More from the Classroom and Farm Field Trip Photos

Math Fun!
Here are some photos of the children playing subtraction games.  These partner games help to teach more than just math.  They teach the children how to work cooperatively and take turns:

Here the children are demonstrating Fact Families in Math by changing the order of the equal sign:

Farm Fun!

Here the class is writing their Research Reports on animals before our field trip:

Field Trip Photos:

Down on the Farm

Here are some photos from our trip to Davis Farmland!  The children are using these photos to write about their favorite moment of the trip in their first non-fiction narrative writing to be published.  Keep on the lookout on this blog for future farm stories written by the children themselves!

A big thanks to all of the parents who volunteered to chaperone this trip!  I hope that you had as much fun as the children did!  We couldn't have done it without you! :)  Thanks also to those who volunteered to chaperone but were not chosen for this trip.  Not to worry as we will have future field trips which will need chaperones too!

Additional Websites For Homework

Look On the Back of Your Child's Homework Folder...
...and you will see usernames and passwords for two additional homework resources for your child.  These are "additional" resources and are not mandatory.  However, they do help reinforce concepts taught in school and children seem to love them! Your son or daughter can now access the following:



This Vocabulary Spelling City website and/or app will gain you instant access to the first grade "trick words" through fun and engaging games. The children particularly like Hang Mouse. It is recommended that you begin practicing the Unit 2 and 3 words first. The website/app provides a spelling test for these words. Your child can practice the words which they spell incorrectly and then move onto the next level. Or they can continue to practice those unit words through various games for additional exposure. It's fun and the children seem to love it!



The i-ready program can only be accessed via a computer or laptop. The child's lasid number has been provided on the given sheet so that your child may login to a program which is specifically designed for YOUR child's own level of reading. Once they master a level, it will automatically move onto the next level.



You may have heard your child mention JiJi the Penguin to you. JiJi is the penguin who helps lead your child through various math problems. The ST in STmath stands for Spacial Temporal as there are no words in STmath! Rather, children are encouraged to watch and figure out what JiJi is asking them to do. So PLEASE do not help your child right away with STmath. The learning is in the trial and error attempts which present a "healthy frustration" for your child. Give it time and watch your child figure it out for themselves. There are little dots which appear at the bottom of your child's screen. These dots indicate your child's failed attempts. Please allow at least 5-9 of these dots to appear before offering help. Chances are that they will figure it out for themselves! Trust me!  

There are step-by-step directions in your child's folder which will help you to log onto STmath. STmath can be accessed by either on a computer or through an app on a tablet. Games which have already been taught in class have been assigned in homework. More games will be opened up for home use as the year proceeds. Your child can also replay a favorite game -- what better way to reinforce a math concept! Have fun!

The First Few Weeks of School

We have had some fun getting to know each other and the rules the past few weeks.  Here are some pictures of what has been going on in the classroom: 

Room 111 Are Bucket Fillers!

The entire first grade has read and discussed the book How Full Is Your Bucket? This book describes how we all have invisible buckets which are either filled by kind and helpful thoughts, actions and words or "dipped into" by unkind thoughts, words and actions.  Each child has his/her own bucket displayed on the wall.  When they are seen being kind and helpful to others or following the rules of the classroom, they put a coupon into their bucket.  

After the children earn 5 tickets, they receive a reward coupon.  You may have seen some of these coupons coming home.  Reward coupons include: lunch with the teacher; sitting in  Check out the books shown below!  The children beg to have them re-read to them over and over again!  Ask your child how (s)he is being a bucket filler at school.

Lately we have been receiving  for our buckets by remembering to do the following upon arrival to school each morning (without being reminded by the teacher).

                                        

This is what we have been doing over the first 2 weeks!

Morning Meeting:

During morning meeting we practice greeting each other; learn to listen when others are speaking and read the "Morning Message." 

Hope and Dreams:

We discussed and shared our Hopes and Dreams for our year in first grade -- you can see them posted on the wall when you come to Open House on Tuesday.

Rules:

After sharing our hope and dreams we discussed and made rules as a classroom that we thought would help us achieve our goals.  They are also posted on our wall.

Here we are acting out the Classroom Rules:

Here are photos of the children relaxing and getting to know each other with play dough on the first of school:

Here we are playing a math game called "Shake Those beans"

Here we are practicing our STmath passwords:

We read, discussed and made connections to the book Chrysanthemum:

We have practiced patterns, counting and adding with a daily calendar activity:

We discussed and wrote about how we can follow the classroom rules throughout the year:

We did a name activity with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

We practiced and labeled what a good listener looks like:

We learned about "Good Telling" through the book A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue