Week of March 15, 2010

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend! Hopefully, the Spring weather will remain.

First, I wanted to update you on the book order. It has been shipped, and the expected arrival date was yesterday (March 20). I am hoping that the books will be at school tomorrow morning. I apologize for the delay. It usually doesn't take Scholastic this long to send the orders. Second, we do have library tomorrow. If your child forgets his/her book, he/she can bring it on Tuesday.

The students seemed to truly enjoy their first book fair. It was so cute to watch them browse through the books and narrow their decisions down to the final selection. It was definitely an exciting experience for them.

As always, we worked very hard again this week. We learned several new concepts. In math, we played a game called, "The Raft Game." This game taught the students about making exchanges or trading. To play the game, you need a large handful of beans, a die, and popsicle sticks. The first player rolls the die and takes the specified number of beans. When a player has five beans, he/she may exchange or trade those five beans for one popsicle stick. Once a player has five popsicle sticks, he/she may exchange or trade them for a raft. Play continues for a specified time period or someone has the most rafts. Also, we made a graph that describes our pets. We talked about the characteristics of the graph, which include the pet that people have the most, the pet that people have the least, etc. Finally, we learned about the purpose of the standard foot. We measured things with a paper strip that was the length of a child's shoe and my shoe. Then we talked about how the measurements were different. Then we measured the same object with a ruler and talked about how that measurement will always be the same. I must say that this is a tricky concept for the students to grasp. Despite this, they tried very hard to understand why a standard foot is necessary.

In reading, we had two focus lessons for Reader's Workshop. We talked about finding a "just right" book for our independent reading time. In order for a book to be "just right" it can't be too hard or too easy. For now we are focusing on finding books that are not too hard. If the child gets stuck on three words then the book is too hard. The child then needs to find another book. Starting on Monday the students will get to go book shopping in our classroom during our workstation time for five "just right" books. The students will book shop on their share day. We also reviewed the proper way to treat our class books. In addition to Reader's Workshop, we practiced reading skills during guided reading. We also practiced our sight words during Phonics and Word Study by playing High Frequency Word Lotto, which is the same as Bingo. Also, we wrote in our journals and practiced writing the letters I, T, and A in handwriting.

We finished learning about the five senses this week. We read several books about the five senses and played a game. During the game, the students had to feel an object that was hidden in a sock and guess what the object was. I placed a pencil, a crayon, a toy car, and a teddy bear counter in each sock. The students had a great time with this game. They are very good at figuring out what the objects were.

Workstations:

Week of March 8, 2010

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry today! The weather leaves a lot to be desired. I am hopeful that Spring is just around the corner.

I wanted to send a quick reminder about our book fair at school. We will be visiting during our library time, which is Monday morning from 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m and Monday afternoon from 12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. You are more than welcome to come visit the book fair with your child.

Also, I submitted our class book order on March 2, so I am anticipating that the books you purchased will be arriving any day. I know the students are anxiously awaiting their arrival.

We continued to work hard this week. We learned a lot of new things in Math, Reading, and Science.

In reading, we continue to work on our sight words during our class meeting, guided reading groups, and workstations. We also practiced reading color words in text. The students read the following phrase:

I like green.

Green, green, green.

I like green frogs (I had a picture of a frog at the end of the sentence).

Then I changed the color words and the item, so the students could continue practicing the skill of reading color words in text. The other colors and items are as follows:

red and strawberries

purple and plums

yellow and bananas

pink and pigs

brown and bag

orange and pumpkin

black and tire

blue and jeans

After we read each phrase we talked about other items that could be that color. For example, the students said that cherries and a stop sign could also be red. In addition, we talked about the sequence of a story. I read, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. The student had pictures that corresponded to the story. As a class, we put the pictures in order to retell the story. We also learned how to write the following letters: O, Q, and S.

In Science, we learned about the sense of hearing. We read, "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" by Eric Carle and "The Listening Walk" by Paul Showers. Also, we played a game during our class meeting that required the children to guess the objects I had hidden in plastic eggs while I shook the eggs. Finally, the children made maracas.

In math, the children practiced measuring items in our class by using a cutout the size of their foot. We talked about this practice and how it created the current day measurements. For example, before rulers or yard sticks were used, people used their arm span, their foot, or the thickness of their finger. Also, we learned how to count by 5's and use tally marks.

Workstations:

Week of March 1, 2010

We finished our first week back from February vacation and worked very hard.

