Welcome Back!

Howdy Partners!

Welcome to first grade and to our class blog.  I hope you are ready to become a Parker Cowboy.  We are going to have a Rootin Tootin good time this year.

I created this blog to keep parents informed about what we are learning in our classroom.  I plan to update this site often with important information, pictures and activities.  Please check back often to see what we have been up to.

It was great  meeting my new buckaroos at Open House on  Friday.  If you were not able to come, please know that I have an open door policy in my classroom and you are always welcome to drop by anytime!  

Just a reminder that Monday we will go to PE for specials so wear your tennis shoes.  

Don't forget to put your Jitter Glitter under your pillow tomorrow night!  I can't wait to see everyone on Monday!

Another Great Week!

We had another great week in first grade.....and boy were we busy!

In reading we learned all about making inferences. We learned that when you infer something, all you are doing making a guess about what is going to happen next. We learned that we can think about other books we have read of something we have done in our life to help us infer.  We practiced making inferences all week.....and got very good at it! 

In math we learned about comparing numbers, ordering numbers and practiced making tally marks.  When we compare numbers, we learned about the hungry alligator and how he always "eats" that bigger number.  We also learned a neat poem about tally marks and got to practice making them popsicle sticks!

In Science we talked about clouds and storms.  We read lots of books about storms and clouds.  One of our favorite books was It Looked Like Spilt Milk.  We went outside and looked at clouds and the pictures that they created.  Then we got make our own cloud pictures with white paint and decide what it turned into.  We made robots, trees, flowers, bees, and so many other things!
We ended the week by making clouds in a jar!  This was so neat!  First we learned what a cloud is.  Did you know that a cloud is just tiny drops of water and when it gets too full.....it rains! 

First we put water in the jar and topped it off with shaving cream (the cloud).  Next we put a few drops of food coloring(rain) in the "cloud" and waited.  When the food coloring got too heavy.......it RAINED! 

If you would like to try this at home here is what you need:

1 jar

water

food coloring

shaving cream

This upcoming week is going to be just as busy and fun!  We will be learning all about apples in Science and doing a fun math activity with OREO's on Friday. 

Please remember to send in 1 apple by Wednesday and 1 pack of OREO's by Friday!

 

Learning Through Games

It is hard to believe the first 2 weeks of school are over!  The kiddos have been working SO hard and really getting the hang of the 1st grade routine.  First grade is SOOOO different from Kindergarten- there is more written work, more assessments,  and more responsibilities.  This is just a reality of school!

BUT....my goal is to still have fun while learning in first grade. 

I incorporate as many "games" into our learning as I can throughout the day.  Its my way of "tricking the kids"....they think they are  just playing a game....little do they know that they are actually practicing the skill we just talked about.  I heard more than once this week...

"Math is so fun because all we do is play games"...LOL! 

This week, I hope to incorporate  more of these "games" into our reading block as well! 

It has been an amazing start! I am so excited  how quickly and easily everyone adjusted to the 1st grade routine. Everyone is  eager to learn and really stepped up to meet the challenge of whatever I asked of them. This is going to be an awesome year!!!


Last week.........
In Reading we learned about the parts of a book and how to read and care for a book.  We also practiced partner reading and sitting EEKK style.  We also talked about words with the short a sound and  learned how to play a few of our phonics games. 


In math, we played with some of our math tools, learned how to play several math games, and got to graph skittles! 


Please note that for the first few weeks of school, we will be reviewing skills and pretesting.  For some, this stage may seem boring or just too easy.  Reviewing is very important so I know exactly where to start your child in reading and math.    My hope is to start  reading and math groups next week!  If you have any questions or want to come see what we are doing, please stop by!

Howdy Partners!

Howdy Partners!   Welcome to first grade and our class blog.     I hope you are ready to become a Parker Cowboy.  We are going to have a Rootin Tootin good time this year.

I created this blog to keep parents informed about what we are learning in our classroom.  I plan to update this site often with important information, pictures and activities.  Please plan to check back often to see what we have been up to.

It was great  meeting some of my new buckaroos at Open House on  Thursday.  If you were not able to come, please know that I have an open door policy in my classroom and you are always welcome to drop by anytime!  

Just a reminder that Tuesday we will go to PE for specials so wear your tennis shoes.   We will be having chicken tenders for lunch...YUMMY!

ALSO.......
Don't forget to have your parents read you "The Night Before First Grade" book and sprinkle your jitter glitter under the pillow! 

Here are some pictures from Open house.......

See everyone on Tuesday!!!!!












 

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Pumpkins Everywhere!

We’re learning all about pumpkins this week and the kids couldn’t be more thrilled!!  I thought I’d share some of the fun we’re having in case you’re knee deep in pumpkin seeds, too!

We started the week activating & growing our pumpkin schema.  We read a few fun non-fiction pumpkin books, gathered new learning, and added our little fact seeds to our pumpkin chart.  Did you know that pumpkins are fruit?!  That was a “are-you-for-real?!?!” moment for the kids. 

We followed up our new learning with a little apples vs. pumpkins venn diagram.  We reinforced a few key vocabulary words {similar, contrast, compare, alike, different} & used that verbiage while we talked about both.  The kids did such a GREAT job recalling facts. 

I read the book, “The Littlest Pumpkin” and had the kids wrote about why the littlest pumpkin felt disappointed.  They then made a text to self connection and wrote about a time they felt disappointed.  It’s much easier to articulate it than it is to write it down!  Especially at this time of the year!!!  All that to be said, I think my kids did a GREAT job….especially since they worked independently doing so! 

We were working on sequencing this week, so I put a little sequencing activity in the pocket chart & they had to sequence the life cycle of a pumpkin.  I found the real life pumpkin photos & they matched them to sentences that I typed up on the computer.  After they matched the pictures to the words & sequenced the steps, I had them finish a little life cycle sequencing worksheet to check for understanding.

My FAVORITE activity is one I’ve been doing for years….Pumpkin Investigations!  The kiddos got to measure the height and circumference of their pumpkin. They predicated if the pumpkin would sink or float……it floats!   We talked about using our 5 senses…minus the sense of taste…to observe the outside and inside of a pumpkin.  As each kiddo took a turn observing the outside of the pumpkin, I had him/her give me an adjective to describe their observation.   We created a word web and I wrote down all of the adjectives for the outside of the pumpkin in green.  Then we did the same thing for the inside of the pumpkin.  I cut it open and had the kids dig in and give me an adjective for what they felt/saw/smelled.  Then I wrote those words on the web in red.   They then put the seeds in groups of 10 and counted them.  Boy those pumpkins hold a lot of seeds!  Thank you to the parents who came in to help with this fun project!!!

 

Counting how many lines the pumpkin has.

 

Measuring the height and circumference of our pumpkins.

Our pumpkin floats!!!!

Getting all the seeds out......

 

 

 

 Counting the seeds.....there were lots of them!

 

.  We ended our fun pumpkin day by making our 3rd snazzy snack!  The kiddos got to put frosting on a rice cake and decorate it with candy corn and chocolate chips to make a face.  They did a great job!