In the Take Home Folders this week is a copy of the overview for our classroom. You will note a reference to homework which will begin next week. I hope everyone has Back to School Night on your calendars for this Thursday! We are looking forward to showing you where we spend our day learning together. In reading we are working on building good habits for solving hard words. The habits we talked about this week are: Check the picture, Look at ALL the parts of the word, and Get a running start. I also continue to meet with each student to assess their reading level for both accuracy and comprehension (through an oral retelling). This is definitely the highlight of my day! I love getting to know them as readers and look forward to meeting them where they are and building upon their skills. In math students have been using a new visual model for addition and subtraction called a number rack. Another name for this model is rekenrek. Here is a link to information about number racks. The first five pages of the document contain the information. Using the Rekenrek as a Visual Model for Strategic Reasoning in Mathematics. I began using this tool with both other teachers and students about 5 years ago and feel it is a valuable resource for developing number sense. In art we are continuing our work with Picasso. Last week we learned about The Blue Period. Students used black, white and blue paint, experimenting with making dark and light tints. I've posted a few photos of the artists at work on our Photos page. Volunteers! Yes, we are getting ready to welcome volunteers to our classroom. I have posted a link to our page on Sign Up.com on the Volunteers page of the website. Right now there are times posted for reading with students during Reader's Workshop on Tuesdays and Thursdays and material preparation on Fridays. I will continue to add days and times as the year progresses. Please make sure that if you sign up to volunteer that you have a current background check on file with the district. A link to this form is on the Volunteer page. Thank you!!!! Reminder Back to School Night - Thursday, September 28, 5:30 - 7:00 Come see the classroom and be sure to sign up for a November conference in the cafeteria! In the Take Home Folders this week is a copy of the overview for our classroom. You will note a reference to homework which will begin next week.
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We continue to keep moving along, reinforcing familiar routines and learning new ones. We have added Shared Reading folders, Weekend News Journals and Word Rings to our toolkits for literacy plus Number Racks and a Work Place Log for math.
We've started exploring the work of Picasso in art learning about his early works and using markers to create a piece to represent this period of realism. We collected data about the letters in our names to create a new class book using a ten frame to represent this information. Our librarian Mrs. EFB has asked me to forward on her request for volunteers during our weekly visit to the library Wednesdays from 10:40 - 11:30. She asks that you contact her directly if you are interested. There are a few important events coming up this week: Picture Day - September 19 (Be sure to send the envelope with your child even if you order online.) Late Opening - September 20 Book Orders Due - September 22 What a week! In all my years of teaching I do not recall an early dismissal and the addition of the the poor air quality certainly added to an interesting week. Despite the warm temperatures and not being able to go outside I have to say how impressed I am with everyone's ability to be flexible and enjoy our time together.
In reading we are continuing to talk about the good habits that readers have. This week we practiced taking a sneak peek at the cover and first few pages of an unfamiliar book and thinking about what we think the story will be about and adjusting our thinking as we read. Another good habit we learned about was Readers DO Something after they read. This might include rereading a favorite part, rereading the whole book, thinking about the parts of the book and retelling the story. This is something our readers can practice at home. Students also were introduced to some flexible seating options for independent reading time, I've posted a few photos of students reading independently and with their partners on our Photos page. While students are reading I am meeting with each one to begin the assessment process. A note about the book order: there was a bit of a glitch on the website but it has been resolved so you should be able to submit orders now. Reminders Registration forms, walking field trip permission slips and supple money due ASAP PTA Meeting - September 12 Picture day - September 19 Book Orders due - September 22 Back to School Night - September 28 Our year is off to an exciting start. We started the year reading the story, First Day Jitters. We talked about our feelings for the first day - a mixture of excited, nervous, tired, sad and fired up! Students completed their own personal page for our first class book that they will enjoy reading throughout the year. Your child may have shared with you that we had a brief power outage the first day of school - that was a first for me! The first few days/weeks of school will be about building community, learning routines and settling in to our year together. We have been gathering together to practice learning each other's names and discover little facts about our classmates. I found out that quite a few first graders think cheetahs are awesome! In addition to our community circle, each student will be interviewed by the group. We are practicing our speaking and listening skills while learning about our friends. I will publish each interview into a small poster and display them in our classroom. You will be able to enjoy the interviews at Back to School Night. Another book we enjoyed reading was Elmer, the story of a colorful elephant that learns how important he is to his friends and that they appreciate his uniqueness. Students wrote about what makes them unique and designed their own colorful Elmer. These are on display in the classroom. I'm sending our first book order home this week. Thank you in advance for supporting our classroom. We get to add to our classroom library using the bonus points earned from these orders. Reminder: Please return the registration packet forms as soon as possible. In addition, I am still collecting supply money so you can still turn the $30 fee. If you turned in your supply fee to the office please email me so I can make note on the checklist. Thank you - I enjoyed shopping for great deals during the summer to make sure our funds will go as far as possible! |
MS. SCHIADAI teach first grade in southeast Portland where every day brings a new adventure!
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