In reading, we talked about the setting of a story. The students had to identify the setting of a story during a read aloud, and did quite well with this activity. Also, we continued to practice our sight words during our class meeting, guided reading, and phonics/word study. During our meeting, the students have to identify sight words that I've used in the daily message. Also, we practiced our sight words during guided reading. I wrote several sight words on a small white board, and the students had to read the written word. For phonics/word study, the students completed an activity called build, check, write. We did this in a whole group setting on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday the students had to try it on their own. They truly did a great job.

The photo of the whiteboard shows a completed "Build, Check, Write" lesson that the class completed together.

The other photos show students completing a "Build, Check, Write" lesson individually.

In math, we worked on sequencing events, making patterns with craft sticks, identifying attributes of shapes, and guessing numbers based on attributes. To practice sequencing events, we talked about the order of events we participate in when we wake up and before we go to bed. The students then drew the sequence of events they do in the correct order. When making patterns with craft sticks, the students received and used their math workbook for the first time. They had to draw and extend the given pattern. To identify the attributes of numbers and shapes, I would give the students clues to help them identify the number or shape. For example, an attribute for the number 24 would be, "it has a two and a four for its digits."

We also started talking about our five senses this week. We read, "Five Senses" by Aliki and played a game of blindfolded beanbag toss. This helped the students realize how much our eyes help us, and how they make it easier to complete certain tasks.

Photographs of workstations:

Week of February 15, 2010

I hope you are all enjoying the February vacation thus far. It looks as if we are supposed to get some snow, but generally the week is going to be warm. Let's keep our fingers crossed for decent weather!

The students worked on several new concepts in reading and math this week. In math, the students practiced one-to-one correspondence with multi-sensory counts. For example, I clapped my hands or stomped my feet a certain number of times. The students had to listen carefully, count the claps or stomps, and write the correct number on their white boards. The students had a great time with this activity because it is always an exciting time when we get to use our white boards. Also, the students used a new manipulative this week. They used attribute blocks, which are plastic shapes (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and hexagons). The blocks come in different sizes, colors, and thickness. We practiced sorting these blocks as a whole group and in small groups. The students then had to share how their group sorted the blocks. Also, we played a new math game called, "What's My Rule?" I went "fishing" by tapping children on the head that had a certain attribute. Initially, I made the attribute very obvious. For example, I picked children wearing the same color shirt or pants. After several rounds, I made the attribute less obvious. For example, I picked children with the same eye color. Last, we practiced reading two-digit numbers.

Practicing our sorting skills with attribute blocks

In reading, we continue to practice our sight words during our class meeting and during workstations. We finish our class meeting by reading a special announcement. After I read the announcement, I invite children to come to the easel to find sight words that I've used in the message. Also, the students practiced building the sight words and reading them at the overhead workstation. We also practiced reading our sight words during our phonics lesson. In addition to reading the sight words, we practiced recognizing word features. For example, I placed in, it, and is on the right-hand side of the pocket chart. The students had to determine the feature that was the same in all three words. After it was identified, we read the words together. Identifying word features will help the students as they are reading books independently because they can use a word that is already known to determine an unknown word.

In writing we continued writing in our journals this week. Also, we practiced writing the letter "z." We practiced the letter first using a technique known as "wet, dry, try." I wrote the letter on a little slate, the student then traced the letter with a wet sponge. Next, the student traced the letter with a dry sponge. Last, the student traced the letter with chalk. The following day we practiced writing the letter in our workbook.

Week of February 8, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a great time celebrating on Friday. I think it is safe to say that we all slept well Friday night after a party filled with games, crafts, and treats. I want to thank all of the parents for bringing in goodies and supplies. The students and I truly appreciate all of your support.

Before we could have our fantastic parties on Friday we had plenty of work to do throughout the week.

In reading, we continue to work on matching words to their initial consonants. The students are really getting good at this skill. We played Initial Sound Bingo. The students truly love playing Bingo! We also practiced our sight words by building the words with magnetic letters in the ABC/Word Study workstation. Also, the students had to find the sight words that I used in the class message each day. The students really like this because they get to use "Handy Hand" (a hand-shaped pointer) to point to the sight word. We also incorporated writing into reading this week by writing about our reading. I read a story to the class and the children had to draw and label a picture detailing a connection they had to the story. These pictures are displayed proudly in our classroom.

