Fun in First Grade!

Celebrating "Talk Like A Pirate Day"

Arrrrgh you ready to learn??

We practiced Tornado and Fire Drills last week.  

We have had so much fun learning about addition in math this week!

Fun With Adjectives!

We are learning about adjectives in first grade this week!  We listened to this awesome song that Will I Am sang on Sesame Street a few years ago and then we talked about all the describing words in the song.  The kids had to come up with a positive adjective to describe them.  We had a lot of fun and it was awesome to hear the students think about words that describe them!  

What's New This Week...

Math... Last week we finished up our current math focus.  Your child should be able to figure out the missing number in a number bond.  We took a couple extra days this week to review and the majority of the students are ready to move on.  We will be working on addition word problems. Students will be expected to use a variety of strategies to solve addition word problems.  They will learn to draw diagrams and use the number bonds we have worked so hard on to solve problems.  They will continue to do sprints and dashes to work on fluency.  I have had a number of parents ask me how they can help their child really "get" the concept of the number bond.  The best way to do that is to help them build their fact fluency.  If they are quick with their addition and subtraction facts to ten, number bonds will be no problem.  Please be looking for information on xtramath.org to come home soon (hopefully Monday).  Just like your child is expected to read regularly at home, s/he should also be practicing his/her math facts on a daily basis.

Fundations:  We will be moving on from unit 1 in Fundations.  If your child is still struggling with letter formation, s/he will be receiving homework to practice at home.  It is the expecation that students are forming their letters correctly and facing the right direction at this point in first grade.  While reversals are developmental, they still need to be corrected and practiced.

Reading:  I will begin Guided Reading Groups with students this week and Power Hour interventions will also begin this week.  If your child is receiving a Power Hour intervention, you will receive a note home with the name of the intervention.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Writing:  We will continue to discuss finding topics to write about and then move on to Narrative writing.
Friday we will be celebrating Talk Like A Pirate Day!  More information to come!

Umbrellas for Peace Parade

Mrs. Gocken did an amazing job planning this awesome event for our students!  From the moment they got here today there was an amazing buzz in the air.  I couldn't help but be extremely proud of our students as they marched down Main Street with their umbrellas.  When I think about the reason we are having a Peace Parade, it makes me sad and brings back the emotions from that day 13 years ago.  I will never forget where I was and what I was doing when I heard.  It amazes me that something so awesome came from something so tragic.

The kids had so much fun and I think they will be talking about this day for years to come!  There were some really AWESOME umbrellas!

 Mrs. Hickman's umbrella above and Ms. Kylea's umbrella below

Some of us wore our Umbrellas for Peace shirts today!

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Number Bond Fun!

We have been working hard to figure out number bonds in class.  While this is a concept they were introduced to in Kindergarten, they are really struggling to grasp the concept of the number bond.  I decided to try showing them using something other than numbers so I used water and food coloring.  For some it was just the visual they needed!

We seemed to catch on at the end of last week, but today they struggled with the concept again.  So after doing math this morning, I decided to give them a game to help build to concept a little better.  The kids, with a partner, got 8 double sided disks.  They shook the disks and then dropped them onto the ground.  They had to decide which number bond the combination of colors matched.  While they were technically learning about number bonds it was absolutely awesome to hear them talk about probability as well.  They were surprised that almost every student had the combination of 5 & 3 the most!

Here are a few websites that are number bond games for your child to practice at home!

Math Playground

Number Bond Game

I encourage you to explore some of the other games on those sites as well!

To clear up some confusion, as I have had several parents ask, homework and any notes for me should come to school in the Pecatonica Take Home Folder.  When I said it should be returned empty, I just meant that the papers from the current day should be removed (graded papers, notes from me, etc.)

Raz-Kids

I took some fun pictures of our math lesson on Thursday, but I forgot my camera at school.  :(

So for now, I want to tell you about Raz-kids.  Raz-kids is an awesome, internet based, reading program that our school is lucky to have.  Students are placed in their reading level, and then they have a plethora of books to choose from.  Once they decide on a book, they hear the book read to them to help build fluency, then they read the book on their own, and then they take a quiz to check comprehension.  Students can log-into Raz-Kids at home and use this for their reading log!

Click Here to Go to Raz-Kids!

The first time your child goes to Raz-kids at home, you will need to enter my teacher user name.  It is laue1.  Then the student will click on their name.

Once they click on their name, they should choose my assignment to begin reading.  

As students listen to stories, read books, and take quizzes, they earn stars to build their robot and and to decorate their rocket.  

You can check and see what books your child has read by looking at their book screen.  The check marks have indicated that the child has completed that activity for that book.  If a student does not pass a quiz, they do not receive a check mark.  They should reread the book and then take the quiz again. 

Once a child completes all the tasks on their current level it will move them up to the next level.  I will also manually move them if I feel that they are ready for the next level before completing the current level they are on.  Right now, most kids should be at their current reading level.  Please know that there are a few kids that I have not been able to work one on one with yet, so their level may be too easy.  By the end of next week if you feel their level is still to easy, please give me a call and we will chat.  Sometimes kids are able to read the books but are not moved up for other reasons.

Do not worry if you do not have a home computer.  Raz-kids is tablet friendly.  Just search for Raz-Kids in the Google Play Store or I-Tunes and download the app for free!  While I have never tried it, I hear it is available on most smart phones as well. 

Parents can also sign up to receive progress updates from their child.  Once we get into a good routine with Raz-kids, students will be working in it at least twice a week during Power Hour.  The cool thing about Raz-Kids is that the teachers are also able to print the same books that are in this program.  The kids get so excited when they find their Raz-kid book in their book bag!

Reading Fun!

We are reading the book Shark in the Park by Nick Sharrat this week.  The kids LOVE this book!  Yesterday after reading it we made a list of all the works we could think of that had the "ar" sound in it.  Then, the very talented Ms. Kylea made an awesome anchor chart for us to display in our classroom.  We will be using in centers the next couple days to make those words during word work!

We have settled into a nice routine for reading centers.  The kids really enjoy them and so far they have gone fairly smoothly.  

 Most of you have signed up for Remind texts or emails.  If you have not yet done so, I will continue to send home the sign up sheet with your child.  It is a great way to get reminders about things going on at school and a reminder when we have early dismissals.  You can use the QR code below or text the number shown with the message below.  If you need help getting this set up, please let me know!

Also, book orders are due on Friday!  Order online if you lost your flyers!