Build and Create Center |
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| Absorbed in a book |
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| Working with Word Families - the "est" family |
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| Acting as Scientists at the Wonder and Explore Center |
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| Love those books! |
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| More "Building and Creating" |
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| Using the Geoboard app on the iPad |
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| Learning to spell sight words |
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| More First Grade Fashion |
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| Working on fact families in Math |
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| Our teacher's helper doing the Math jobs |
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| More deep concentration in Math |
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| Bundling up to go home |
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.3 Fact Families
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