In math the students continued practicing their addition skills by playing, "Roll and Record" with two dice. Each child had a chance to roll the dice. We colored in corresponding blocks on our graph paper for each number that was rolled. Also, the students began to practice their subtraction skills this week. I told them number stories, and the students had to remove the correct number of chips to determine what was left. This is a tricky concept for the students, but they did a great job!

"Roll and Record" with two dice

Pictures of workstations:

Finding sight words in a Valentine's Day poem at the Overhead workstation

Playing "Memory" at the Games and Puzzles workstation

Building sight words at the ABC/Word Study workstation

Finding "R" words in our classroom at the Writing workstation

Week of February 1, 2010

It was another busy week in Room 1. The students and I learned a lot of new things!

In math we learned how to add and what the addition symbol looks like. I said several number stories, and the students had to re-create the story using counters. For example, I said, "I had five seashells and found two more, how many seashells do I have?" The students put five counters on the left side of a popsicle stick and two counters on the other side. Then they remove the popsicle stick and count the total number of counters. The students did a remarkable job with this lesson. Also, the students practiced pattern making with pattern blocks. In addition to practicing patterns, the students practiced their shape recognition skills. We also used a new math tool this week, which was a pattern block template. This is a stencil with a variety of shapes (trapezoid, hexagon, rhombus, triangle, circle, and square. The students created designs using these templates.

In reading, we learned about a comprehension strategy, making connections. When making a connection with a given text, you use your schema (background knowledge) to connect with the story and gain a stronger understanding of what is being read. To practice making connections, we read "What Mommies Do Best" and "What Daddies Do Best" by Laura Numeroff. Also, we continued practicing our sight words.

In writing we continued to write in our journals. The students seem to truly enjoy this time in our day. As we write in our journals, we practice creating simple sentences, using letter sounds to spell words, and create pictures to support our writing.

Our phonics lesson for the week focused on using the beginning letter sounds in words to identify what letter the word starts with. We practiced sorting pictures in a pocket chart using the beginning letter sound. After practicing this on Wednesday and Thursday, the students tried a picture sort on their own. The students were very successful with this task.

Pictures of the week's workstations:

Week of January 25, 2010

This week was an exciting week for the students and me as I returned from my maternity leave. We were all very happy to see one another. The children were expecting Baby Lilly to join me, but were surprised when I explained that she was at daycare. On this note, I have to say a quick thank you to Ms. Conley for stepping in to take care of things while I was gone. She did a great job!

This week we covered a lot of things. We worked on a variety of math topics and reading skills. For math, we learned a game called, "Get on the Train," which helps the students count to 20. To play the game, the students roll a cube that is numbered 1, 2, 3. For each turn the students take the number of cubes that is shown on the cube. The first student to get 20 cubes wins the game. The students and I also played a similar game called, "The Teen Frame." The students used a spinner to determine how many chips they could put on their game board. The student with the larger number of chips wins. With this game the students practiced comparing numbers between 10 and 20. We also used a jumbo number line to practice addition skills. The students would stand on a number, and I would ask them to take a certain number of steps. Before they could do this, the student had to predict where he/she would land. Also, I would ask them to start on a number and move to a certain number. In this instance, the student would have to predict how many steps he/she would have to take. The students had a great time walking on the jumbo number line. We also learned how to count by 10's and make a bar graph of our favorite colors.

In reading we focused on how learning our color words. This was a two part activity. First the students had to identify the word by using a colored card as a clue. This allows them to identify a word using a visual clue, which is an important reading strategy. When reading a text, the students can use the picture to help decode an unknown word. Second, the students had to check to make sure they selected the correct word. To do this, they check letter by letter. For example, if a child selected the word blue to match their initial selection of the word blue with a blue rectangle under the word, they would check letter by letter (b, b, l, l, u, u, e, e). If all of the letters match, then they know they've selected the correct match. If a letter does not match, then they know they have to choose another card. If a student is reading a text and comes to a word he/she doesn't know, he/she can use this strategy by saying, "does the first letter of the word I said match the first letter of the word on the page?" The students did a wonderful job with this! In addition to practicing these strategies, the students also reviewed the sight words that were sent home this week. The five words of the week are:

• a
• I
• to
• on
• it

For writing, the students received their very own journals. They have been doing a great job with their writing skills. I am pleased with the students' progress. They are also very proud of themselves.

Below, you will find pictures of our weekly workstations.

Beginning Sounds Bingo

Blocks and Legos

Filling in the missing blanks at the Overhead workstation