Run for the Arts was a huge success! Thankfully the rain held to only a few sprinkles and everyone had a great time. Sponsor sheets were sent home again with students to gather pledges and then return to school once more.
We added a few fables to our collection last week focusing on The Toad and the Ox, The Dog and His Bone and The Tortoise and the Hare. That last fable was especially timely with Run for the Arts! Students rewrote The Tortoise and the Hare after listening to a few versions and created a pop-up scent to go with their writing. These will be on display in the classroom soon - stop by and take a look! During reader's workshop our minilessons have centered around identifying the lesson in a story. Our fable study has been a great launching pad for this discussion. Be sure to have your reader practice identifying the lesson in the books they read at home and have them explain their thinking. The first grade team is planning on having a little art show soon for families to come and view the sculptures students made with our artist in residence. Be on the lookout for a flyer giving more information which will be sent home soon.
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April is one of my most favorite months in first grade! To see the level of independence that first graders have been acquiring over the last few months is wonderful! This group is so enthusiastic about everything we do - it really brings joy to each day.
We have begun an especially fun project and will continue to work on it until the end of the year. Students will be reading and listening to a variety of fables. We will discuss the moral of these fables and learning songs to go with them. The plan is to put on a little show for families at the end of the year. We started this week reading The Fox and the Grapes. I will keep you posted for the time and date of our little musical. Run for the Arts is scheduled for this Friday and so far the weather looks promising! If that changes and rain enters the forecast please make sure students are dressed for the weather. Sponsor sheets are due Wednesday! Thank you for your support with this fundraiser. We have really enjoyed both of our arts residencies this year which would not have been possible without Run for the Arts! Dates to Remember Tuesday, April 24 Art Infusion Training 6:30pm - 8:00pm Wednesday, April 25 Run for the Arts sponsor sheets due Friday, April 27 Run for the Arts run day! 1st Grade runs at 9:10 - 9:40 One of our favorite things we did this week was finish our "Family on the Couch" sculptures with our artist in residence, Karie Oakes. Students learned about the different stages the clay goes through and then selected different colors of glaze to add to their artwork. I will be firing the pieces soon and then planning when to unveil this amazing art to everyone. I've added a few pictures of our artists in action to the photo gallery.
In reader's workshop our mini-lesson discussions are beginning to focus on characters. We are talking about what you find out about the different characters from what you read or see in the illustrations. This week that work will continue with discussions about what we can infer about the characters too. Students also selected a new goal to focus on during their independent reading time. In math we continue to focus on developing multiple strategies for working with facts to 20. We have been exploring the commutative property of addition and solving subtraction problems by using addition. We ended our week with Career Day where artists, teachers, chefs, pet sitters, librarians, scientists, soccer and baseball players, moms, veterinarians, video game developers, a YouTube star and a few spies all spent the day in 1st grade. Dates to Remember Tuesday, April 17 Art Infusion 1:15 Tuesday, April 17 LGBTQ Event 5:30 - 8:00 Wednesday, April 18 Late Opening Friday, April 20 Book Orders Due Saturday, April 21 Rummage Sale 8:00 - 3:00, Multnomah Friends Meeting House Wednesday, April 25 Run for the Arts sponsor sheets due Friday, April 27 Run for the Arts run day! 1st Grade runs at 9:10 - 9:40 Our first week back from spring break found us falling right back into our routines.It was fun to hear about everyone's adventures both staycations and vacations. I was at my last two trainings on Wednesday and Thursday and so pleased that everyone had great days. I found my dyslexia training both interesting and helpful and came back to share some of what I learned about how the brain works during one of the reading minilessons!
Our new reading unit is underway. This week's lessons focused on making predictions and identifying the important events of a story. We will continue to work on these skills this week. I am also taking some time to update assessments as our 3rd quarter report cards are coming up. In reading we continue to study the work of Ezra Jack Keats and focused on his use of dialogue and I invited students to give dialogue a try in their own writing. We also explored Vigorous Verbs changing ordinary verbs like looked to peered or walked to scampered. It is fun to experiment with language. Run for the Arts forms were sent home on Wednesday. If your child did not bring one home please let me know! Reminders Tuesday, April 10 Artist in Residence session 10:00 - 11:30 Thursday, April 12 Spirit Day - Career Day Friday, April 13 No School for Students - Teacher Planning Day Wednesday, April 18 Late Opening Friday, April 20 Book Orders Due Saturday, April 21 Rummage Sale 8:00 - 3:00, Multnomah Friends Meeting House Wednesday, April 25 Run for the Arts sponsor sheets due Friday, April 27 Run for the Arts run day! I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break. Hopefully everyone is rested and ready to hit the ground running as we head toward the first grade finish line.
We are beginning new units in reading and math this week focusing on comprehension strategies and story problems. In science we will continue learning about waves. Students had the opportunity to explore and experiment with sound waves and now we will turn our attention to light waves. We have our final session with our artist in residence next Tuesday and could use some help from 10:00 - 11:30. Students will be adding glaze to their clay pieces and we would love to have as much help as possible. You can sign up online via our volunteer page or send me an email. Thank you! |
MS. SCHIADAI teach first grade in southeast Portland where every day brings a new adventure!
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