Another fantastic fall day in room 107!  These kids are working hard and it showing!

We refilled the book bags and sent home a new homework log today.  Thanks for your support at home with these!  We also made a making 10 memory game to play at home, it should be in your student's read book bag.

Today the firs BES challenge came home, read about this opportunity on the cover sheet sent with the challenge.  Remember these papers are OPTIONAL, do as much and as many as you would like.

We took our unit 1 test today for math.  I was very impressed with how well these students did on their assessment.  I will share these with you at our upcoming PTC.   We kick off unit 2 tomorrow with telling time to the hour on analog clocks.

Team 107 earned the privilege (by filling up their bucket) of watching the movie Charlotte's Web, we started the first part of it today and we will watch it piece by piece over this week.  The kids loved it!

Look for a revised friendship list coming home today with an update on correct contact information!
If you use the link on drive it is correct now. :)

Monday October 31st we will be doing special first grade rotations and a special snack!  If you can donate popcorn, apples, Capri Sun Roarin' Water bags, paper, plates, napkins or mini muffins please email me.  We have 17 students!

Tomorrow is Bobcat blue day!  Wear your navy blue (or whatever you have got)!

Today we started writing conferences and specifically touching on  one compliment and one teaching point.  Check your child's folder for a small purple slip and see what they are doing well in their stories and what they are working on!

A challenge for math come home today.  We worked on this the last few minutes of math today.  It is a grid with numbers and it is asking them to find the ways to make ten on the grid and fill in the puzzle pieces.  They do not have to finish it, but I told them if they are up for a challenge they can work on it and return it tomorrow for a cube!  This led us to a discussion of why we do tricky things and not just always easy things and how we are building perseverance!!

Today we had our first meeting with our fourth grade book pals!  Each first grader has one or two pals.  We are partnering up with Mrs. Galvin's first grade class to share the fourth grade students in Mrs. Hamer's class.

Today in literacy we did sentence puzzles for the first time.  I was amazed at how great the kids were at these.  We looked at the clues to see which word started with an uppercase start ( probably goes first) and which word has a punctuation mark at the end (it should go last).  Then we rearranged the words to make sure it looks right, sounds right and makes sense.  Those are the basic three question we use to self monitor when reading.

What a great day!  We had a very successful and fun fairy house walk!  Thank you for helping send in things and to all our volunteers!  It really is a fun first grade memory.  If you missed the walk you could always come walk the trail behind the school over the long weekend and check out all the fairy neighborhoods!

In math we are continuing to make and do things to help us learn (until it is automatic) all the ways to 10!  Look for a paper coming home on this today where they cut and pasted the matches to 10.  When they were done I quickly checked in and quizzed each kid on the paper , first they were allowed to look at it "Who goes with 5? Who goes with 8 etc"  Then we flipped the paper over and tried it the same questions from memory.

In writer's workshop we are learning how to add life to our characters in our pictures and our words.  We are making them move and speak!  We are adding their feelings to our stories.  I love seeing the speech bubbles and expressions they are drawing on the faces.  We talked about moving beyond a stick figure who is frozen standing still and showing movement to enhance the reader's understanding of the story!

Enjoy the long weekend!  See you back on Tuesday team 107!

Today we had a very special day!  We did our first day of first grade rotations.  Several times a year the first graders rotate from classroom to classroom visiting all 5 first grade rooms and teachers.  Today in each classroom they did a variety of activities to get them ready for tomorrow's fairy house field trip!

Look for a brown paper bag coming home tonight.  They may or may not want to bring in some natural materials from home.  

If you are able to chaperone (planned or last minute) please meet us in the hallway between the gym and the office at 845.  We are looking forward to it!

Today we practiced bus evacuations.  The kids learned what to do in an emergency on the bus and did the rear exit as a practice.  We talked a lot about emergencies and what to do in an emergency.  I tried to make sure everyone was feeling comfortable and confident in what to do but you may want to check in with your first grader to see if there are any lingering questions.

Our field trip is coming up quick!  Remember Friday to have your dress for the weather and for a woods walk.  Tomorrow afternoon a brown paper bag will be coming home in case your first grader wants to bring any additional natural materials to build with (optional).  For example, maybe in your yard there is really big pinecones or bark from a birch tree etc.

If you are chaperoning meet us in the hallway between the office and the gym at 845 am!

BOOK BAGS went home yesterday.  This are intended to be a familiar book your first grader has already practiced in reading group.  These are Monday home- next Monday back.  Now we have book bags, homework logs and library books all packed for the same day MONDAY!

Welcome to...

We started our day by making our October Calendars! I am impressed at how some students are starting to look back at their numbers and determine any reversals they may have.  When your first grade reverses a letter or number don't do all the work for them and tell them "your h is backwards" instead tell them "Be a good detective and check their numbers/letters against a resource to find the backwatds one."  By having them check their own formation then erase and correct it themselves it will ilmprint it into their brain that much faster!  Remember reversals are still very appropriate for this age / time of the year.

In math we read the book

and we made lots of number sentences to match the pictures for combinations to 10!  We will continue working on all the combinations to 10 this month.  Eventually we want to be SO fluent in 10 that we know all the numbers that go together to make 10 so if I say "who goes with 6?"  they know automatically it is 4!  

Tomorrow we are working to use the making 10 rainbow to find all the ways...