Weekly News!

We have had a super week in first grade! During reading instruction, we learned about the procedures and expectations for each of the Daily 5. Students will be independently working on these five tasks while I am meeting with Guided Reading groups throughout the entire year, so it is so important to start off the year strong when learning these routines! So far, we have been doing a fabulous job, and I can’t wait to see them in action once the Guided Reading groups start! The Daily 5 consists of Reading to Self, Reading to Someone, Working on Writing, Listening to Reading, and Word Work. Each day this week, we introduced a new component of Daily 5. We began with Reading to Self on Monday. We learned that we can read the pictures, read the words, or retell the story when reading to self, and that it’s great to read a book more than once. On Tuesday, we practiced Working on Writing. This is different from our Writing Workshop in that it is more of a journal type writing, and this writing is kept in our binders and will be sent home periodically throughout the year. On Wednesday, we practiced Listening to Reading, where we will be listening to books on the computer. We learned that it’s important to listen to good reading, because it helps us to become more fluent and expressive readers. Thursday brought the introduction to word work, which will take many forms throughout the year. This is also where our spelling practice at school will tie in for the week, so we practiced two different types of word work. We did a Rainbow Words page, which will be one of our spelling practice options, and we used the iPads to explore various word work apps that we may work on during Word Work time. Today was our final component of Daily 5, Read to Someone. We learned about sitting “Elbow to Elbow, Knee to Knee” with our partners, and about different types of reading to someone. We practiced taking turns reading sentences, reading pages, or reading books. We also practiced retelling the story once we reached the end of a book. Next week we will put all of these independent options together as we practice the Daily 5 independently!

Our first grade authors were very busy during our Writing Workshop time this week as well. We finished the rough drafts of our autobiographies, and this means that next week we will be sharing our writing with partners, revising, and starting the publishing process. These autobiographies are unique in that they are writing about all of the authors’ favorites, such as favorite pet or animal, favorite toy or game, favorite thing to do, and favorite place to go. We have also been steadily working on our handwriting, so if you are interested in an additional handwriting practice packet for your child to work on at home, please let me know and I will send one home with them!

In math this week, we began the week by learning about the calendar. Next, we had a game session, where we practiced a few games that have been introduced thus far, including Top-It, Monster Squeeze, Penny Dice, and Bunny Hop. The following day brought our first math Explorations of the year, where we explored with math materials like our pattern blocks, geoboards, base ten blocks, and tool kits (using our number cards for Top-It). Finally, we learned about temperature and thermometers. Next week, we will work with number stories, take our first unit test, then introduce number grids, and numbers all around.
In Social Studies instruction, we wrapped up our Community Helpers unit and will move on to Map Skills starting next week. We also spent some time today discussing and learning about the Constitution in honor of Constitution Day.

¬Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, 9/21: JILL’S BIRTHDAY!
Friday, 9/23: JOE’S BIRTHDAY!
Monday, 10/3: School Picture Day
Wednesday, 10/5: Walk to School Day

Have a magnificent weekend!!

☺ Mrs. Glaser