Climb Theatre Visits

On Tuesday Climb Theatre came and talked with us about Self-Control.  They defined self-control as being in charge of the things you do.  They gave examples like using self control to not blurt out during class, to say excuse me when you need to pass by a friend in the classroom or hallway.  They talked with the kids about when it is the appropriate time to ask questions during a lesson and how to take responsibility for their actions by saying sorry when they forget to use their self-control.  During a situation they should use their Self-Control Steps:  Stop 2..3, Breathe 2...3 and use your Self-Control.  Take a peek below at the video that shows the kids practicing this.  They also talked with the kids about the "Line of Goodness". This is where the kids were able to tell something they liked about each friend as they walked to the line.  The kids loved hearing all the positive thoughts their friends had about them.  Thanks Climb for joining us this morning.

3rd Grade Buddies Visit

Today our 3rd grade buddies came during part of our Daily Five time to read with us.  We enjoyed doing Read to Someone with them.  They helped us practice our retelling after we read the story together.  Thanks Mrs. Saufferer and Mrs. Tornell's 3rd grade friends.  

Daily Five on the iPads-Updated

We have been working on our iPads during our Daily Five time.  Below are the apps that we use during the areas of: Read to Self/Read to Someone, Word Work, Work on Writing, and Listen to Reading.  I have updated each area with some new apps that seem to be a better fit for our classroom of first graders.  All of these apps are free with the exception to RAZ kids in the Read to Self folder.  We pay for a subscription to Reading A-Z for each child in our classroom.

Happy New Year!!!

We rang in 2013 by talking about how we can improve in the following areas of our lives: school, home, and community.  Take a peek at flip books we made. 

Thanks for sharing yours with me T and R.

Science: Exploring and Washing Rocks

Our first graders were given 6 rocks in a bag along with a magnifying glass.  They were asked to observe the rocks and choose some descriptive words to add to our word bank as well as find out how many different types of rocks are in your bag.  They did great!  They came up with a list of great words to describe the rocks:  smooth, dusty, rough, small, heavy, light and colorful.

The next day the students were given the same 6 rocks to wash.  They were asked to see what, if any, changes they observe when the rocks are in the water and after the rocks are cleaned.  They realized that the lava rock Scoria, which has many holes, made bubbles when put in the water.  They also were able to observe that the rocks showed more colors and darkened after being cleaned.

Math Tools Patterns and Designs

 
 

Our Winter Party

Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who spent a busy and exciting afternoon with us.  It is always fun to see the students enjoy some games, hang out with friends and have a tasty treat.  What a great way to end our 2012 learning year.

 Snow Gear Dress Up Race

 Cotton Ball Basketball

 Snowman Drawings (with mittens on or your opposite hand)

Creating a Snowman Ornament

Cognitively Guided Instruction-CGI Math

During CGI time in our room, the students are given a math story problem (we call them CGI stories) each day.  They began the year solving these stories in their CGI notebook, but have since graduated to the EDUCREATIONS app on the iPads.  They show me their strategies used to solve the story problem along with an equation and math mountain that matches the work they've done and finally they complete their work with a number answer and a label.  After the students solve their stories they get into their strategy groups (groups created with a combination of students who use different strategy levels) and share their work.  They get to teach the others in their group about how they solved the story.  They also get to listen to 3-5 other strategy work by their group members.  We have started recording our strategy work on the iPads as a stepping stone to sharing them with our families!  CGI time usually ends with a student coming up to model their hard work in front of the entire class.  Below are some video clips of our CGI time.

A Peek into our Math Club

Math Club is our Daily 5 Math time.  Students use our choice board to decide which of the offered games/activities and iPad folders to do during a 15 minute block.  They are able to choose from a list of games/activities from the following 5 categories:  Paper Practice, Number Games, Fact Games, Strategy Games and Math Tools.  We usually rotate the groups twice.  I am able to meet with 3 small groups during this time.  I also have wonderful parent volunteers who have dedicated a day each week to come in and take a small group or individuals to work on math skills, play math games or help with some simple assessments.  Check out the videos below to see what it looks like.

A Veteran's Day Tribute-Belated

I have finally been taught how to download a video and upload it on the blog.  Thank you Mrs. Sauber!  I have to play catch up now.  I've been MIA on this blog for a while.  Here is a cute poem the kids worked on for Veteran's Day after they made their American Soldiers and were able to hear some great books about our brave military men and women!