Making Apple Sauce

After spending some time learning about apple farming, first graders were invited to help make apple sauce!  Although it cooked in the crock pot for most of the day, unfortunately it wasn't fully done and they had to wait patiently until today to try it. Ask your child how it was!

Purple Paw Award = Extra PE Time!

Due to the extra effort on the part of some of our classmates, first graders in our class were treated to some extra PE time Thursday morning.  It was a fun way to start the day!!

Literacy Planning

Our literacy block looked a bit different this past week as students took on the responsibility of doing some self planning for the different parts of this time.  Our literacy block always starts with a mini lesson, and then is split into four parts.  During the four parts students are either meeting in a small reading group, meeting in a small "word work" group (spelling, phonics, sentence structure, etc,), reading to self (must do every day), reading to a partner, or listening to reading.  Reading groups and word work groups are scheduled for them, but this week students started planning out when they would do the other activities.  They will fill out a plan for week each Monday.  Students enjoy having this responsibility as well as some choice over when they do these activities!

Movie and Popcorn Day!

First graders were rewarded for awesome and expected behavior today!  They watched Curious George Boo Fest while enjoying some freshly popped popcorn!

Geometry Unit

Our first math unit has been completed and we have moved on to unit 2: Geometry!  We have jumped right into the work of exploring and working with shapes with some fun activities.  The first was called Pattern Block Fill-Ins which involved filling in an outlined shaped with various pattern blocks. Pattern blocks are comprised of a variety of shapes including triangles, rhombuses, squares, trapezoids, and hexagons.  The second activity that was done was a game called Hexagon Fill-Ins. Students rolled a die with different shapes on it to determine which shape they could add to cover their hexagons.  It was exciting to see which shapes would fit together to cover a hexagon exactly.  

Publishing Our Small Moment Stories

Earlier this week, first graders chose one of their small moment stories to take through the full writing process, including publishing and sharing.  So far, they have been working with their writing partners to add important details, and make sure that they have a beginning and an ending.  Writers listened to their  partner's stories and helped determine if more details were needed.  It can be very challenging to make revisions to one's own writing!

Movement Breaks

First graders got a special visit from Miss Meredith, one of our district's Occupational Therapists.  She taught us some new ways to give our bodies and brains movement breaks even while we are sitting in our chairs!  Ask your child to tell you about some of them!